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Solved HELP! Very frustrated with my printer

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by hybridman, Jan 1, 2017.

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  1. hybridman

    hybridman New Member

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    Hey guys, I could really use some advice. I'm about to throw this thing through the window.
    I have the ROBO3D R1. I had a lot of extrusion clogging issues, so I upgrade to the best new hot end E3DV6 and XXL LCD screen from printed solid, so that solved the extruder issues.

    I have printed many runs of a piece we use on one of our products, using Black ABS. They are not big parts and I usually print 12 - 48 at a time. They were printing great for awhile, but suddenly something went screwy and I cannot figure it out. I attached a file of the print. The first three layers are set to print with no fan. They look great, along with a few more layers (bottom part of the print as you can see from the piece laying on its side).
    Then suddenly something goes awry and the layers stop printing correctly - soon catching the printer head in the mangled mess and then pulling the pieces off.
    I thought maybe it was Matter control layering/slicing problems. I checked G code - it auto levels nicely and the print starts out great, until everything starts scrambling. I tried changing settings- nothing worked.

    Finally I downloaded Cura - set it up with same print. It did better until the pieces were halfway printed and then stopped for some reason. We were gone, so I don't know why it stopped.
    I tried Simplify 3D - got it all set up. It started out beautifully so I thought I had it. Then after 15 - 20 minutes, it too started screwing up and gave me the exact same results as matter control.

    Is my Arduino toast? Is my power supply screwed up? Am I missing something? I have invested a lot of money in this machine and frankly I am getting tired of this. My nephew has a cheaper 3D printer and he prints effortlessly.

    One thing I have noticed that is different seems to be related to the power supply. Once Extruder and bed reach temp (240/90), I notice the blue LED lights start to flicker. I checked all connections- nothing loose. When the printer is actually printing, the layers all seem to print fine for the first 1/8" or so, then start scrambling, like in the photo.

    I frankly am getting very frustrated with all the time spent trying to get consistent prints without spending a ton of time setting it up and getting it to work.
     

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  2. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Hi there. Abs is very hard to.print with as the prints like to curl and warp then the printhead snags them.

    Is the cooling fan on the front right bottom corner of your printer working ? It should run all the time and if it stops working it sure causes alot of issues.
     
  3. hybridman

    hybridman New Member

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    It was the last time I checked, I will look again. I think I have some spare fans at the shop if I need them. Would that cause this problem?
    I have been printing these with ABS for awhile. The problem is I'll print out a plate of 48 pieces perfectly one week. The next time I try, and I have to spend an hour or two getting it to print out the exact same file.
    But this is the first time I cannot get it to print out right no matter what I do and it has been a gigantic time sucker. It's killing my desire to even want to keep it.
     
  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Coming to mind it looks like their sticking very well (hard to tell in the photo) so I'm going to say it's under extruding. So you want to check your hotend fan, it also needs to run all the time. It's possible you have a small nozzle jam, it's possible your printing temps arnt hot enough causing a cold extrusion. Lots of possibilities and we will just need to troubleshoot and fix the issue.

    What we should do is have you print one piece a few times, does the problem happen? If no print a few at a time and what we will do is find out if something is overheating like the stepper drivers all the time or just after a large amount of print time etc etc.

    Is this something your up for ?
     
  5. hybridman

    hybridman New Member

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    AT this point I will try anything. FYI- I have always printed the same pieces in black ABS at 240 with bed at 90. Today I heated it up to 250 for a few minutes just to make sure no residual particles inside hotend - ran 50 mm no problems. The hot end fan is always running and was new with the extruder upgrade. I always check the nozzle before printing (never any clogs since the new hotend upgrade with liner tube). I heat it up to 240 and manually extrude 50 mm of ABS to make sure it flows well.

    I will try a a single pair. I used to easily print 48 (5-6 hour print) with no breakaway from glass (using purple glue stick). Then I tried reducing to 12.
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The fan under the printer is a great check since if the electronics overheat you will get the sort of symptoms you see. If it is running try a test with a different spool to eliminate the filament.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
     
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  7. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Yep, that fan is a real nightmare of its not performing. Im assuming the hotend upgrade was followed with successful printing ?
     
  8. hybridman

    hybridman New Member

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    Yes the new hotend worked very well - solved a lot of problesm as well as the bigger cooling fan under the case.
    Still having sporadic issues getting decent prints. One week it works great, then next time, same print, takes me awhile to dial it in.
     
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