Print head oozing burnt plastic

Hello I've been having nothing but headaches with this printer... Right now the print head is leaking burnt plastic from just above the heating element. I tried tightening it some more, but it doesn't seem to work. This stuff coming out looks gross and is completely ruining my prints... please advise.

 

Loose nozzle. Pretty common right now.

Please remove all the plastic excess coming out. Then using the wrench supplied with your tool kit grip the heat break then tighten the nozzle against it with another wrench. Be careful not to bend the heat break.

Probably also a good idea to do it at like 290

 

The only wrenches I found in the toolkit are the two Allen wrenches (hex keys), is this what you're describing?

 

Hmm no, it should have included a 4.5mm wrench for the hexagon. How long have you had your printer? You should submt a replacement part request.

You can also tighten it down by gripping the heater block with a wrench as well.

 

Had it maybe a couple weeks now.

Last night I took out the entire print head and coincidentally tried to do what you described with my hands. No matter how many times I turned the hexagon, the head wouldn't tighten all the way. Would doing this at 290C with the wrenches make it tighten all the way?

 

I don't understand what you mean by hand. You absolutely need wrenches and doing it at 290 will help.

When you tighten down the nozzle does it go flush against the heater block? There should be a gap between it and the block.

 

Ok so I bought a 4.5mm wrench and was exactly following your instructions at 290C, but suddenly the extruder fan's wires caught fire and the fan fell off!... I don't know what else was damaged. The whole room smells like burnt plastic now. I've had it with this printer! I want to request an exchange for the entire printer! I've spent more time fixing this printer than actually printing anything

 

Ok well you don't do a request on the forums.

Looks like the fan shorted against itself. Did you have it dangling with 12v active?

 

No it wasn't dangling, it just suddenly caught on fire. The wiring was not near the heating element. It must be a short. It's like the moment I fix something, something else goes wrong with this printer.

Thankfully the store I bought it from has have a 14 day return policy and today was the 14th day. Thank god because I'm done with this printer.

But thank you Mike for trying to help me out. My frustration is with the design of this printer, not you or anyone else on the forum.

I'm going to switch to a Makerbot or the new Dremel3D as soon as I get my money back. Cheers.

 

Oh god don't go for a makerbot. Get a Printrbot simple metal if you want a more solid printer. Or go for a flashforge creator if you absolutely want a replicator style printer.

I personally really like the new Ultimaker original+ but I'm pretty sure that's a kit.

The makergear M2 has been raved as being one of the most stable printers out there.

Good luck in your future exploits.

 

I'm having the same oozing burnt PLA problem with my old non-hex hot end unit.

 

Jim, what color is the body on the J-head? Usually leaking like that is a sign of cracked PTFE. Could also be loose threads.

 

I've got one of the original black ones. Since posting my reply I ordered an E3D V6, so that's soon to be a non-issue for me. For what it's worth, I did notice when I took it apart tonight to extract a broken filament that one of the two screws holding it to the extruder was not seated completely.

My immediate issue now is that my extruder has begun to shred the PLA filament and ceases to feed the hot end after a few minutes of printing. It's not a spool tension issue because I haven't changed my setup and I haven't changed filament or temp settings. It almost seems like the teeth on the hobbed bolt have worn down. Do you know if that is a common problem?

 

I would be really surprised if the metal bolt teeth could wear on plastic. Really can't happen. Probably it is the original hobbed bolt with is marginal at best and you probably have a lot of back pressure from your hot end. Fix any issues with the hot end and get a new bolt from ebay. The measurement is 15mm from the base of the bolt head to the center of the hobb. I think a lot of people have this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Robo-3D-Hob...673?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33962860a1.