Constantly clogged nozzle with PETG-ESD
Hello community,
I really really need your help! I have absolutely no idea what to try anymore.
back in 05/2024 we bought a pre-assembled MK4. First prints in PLA were fine. Like really fine, the print quality was gorgeous with default settings. A few weeks later we bought the official enclosure and MMU3. After we modified the MK4 to work with the MMU3, the problems started... but let's leave the MMU3 out of the equasion for now.
We want to print parts for electronic devices and need to use ESD filament. For that we first ordered a spool 'Fiberlogy ESD-PETG' and printed a few parts (like ~15-20 hours total) without any issues. But after that, I constantly have nozzle clogging issues. I clean the nozzle but it doesn't take long until its clogged again. I can rarely finish a print.
So the last few months were more error investigation than anything else... its disappointing and I almost lost the interest in 3D printing. Sadly, because if it would work, it would be a really cool! I don't have that much time, so I try a potential solution, find out it doesn't work, clean the nozzle and leave it alone for a few days or even weeks.
Some things I tried already:
- Another batch of 'Fiberlogy ESD-PETG'
- Different filament 'Polymaker PolyMax ESD-PETG'
- Re-arrange PTFE filament tubes for less friction
- Print without MMU- 0.4 and 0.6 hardened obxidian nozzles
- Various nozzle temperatures between 230-270°C (Fiberlogy recommends 250-265)
- PLA still prints without any issues
For the print settings, I copied the default PETG profile and modified the nozzle and heatbed temperatures to fit the datasheets of the filaments I use.
I already ordered the 0.4 and 0.6 obxidian hardened high flow nozzles, but wanted to write this forum post before trying them out. So I didn't try them yet.
Today it clogged again. After three cold pulls the nozzle looked clean but it wasn't as the next filament poop clearly flushed out some black again:
Here are some recent prints that failed because of clogged nozzle. The most advanced one printed fine for 3-4 hours...
RE: Constantly clogged nozzle with PETG-ESD
Forgot to say: I also tried to leave the doors of the enclosure open for a lower ambient temperature. This resulted in ~26°C as shown by the enclosure thermometer.
RE: Constantly clogged nozzle with PETG-ESD
Hi, unfortunately I cannot offer a solution to your problem, because I'm having the same issues. This material is very frustrating to work with. I use it at work, and we have been using 3DXTech brand.
If you can use PLA for your needs, 3DXTech does offer an ESD safe PLA, and so far it prints significantly easier than the PETG.
My next step will be to try a bigger nozzle(we print with .4) in hopes that it would help with the clogging issues, but it looks like you've tried that already...
I'm going to check back here in hopes that somebody with more experience with this material stops by and can shed some light on causes for this issue. Best of luck to you.
RE: Constantly clogged nozzle with PETG-ESD
We use 3DXTech ESD filament (mostly PLA, and rarely PETG, both same brand). The material in general just easily clogs nozzles. We try to run the old ruby tips on our printers and that definitely helped, but sometimes they'd still clog. We're waiting on a batch of DiamondBack nozzles to see if they will help alleviate our issues, but yeah this is kind of par for the course when it comes to the ESD stuff.
Though with the PETG it's definitely a little more intense on clogging. I was printing a batch of parts I designed for one of our chassis on our XL which had never seen any ESD material, and roughly 15h38m into the 15h50m print, the nozzle completely clogged. So far, my coworker's MK4 on the OEM tip has been handling the PLA ESD fine, but it's usually a matter of time before it clogs.
RE: Constantly clogged nozzle with PETG-ESD
Have you replaced the factory PETG idler door and latch for the extruder with PCCF versions? When running in an enclosure it's possible to get too hot causing the original PETG idler for and latch to deform, losing preload, which leads to clogs.
The MK4S has replaced those parts with PCCF versions. They are available on printables for download from Prusa.
RE: Constantly clogged nozzle with PETG-ESD
Thanks for the replies.
I tried 3DXTech ESD PLA with the 0.4mm hardened nozzle and didn't have a clogged nozzle since then.
Since I don't have any requirement for PETG, I will stick to this filament.
I did not yet replace any idler parts yet. But I will do that when I run into issues again.