MK4 to MK4S Part No Longer able to Print
Looking for help on an issue with MK4S. I've upgraded with the MK4S kit and can no longer complete a print that I've done many times on my MK4.
The issue occurs when printing over the support. I have a 1" Rod that is curling off the supports. When it curls, it causes the nozzle to hit the print and then the filament to get stuck. I did not have this problem with the MK4.
- I'm printing in PLA at 65-85% infill.
- I've tried slowing the print down.
- Tried printing at 100% fan, no luck. Mk4 as printing at 100% fan, MK4S default was 70-100.
- My MK4 profile at speed at 200mm/s, I've dropped it down to 100mm/s and still can't get the print to not curl.
- It always fails at roughly 83/84% when the rod curls of the support.
- All self-tests pass and I can manually control the fan up to 100%
- I've tried different rolls of the same filament I've been using at different temperatures.
- I updated my profile to the MK4S profile and am printing at 0.2mm structural
Not sure what to do next. I also have a 2nd MK4S that was purchased assembled and it also cannot print this model where the MK4 could.
From what I've read, it seems like maybe there is not sufficient cooling for the PLA? I've already slowed down the print and moved the fan speed to 100%, not sure what else to do.
Best Answer by Diem:
This sort of thing often happens with the seasons when changes in heating/aircon and resulting drafts change air currents around the printer.
I would expect snug support - or even grid, to work better here.
Cheerio,
RE: MK4 to MK4S Part No Longer able to Print
And why do you print such a monster as one piece? Cut it into pieces, print separately and then glue. It can also be cut in a slicer and you can even insert connectors in there to maintain the position of the parts during gluing.
This sort of thing often happens with the seasons when changes in heating/aircon and resulting drafts change air currents around the printer.
I would expect snug support - or even grid, to work better here.
Cheerio,
RE: MK4 to MK4S Part No Longer able to Print
miroslav.h4 - Trying to minimize post processing work. Agreed, part components and glue would be a good way to avoid this problem.
Diem - Thank you! I had not thought about the impact of the environment here. It is definitely colder in the area I am printing.
Update: Was able to get the part to print. Dropped the infill down to 50%, dropped the speed of the infill, dropped the number of top and bottom layers, and slowed the fan way down. I had been printing at fixed 100% fan but changed to a min/max spread of 10 to 100%. I thought there could not be too much cooling with PLA but in reading about large PLA prints, the layers can cool at different rates resulting in warp.
I think the root cause of this was that there was differential cooling in the section that was curling up over the supports. I think the MK4S fan running at 100% contributed to the difference in printing between the MK4 and the MK4s with the same settings. The print worked before with 100% fans on the MK4, with 100% fans on the MK4s, I kept getting this warping. Changing the slicer settings and lowering the %Fan on the MK4S allowed for me to prevent the warping and I'm back up and running again.
RE: MK4 to MK4S Part No Longer able to Print
Update: I rigged up an enclosure and was able to print my original settings. Thank you Diem for the help! The drop in temperature in my print space is likely to blame.