Can the MINI print carbon fiber materials?
Hello there.
I tried searching in the forum but could find a set answer.
I know I need to change the nozzle for carbon fiber materials, but is the extruder gear in the MINI a hardened one as well?
PrusaSlicer gave me already carbon fiber filled materials for the MINI, but I couldn't find anywhere a description that the gear for the MINI really is a hardened one.
Can someone maybe confirm this?
Thanks in advance.
RE: Can the MINI print carbon fiber materials?
I was able to successfully print a handful of carbon fiber parts with my Mini until the extruder started acting up. It started making a ticking sound at retraction and it stopped feeding the filament at a constant rate. Luckily, I'm still able to print a standard PETG well, but it definitely does not like the carbon fiber so I'm guessing the extruder gear is not hardened. It would have been really nice to know this before I bought the Mini because I pretty much only print with CF materials.
RE: Can the MINI print carbon fiber materials?
Carbon fibre damages by abrading the metal, so making the nozzle hole wider than it should be etc. Once damaged theres no going back. If your feed gear was physically damaged by the carbon fibre filament it wouldnt feed any filament after that. Same way a nozzle damaged would still print terribly when going back to a different filament. For carbon fibre printing you use steel or other similar hardened materials and not soft brass. Feed gears are steel. They wont be damaged by printing carbon fibre. Like any feed gear they can get dirty and clog up with filament 'dust' though.
The mini has multiple vectors for bad feeding, just read around the forums for all the threads on it so I would look for a far more common cause than steel gears damaged by carbon fibre.
RE: Can the MINI print carbon fiber materials?
A hardened nozzle is sufficient. I print weekly with CF PETG. No issues with my gears. The nozzles last be about a year.
Hello there.
I tried searching in the forum but could find a set answer.
I know I need to change the nozzle for carbon fiber materials, but is the extruder gear in the MINI a hardened one as well?
PrusaSlicer gave me already carbon fiber filled materials for the MINI, but I couldn't find anywhere a description that the gear for the MINI really is a hardened one.
Can someone maybe confirm this?
Thanks in advance.
--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Can the MINI print carbon fiber materials?
Carbon fibre damages by abrading the metal, so making the nozzle hole wider than it should be etc. Once damaged theres no going back. If your feed gear was physically damaged by the carbon fibre filament it wouldnt feed any filament after that. Same way a nozzle damaged would still print terribly when going back to a different filament. For carbon fibre printing you use steel or other similar hardened materials and not soft brass. Feed gears are steel. They wont be damaged by printing carbon fibre. Like any feed gear they can get dirty and clog up with filament 'dust' though.
The mini has multiple vectors for bad feeding, just read around the forums for all the threads on it so I would look for a far more common cause than steel gears damaged by carbon fibre.
I've printed thousands of CF parts on all my MK3 machines with great success. I've carried over all the same processes and filament to the Mini, but it looks like I'm going to have to figure out the trick with the Mini's extruder. I've tried all the obvious things like cleaning the steal nozzle, adjusting Z height, purging the nozzle, tightening the feeder gears, etc. I've looked at the extruder gears and it doesn't look like they are clogged with filament dust. Any other suggestions?