Need Help. Bad Prints after 6 months of flawless printing.
After owning the Prusa mini+ for 6 months, it started printing defects in every print. I thought it was an extrusion problem but I am not 100% sure. I keep printing Benchy's (from both the internet as well as the Benchy that comes in the default Prusa files on the USB flash drive) to see if I fixed the problem but no improvement so far. Everyone of the Benchy's share same flaws which can be seen in the photos below: Hull isn't smooth, hole at the top of the cabin, chimney is not straight. The first layer of every print is perfect so I don't think it has anything to do with first layer calibration and adhesion to the bed. I also noticed that the defects don't happen until around the 12th layer which I find odd. I don't hear any clicking or weird noises from the printer. Here is the stuff I already have tried/looked at:
- Replaced the nozzle
- Tightened the x and y belts
- Tightened the grub screws on the y-motor and the extruder motor
- Tried different filaments
- Raising the nozzle temperature to an absurd amount, 250°F. (I saw this on a reddit post to try this as a temporary fix. It helped with the hull of the benchy but still had plenty of defects.
Has anyone seen this before? Thank you for any help.
Best Answer by Diem:
Some of that filament looks suspect, dampness does obscure some symptoms...
Check your print fan and fan shroud. Clean the blades, remove any fine strings from the hub, make sure the shroud has not distorted or dropped out of line.
Clean and lubricate your smooth rods.
Please show us a picture of your hotend/nozzle assembly from two different angles.
Make your next print this:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/46639-tension-meter-for-the-gt2-belts-of-i3-mk3s-or-prus
It MUST be printed in Prusament PETG or the spring tension will be wrong.
Let us know how you get on.
Cheerio,
Some of that filament looks suspect, dampness does obscure some symptoms...
Check your print fan and fan shroud. Clean the blades, remove any fine strings from the hub, make sure the shroud has not distorted or dropped out of line.
Clean and lubricate your smooth rods.
Please show us a picture of your hotend/nozzle assembly from two different angles.
Make your next print this:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/46639-tension-meter-for-the-gt2-belts-of-i3-mk3s-or-prus
It MUST be printed in Prusament PETG or the spring tension will be wrong.
Let us know how you get on.
Cheerio,
RE: Need Help. Bad Prints after 6 months of flawless printing.
Funny you mention the print fan because it actually went out about a week ago and I have a new one coming but it wont arrive until Saturday. I thought the print fan was just for cooling the hotend and it wouldn't affect the print. I also thought I was getting bad prints before the print fan went out but maybe I was wrong about that. I forgot to mention in the post that I did clean/lubricate the smooth rods. I will clean the fan shroud for now, wait for the new print fan, and then see if that works.
Thanks for your help.
RE:
From your post I'm assuming you have the original hotend. Did you check your hotend and the PTFE tube inside? There is an (inofficial?) known issue with heat creep with the original hotend that leads to shrink the PTFE tube in the original hotend over time. You can replace it with capricorn tube that is way more heat resistant that the one provided with the hotend.
Another thing I had in summer time: The fan did not bring enough airflow. I had to replace the fan duct with a better one that improves the airflow (disclaimer: link to my design) and a noctua fan with an external 5V power supply (the fan is in FW limited to 40% power). Just FYI how you can optimize after you found the issue.
RE:
Funny you mention the print fan because it actually went out about a week ago and I have a new one coming but it wont arrive until Saturday. I thought the print fan was just for cooling the hotend and it wouldn't affect the print. I also thought I was getting bad prints before the print fan went out but maybe I was wrong about that. I forgot to mention in the post that I did clean/lubricate the smooth rods. I will clean the fan shroud for now, wait for the new print fan, and then see if that works.
Thanks for your help.
Is your hotend fan (cooling the hotend) or your part cooling fan (the one that cools your prints) not working? Just to be sure that I understand the situation. Both have of course an impact on your prints. Unless you use filament that has no cooling, then your part cooling fan is off and only the hotend fan will be relevant.
What material / filament (PLA/PETG etc.) are you using for this prints that failed? Just to understand the big picture 🙂
RE: Need Help. Bad Prints after 6 months of flawless printing.
My print fan was not working. Replaced it and issue was resolved.... thank you so much for your help