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jason.m3
(@jason-m3)
Active Member
Hotend not reaching temp

Hi,

I have had my MK2 for about two years. I replaced the thermistor about a year ago and all was well until recently. The printer stopped holding its temperature. I ran through the normal diagnostics and didn't see anything obvious so I ordered a new heater cartridge ( 12v 40w ) and thermistor.
I just installed and ran through the calibration and so on.

Running through the wizard I loaded PLA up but the hotend wont go above 160 degrees F - I checked the fuses, connections and the heater ports on the rambo are putting out 12v.

I am really stuck at this point as to what the problem may be. The bed seems to be fine as far as I can tell.

Any advice would be appreciated!
-Jason

Posted : 11/06/2018 12:22 am
JoanTabb
(@joantabb)
Veteran Member Moderator
Re: Hotend not reaching temp

Hi Jason, are you absolutely sure it's a 12 vol heater?

a 24 volt heater at 12 volts supply will give this sort of problem,

regards Joan

I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK

Posted : 11/06/2018 12:46 am
jason.m3
(@jason-m3)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Hotend not reaching temp

Hi Joan,

I did order a a 12v 40w heater cartridge, but is there any way to verify that is indeed what I have? Any other ideas on what could be wrong?

Here was my order from e3d

  • Heater Cartridge - 12v 40w, E-HEATER-12V-40W

  • Thermistor Cartridge, E-SEMITEC-50-MOLEX

  • Block & Sock V6 Upgrade Kit, V6-BLOCK-SOCK-KIT
  • Posted : 11/06/2018 6:12 pm
    jason.m3
    (@jason-m3)
    Active Member
    Topic starter answered:
    Re: Hotend not reaching temp

    I am at a total loss of what the problem could be at this point.

  • I bought another thermal cartridge (12v 30 watt) and Thermistor - still won't heat up past 180F ish

  • Bought a new mean well power supply - still won't heat up past 180F ish

  • Bough a new mini-rambo - still won't heat up past 180F ish

  • Tried a new wire for the termistor
  • In between all of that, I ran the calibration and PID tuning . I tried removing as many of the wires that I could from the rambo to eliminate a faulty motor, etc causing an issue.

    I basically had it down to the heater/thermistor, fans, and bed and I still couldn't get the hotend up to pla/abs temps. Could the bed be causing the issue? That is the last thing that I haven't replaced - I am pulling my hair out here? I have the whole printer torn apart!

    How do I bring up this issue with Prusa - I couldn't find a support contact.

    Thanks all.

    Posted : 24/06/2018 4:48 am
    jason.m3
    (@jason-m3)
    Active Member
    Topic starter answered:
    Re: Hotend not reaching temp

    Hey all. I still have not resolved this issue. I have pretty much replaced everything on the machine and have tried multiple firmware versions.
    I got really busy and just gave up, but finally got motivated to try again.

    Replaced:

  • Full hotend - everything including wires

  • Power supply

  • Rambo

  • Fans
  • Really the only things that I haven't replaced are the print bed and frame.

    What I have noticed is that if I unplug the left hotend fan, the hotend will reach the desired temperature. But i have also melted some of the hot end 3d printed parts in the process.

    I am all out of ideas - can anybody give me an idea or is there tech support that can help? 😡

    Posted : 20/09/2018 2:41 am
    Hackinistrator
    (@hackinistrator)
    Trusted Member
    Re: Hotend not reaching temp

    are you sure if its actually not heating , or maybe the temp reading is the issue ?
    maybe you ordered wrong thermistor .
    if your cold side was able to melt plastic extruder parts , your hot end temp was way more then 160f (even though you ran it without the fan)
    check if you can melt pla on the heater block when its at "160f"

    Posted : 20/09/2018 4:42 am
    jason.m3
    (@jason-m3)
    Active Member
    Topic starter answered:
    Re: Hotend not reaching temp

    Thanks for the reply.

    I bought a new block that came with a thermistor in addition to buying a few separately
    https://www.matterhackers.com/store/l/e3d-v6-block-and-sock-upgrade-kit/sk/M4PK1E1S

    You do bring up a good point about actually trying to melt the pla - I haven't tried that that - I was so focused on preheating.

    Posted : 20/09/2018 5:48 pm
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