Extruder Jamming
Hello print enthusiasts.
The MK3 is my first printer. I started out excited but it's waning fast. The first test prints were beautiful. Mr. Triceratops, a vase and the dog. But then things went south when I tried the castle. I'm still using the PLA that came with the printer. The extruder jammed. So I went on a search to figure out why. This forum is awesome. I looked at the tip, the heat break and the PTE tube. There was a really good post about the new heat break and the 2.5mm to 2.0mm bore and how that causes problems with PLA. That's the path I went down. Well after much screwing around the problem did not get solved. An hour into every print it would puke out. Then I realized that the ambient temperature was way to high and that was probably causing cooling issues and the PLA was starting to expand before it hit the 2.00mm bore and would not go through. Well, I ordered a new heat break because I wanted to test a constant bore size all the way through so I drilled it out. Making it bigger of course but it actually helped a little. I live in a hot humid region and it's hard to keep my home tempered. Along with the heat break, I replaced the tip and the PTE tube. The new heat break is still the new style. I couldn't find the old style in the Eshop. I put a window unit in and took another crack at the castle. I did print a frog first as a test and it went well. Well, 11 hours in it jammed. Seriously!
So some things I noticed is that when it's printing detail and the feed slows and retracts is when it jams. The end also is bulb shaped so I'm guessing that it's not making it into the 2.00mm portion of the heat break. The tip is not actually clogging...and when I hit reset on the castle print I immediately noticed the hot end temp was down to 130. Far from the 215. Did the extruder temp drop suddenly? And if so why? I was able to preheat and pull the old filament out and load new just fine. I pushed material through to see if the temp would fluctuate and it did not. Something i did do prior to the print finishing was shut the AC off in the other room so the one in the room I was printing in was the only one running. I'm wondering if the slight rise in humidity and temp played a significant roll in the malfunction??
So my point behind this post?? I'm just throwing my current experience with my new printer with the hope that someone just might have a suggestion or insight that will help me better understand why it's being stupid and get me past this castle. It's a 12.5 hour print. It's a test of reliability...and it's failing. Once I get this castle I'm moving on to some small real print jobs. But I can't go there yet.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading. This has been one heck of a learning experience.
Happy day!
RE: Extruder Jamming
Did you assemble it yourself? If so, check that your PTFE tube in far enough into the hotend.
--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Extruder Jamming
I think mine was assembled incorrectly (at the factory) because the ptfe tube expanded into a gap, locking itself into place - or rather out of place. This caused constant jamming, so I took everything apart, burned the nozzle clean on the stove, put it back together with a new ptfe tube according to common directions and it works again.
RE: Extruder Jamming
Except that in the standard E3D-V6 assembly, there is no place in the heat sink or heat break for the PTFE to expand - let alone the temps required to deform Teflon like that. So something in the story is not making sense.
If the assembly was taken apart and not reassembled correctly, the heat break not fully inserted, then heated to 350c, well, I might see how it could happen... but...
RE: Extruder Jamming
Errors happen with human-made things, so I assume things weren't tightened properly. I also did crank the temp up that high to try to clear the jam which must be how that deformation happened.
I'm the master of weird. If something weird is gonna happen, I'm the one it'll happen to.
RE: Extruder Jamming
Thank you for responding. I did make sure the PTFE tube was in all the way. I found post on that in this forum. I've had it apart a couple of times now and make sure that it's in all of the way. It's surprisingly easy to NOT have it in all of the way.
RE: Extruder Jamming
I appreciate everyone's feedback. Thank you all!
RE: Extruder Jamming
Mine is jammed now with ABS so I am going to have to disassemble and clean it. I feel you pain and now I have my own.
--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Extruder Jamming
I think one of my problems may be that my PLA has to much moisture in it. Controlling the humidity in my home is very difficult. And the climate here is VERY humid right now. I store the PLA in a sealed bin with a moisture absorbent pack in it but the minute I take it out the game changes, Especially over a long print. I'm holding off until the humidity drops and am going to learn to dry the PLA or purchase new.
RE: Extruder Jamming
Errors happen with human-made things, so I assume things weren't tightened properly. I also did crank the temp up that high to try to clear the jam which must be how that deformation happened.
I'm the master of weird. If something weird is gonna happen, I'm the one it'll happen to.
To be clear, which end did you get the deformed PTFE out of the hot end? The collet side (top) or the nozzle/heat-break side (bottom)?
RE: Extruder Jamming
Bottom
RE: Extruder Jamming
looks like the heatsink was not completely screwed down on the heatbreak and left a gap
RE: Extruder Jamming
That’s my conclusion as well. Taking it apart & putting it together again fixed it. Odd that it came that way.