Can a Mk3 fly ?  

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

[...] bobstro - Prusa post may say about considering leaving enclosure door open for PLA, but it mentions for part cooling fan, part cooling for me worked OK. I think they should at least add that Extruder motor could get hot and cause issue with PLA.
Watch these forums as many parts of the world go into summer. I suspect we'll see another spike in "extruder click" and "heat creep" posts as it warms up.

The heat creep problem doesn't have any one source. For some, ambient temps alone are high enough to cause problems, sometimes exacerbated by an enclosure. For others, the combination of a hot extruder motor combined with simply warmer temps seems to be enough to introduce more heat to the extruder. Some folks get carried away printing the nice looking fan covers off Thingiverse and wind up killing airflow. Others find the extruder idler sticking, creating more work. Others inadvertently use excessive retractions which contribute to the problem. Putting a comprehensive list of possible contributing factors would make for a very dull blog post! The R3 extruder parts were released to help with the problem, but obviously ambient temps and anything that adds heat is still going to work against you.

I think there needs to be a general "heat awareness" in the community. Prusa has posted info and there's plenty about, but I see similar problems with other printer described in posts in the Reddit 3D printing forums as well. It's one of those things that's obvious once you're aware of it, but that a new user might not immediately realize.

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

Hopefully my issue is resolved.
Prusa LiveChat, after I sent them pictures of tension screws and unloaded filament and after discusions yesterday, determined there is a fault with my extruder motor (last night ambient was 25C and motor temp got to about 70C).

I think I have learnt I should have asked LiveChat sooner before replacing hot end.

When the replacement arrives I think I will leave enclosure door open for PLA, probably would be OK closed by the sounds of things but just to be sure.

bobstro - I agree, better awareness of potential heat issues across all printers would be good.

For me I think this issue is resolved, think it only fair to mention Prusa LiveChat were very good and sorted it out.

Thank you for all the reponses, even the ones that didnt directly help were good as I lerned a lot.

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

Watch these forums as many parts of the world go into summer. I suspect we'll see another spike in "extruder click" and "heat creep" posts as it warms up.

I think we are already seeing this happen, based on various recent posts throughout this forum.

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

Watch these forums as many parts of the world go into summer. I suspect we'll see another spike in "extruder click" and "heat creep" posts as it warms up.

I think we are already seeing this happen, based on various recent posts throughout this forum.

Wil that still happen if you have AC?

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

Watch these forums as many parts of the world go into summer. I suspect we'll see another spike in "extruder click" and "heat creep" posts as it warms up.

I think we are already seeing this happen, based on various recent posts throughout this forum.

Wil that still happen if you have AC?

Ambient temperature is just one factor. As @bobstro wrote a few posts up, things such as: ambient temp, extruder motor temp (heat transfer to the filament through the shaft and gears), heatbreak cooling, filament path resistance, bondtech gear tightness... I'm sure there are more too.

A/C will help the ambient part but not much else.

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

Just throwing out ideas here but have you tapered the inside outside of the lower end of the PTFE tube?

Maybe there's something in here:
https://e3d-online.dozuki.com/Wiki/V6_Troubleshooting

THere are neat little tools to cut and chamfer on thingverse.

Re: Can a Mk3 fly ?

Just throwing out ideas here but have you tapered the inside outside of the lower end of the PTFE tube?

Maybe there's something in here:
https://e3d-online.dozuki.com/Wiki/V6_Troubleshooting

THere are neat little tools to cut and chamfer on thingverse.

After struggling trying to get the outside chamfer, I finally saw a note on the Prusa website that a pencil sharpener works well.
It works much better than trying to hold a Teflon tube, a razor blade and the fixture while rotating said Teflon tube. Do this end first, cut perpendicular where you want, then make the lengthwise measured cut.