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Oozing and Stringy printers  

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Andon
(@andon)
New Member
Oozing and Stringy printers

Greetings everyone,

At my job I've come into the position of keeping an eye on our small fleet of 3D printers, all of them Mk3 (Not 100% sure if they're MK3, MK3S, or MK3S+ - I think they're all Ss but again. Not sure).

I'm not a stranger to 3d printers, I've had my own for several years - and there's reams of useful info on how to do pretty much everything on these printers. However, two of the printers are having issues that I can't quite track down.

One oozes. Slowly and continually will ooze if it's brought up to temperature. When it comes time to print, it prints fine, but it does have a habit of leaving strings everywhere, which is pretty annoying. All of the stuff I'm coming up with is "Adjust your settings" which, well. Not the case for this, since it'll ooze during the preheat stage, or if I simply turn the temperature on. I assume I'm missing something when it comes to finding the right info - the right keyword, the right tutorial, so any help on that is useful.

Another one is super, super stringy. Again, it prints fine, and again, everything I'm coming across says to address it with settings. However, it's not settings - All of the printers use the exact same files, and this one is the only one with the issue. It's also not the filament - It's been changed multiple times, and even swapped with other printers. This printer is the only one that strings this much.

I've come to the conclusion that both of these issues are either mechanical in nature (Too much tension on a screw, not enough, something worn out, etc), or that it's a setting in the printer itself that causes the issue, since as I mentioned it's literally the same files on all of the printers and these are the only ones with these particular problems.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Opublikowany : 21/07/2022 5:43 pm
Diem
 Diem
(@diem)
Illustrious Member

Pictures of failed prints would help us diagnose - please ensure we cannot confuse the two machines as the issues may not be similar.

Please confirm: The same roll of filament switched from one machine to another will string on only one of them and will return to normal when swapped back..?

Are you printing abrasive filaments?  Might some of the nozzles be very worn?

Cheerio,

Opublikowany : 21/07/2022 7:21 pm
Andon
(@andon)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Oozing and Stringy printers

Due to the fact that this is company stuff, I can't provide pictures of prints. Plus, they print fine, one just strings.

Filament is matterhacker black PLA, with no additives or other fancy stuff. And yes, if I take Roll A from the stringy printer to a different one, it doesn't string, and then moving it back, it goes back to stringing. Similarly, if I take Roll B from another printer that doesn't string and put it on the stringy printer, it strings, but no stringing is present if I move it back.

Entirely possible the nozzles are old.

Opublikowany : 21/07/2022 7:26 pm
Diem
 Diem
(@diem)
Illustrious Member

Inspect the nozzles.  Rounded edges, grooves, the end worn back in any way are all likely to cause issues.  Nozzles are cheap to replace so should be part of long term maintenance cycles in any case - with PLA 4000 - 5000 hours printing is about the expected life.

Can you divert one machine at a time to produce a diagnostic print?  A benchy or similar should demonstrate significant issues without compromising your company's intellectual property.

Cheerio,

Opublikowany : 21/07/2022 8:00 pm
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