Printer no longer extrudes correctly
I had some wood-infused PLA decide to self-destruct inside my printer. I had to take apart the extruder (following the guide) and push the filament through. The PTFE tube looked OK to me, so I put it back in. (I also changed the hotend from .6 to .4, as I was going back to plain PLA. I did remember to change the setting in the menu).
I re-adjusted the PINDA, and tried to adjust the first layer. But I couldn't get the rectangle at the end to fill in, so I thought maybe there was some gunk left. I did a cold pull, and it looked textbook. But I still can't get a successful run, so I'm thinking that the problem might be elsewhere. I am suspicious that it is not putting out enough filament because the starting extrusion isn't flat, it's curly. And it seemed that the more I tried, the worse it got (see -3, -2, last, which were .055, .127, .025: First tries were 0.0, .043, .078, .1).
I just don't know where to go from here. I've tried several different filaments, by different companies, and these examples are with the filament that came with the unit. I have the filament in dehumidified storage.
The links above are images, but I'll attach one as well.
Thanks!
Best Answer by bobstro:
It looks like you just need to re-calibrate your Live-Z. Perhaps you bumped the bed a bit when dealing with the clog. Not a big deal in any case.
RE: Printer no longer extrudes correctly
It looks like you just need to re-calibrate your Live-Z. Perhaps you bumped the bed a bit when dealing with the clog. Not a big deal in any case.
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He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Printer no longer extrudes correctly
Agree.
Z looks too high, give-away is the lines which are skewed and obviously not adhered to the bed.
I also see some smudges (finger grease?) on your print bed. Please be sure it's really most sincerely clean.
I'm sold on using any of the common 3x3 Z test prints over the internal routine, and I'll run one as a sanity check every so often. (photo below)
There's also a thread here on a more detailed bed level measuring and calibration here.
RE: Printer no longer extrudes correctly
@bobstro
This answer was amazingly helpful! The official instructions on Z axis adjust don't give a suggested increment number anywhere, and since the units on the interface are 0.001, increasing by 0.100 each time seemed incredibly reckless. Thanks for "giving me permission" to "go big".
I still used the built-in routine to dial it in: "Life Adjust" said that it was "only" 12 minutes, and that's way too long for my patience! However, once I thought I got the level set, at 1.0, I ran it, and it was good that I did: When I held it up to the light, I could see that it was a bit thin at spots, and .1 more was better.
It scared the crap out of me, though! It makes this horribly loud klaxon sound a little way in. I was not expecting that!
RE: Printer no longer extrudes correctly
@jsw
Thanks for the help! I gave my bed a good cleaning, and that helped a lot, too!
RE: Printer no longer extrudes correctly
I couldn't figure out how to attach the photos in time, so here they are.
RE: Printer no longer extrudes correctly
You'll find the "Life Adjust" approach goes quickly after a few times. There's nothing magical about that print, so you can generate squares of any size and thickness. I find I can usually eyeball the final adjustment about 25-50% of the way through a print. I do it when making any hardware changes and whenever adhesion gets flaky, along with a wash.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan