Consistent Clogging / Heatcreep with Hardened Steel Nozzle
I'm getting consistent Clogging and/or Heatcreep, specifically when trying to print a set of parts in Matterhackers Pro PLA with a Hardened Steel Nozzle. It's worth noting I am printing in a closet, which brings the ambient temperature to around 30C, but I've never had a problem like this with brass nozzles, and it's only been happening in the last week, despite me having the hardened steel nozzle installed for over a month. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
*In regards to the picture of the filament being held in front of the extruder, I grabbed it out from the top and lined it up in the same spot for the photo, so the bulge is indeed happening somewhere in the PTFE or heatbreak.
RE: Consistent Clogging / Heatcreep with Hardened Steel Nozzle
One ongoing theory I have is that I'm either printing too cold for it to extrude properly with the hardened steel nozzle (ie. 210C), and printing hotter to adjust for this is too hot it leads to heat creep (225C).
RE: Consistent Clogging / Heatcreep with Hardened Steel Nozzle
Not that it helps much saying it but even though many people apparently have had good success with hardened steel nozzles, in my hands I found them to be somewhat temperamental and more work to dial them in than I was willing to invest. I have been running tungsten carbide nozzles now for quite a while on all my printers and haven't had s single clog not caused by stupid operator error like not properly cleaning out PC blend residues before printing PLA...
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: Consistent Clogging / Heatcreep with Hardened Steel Nozzle
I'll look into that, thanks. I'm thinking of just switching back to brass for now, and only switching to the hardened steel when I need to print something abrasive (specifically glow-in-the-dark PLA)