Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
Hey just a quick tip. I was 5 hours into a 12 hour print and my wipe tower failed. I have had this happen in the past and glue sticked it back in place with limited success. I couldn't do that this time. I was going to trash the print, because random filament was getting all over the print. My wife suggested using painters tape. I was able to match the height and it worked perfectly. The tape was perfect. It's soft enough for the nozzle to dip into if you don't get the height exactly right.
Just thought I would pass this along since it saved my print and could help others.
strato
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
I had a similar issue and a very large print, the wipe tower was not saveable.
So I eyeballed the level with some post it notes and that worked!
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
Great idea. I’ll have to remember that one. anything to save a print!
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
While these ideas are nice, I'd rather have a non-failing wipe tower. *sigh* specifically I'm trying to print a multi-hour delicate thing with .1mm layer height, without babysitting the printer if at all possible. So far zero luck, the thing always rips off at its base.
It'd help if you could print a chamfered wedge around the base …
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
Have you tried a bit of glue (Elmer’s glue stick) at the footprint of the tower before printing? Works like a charm for me. I found that after many many prints the surface of the stock build plate doesn’t hold the print as it did when brand new.
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
Yes, actually. It helped somewhat, but a tower that detaches 80% into the print on average is not that much more useful than one that detaches at 50%.
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
Hi,
Adjust the Angel of the Tower, give it more perimeters or raise the heatbed Temperatur and use 3dlac spray.
Happy printing!
RE:
For me, it's an issue with the 0.25 mm nozzle (which I use heavily but it's not officially supported with MMU) but probably others too if layer height is low (seen it happen with 0.4 mm as well).
I print ASA / ABS at the upper end of the temperature range, which probably makes it worse.
What happens is that the nozzle spends too much time too close to the wipe tower, causing it to soften, rough up and eventually getting stuck. Either the wipe tower gets ripped off or the head steppers slip (XY layer shift).
The solution for this failure mode is the following piece of G-code in "Printers" / "Custom G-Code" / Tool change G-code:
G1 Z+10 F10000; avoid melting into wipe tower (-mn)
It lifts the nozzle by 1 cm before the slow change process.
If in doubt, symptoms are a wipe tower surface that gets rougher over time near the spot where the nozzle lingers during change, then collision.
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
1st of all, thanks for this! It sounds like this is the solution.
I've tried it and the printer ignores it 🙁
I've added the piece of code at the end, so my guess is i did it wrong.
I am never messing with G code at all, so a tip would be very welcome, maybe even with a snippet of your custom code.
TIA.
RE: Quick tip: Wipe tower failure fix
I could not edit my reply above ( moderators busy ) 🙂
So I am stupid. I just noticed the scroll bar in prusa slicer and added your code in Toolchange.......
Now I am waiting for the result, but i am sure it'll work.
Thanks again!