ABS Printer Malfunction

[Allan Merz-Rosendale]

Hey whoever was printing in blue ABS today (4 Oct) the hot end clogged a few hours ago. I stopped the print.

[Lisa P]

Thank you, will try again a different day.

Chris, what causes that and how do I prevent it?

[Ray Scheufler]

There are a few things that can contribute to a clog.  Too low of a temperature for the material can cause clogging.  Miscalibration of initial layer height too low can cause backpressure leading to a clog.  Leaving the hot end hot with material in it for too long can cause heat creep that then future extrusion can not maintain enough heat to cause good flow.  Crappy material with imperfections / contaminates in it can impede flow leading to heat creep / clog.

Before you start a print, when you have the hot end nice and warmed up, you should be able to apply some pressure on the feed wheel and see the extrusion come out straight down.  If it comes out of the nozzle and immediatly curls or deflects, the nozzle is starting to clog.

I am not surprised that we have a clog.  It is pretty normal to need to clean the nozzle out every couple of months.  I just accept it as a maintainence item which is why we have a spare nozzle to drop in.  I'll try to swing by this evening after the board meeting and swap nozzles out.

Ray Scheufler

On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 3:46 PM, Lisa P <mrsjp...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Thank you, will try again a different day.

Chris, what causes that and how do I prevent it?

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[Ray Scheufler]

Forgot one other.  If the filament gets bound on the roll, it will prevent feeding which will allow heat creep to happen and when the binding is resolved it can be clogged.

Unfortunatly I was unable to repair the V2 last night.  Details in another email.

Ray Scheufler