I am working with three AW3D HD2X printers, and have only had them for a few months now. Printers Work Great out of the box, but after one or two uses extruder motor starts to bite on abs Creating what they call “Mouse Bite”. Now AIRWolf’s help desk is very responsive, although the responses were veg, they suggested some reasons why the “Mouse Bite” is occurring
I.E.
Hot end temp too low: If the nozzle temp is too far below the required extrusion temperature for the material loaded, then a mouse bite can occur when trying to feed. Make sure the nozzle is at the proper temperature for the material you are trying to extrude.
Bed too close to the nozzle: If the bed is too close to the nozzle, then the material will not be able to exit the nozzle. This blockage can cause a mouse bite. Make sure the bed is far enough away from the nozzle by using the z adjust screw.
Filament catching on the spool: If the filament spool is cross threaded or becomes stuck, then a mouse bite will likely occur. Make sure not to let filament unspool as respooling it can easily cause a cross thread. Make sure there is nothing touching the spool so it can spin freely on the spool minder.
Improper settings selected: Improper temperature, speed, fan, or retraction settings can easily cause a mouse bite. Make sure the proper settings have been used for the material you are printing with.
Incorrect filament diameter: Ensure your filament is the proper diameter (2.85mm +/-0.1mm). If the filament is too large in diameter, it will cause feeding issues resulting in a mouse bite.
Hot end not fully purged: If the hot end has not fully purged from the previous material, it can cause feeding issues and mouse bites. Though this will only happen if the previous material was a higher temp, it is still good practice to fully purge.
Dirty extruder assembly: Make sure the extruder assembly is clean and free of dust and debris. If there is excess filament shavings, the bolt can skip when feeding material.
so I have adjusted to make sure these are not an issue. And the Mouse Bite is still occurring at the temp rate of 250C bed at 110C
My Questions is: Is there another Airwolf user out there… and if so are they having the same reoccurring problem, and has anyone figured out a setting that counteracts the bite and prevents it from being a problem, maybe a “retraction” speed i should print with. Please Reply to me on this. THANKS!
We are Using the Airwolf HDx HDx and HDL And we had a lot of problems from the beggining. When I asked airwolf why the prinsts are so low quality they advised to use the Astroprint online tool. Now everything is fine you may wish to try this as well because Airwolf has worked with them and put a lot of usefull settings there . SO try it and give me info did it help.
i had some mousebites as well, until i started making sure the temp was right. If the filament is 3mm as opposed to the recommended 2.85, it can also cause some problems. i have had some 3mm filaments that when measured with the caliper, gave me 3.05, even 3.1! if you stick to premium filaments at 2.85, you should see no more mousebites
Also, i disassembled the extruder motor part, and when i removed the large gear to get the feeder bolt out, i saw that the notches where filled up with plastic debris. Once cleaned, i was up and running. Just a little maintenance and ready to go. do not over-tighten the 2 nuts on the outer part when reassembling, or your motor and gears will grind and make loud ugly sounds
Yes, yes, yes. As an Airwolf 3D HD owner, we have had constant issues with the mouse bite issues. We print now primarily with PLA and are still experiencing mouse bite and clogged extruder. At first, it was a problem caused by our filament diameter. We purchased digital calipers and realized that it the diameter varied wildly. This even included some of the filament that we purchased directly from Airwolf.
We’ve taken off the nozzle and cleaned with acetone. We’ve worked with the tech support to try to nail down the best Cura settings, and while it did help our print quality improve, we still have issues with mouse bite and clogs. I am part of group of 3D printers who have all sorts of models, and no one I know is consistently experiencing the same problems that we are with our AW3D. We’re getting ready to purchase another printer (actually several in the next few months) and I will NOT purchase another bot from AW.
Hi Atombits, sorry to hear those issues… If you think that the issues you’ve had with the AW printers, i assume you have not tried others. i suffered from tons of problems with my other machines, from the prusa i3 styles to commercial models, and those did generate a lot of problems. i have had some troubles at first only with my HD, not with the HDx or HD2x. most of which were my fault, and got constant support from airwolf in record time. I can’t emphasize how important the filament is, as well as going a bit high on temps. i love printing ABS, and i do it around 250-260, and get amazing results. If you want to see how well they can print, try some of the sample files included in the SD card. I realized a lot of my problems came from wrong settings in the slicing, so as ·d shapers say, try the Astroprint.com 9 web for getting the g-code. you will get amazing prints. I now only have HD models and have them running day and night, and as i said before, the are incredible if the settings are right on and you use the correct filament.
Thanks for the feedback, Tony. I glad to hear that you’re having such luck with the AW products, but you’re one of the first that I’ve encountered to give such a high review. I have used MakerBot Replicator 2, Ultimaker 2, and Flashforge (though only a limited number of times) without the same frustration I experienced with AW. Their support team is quick to respond, but their responses are often generic.
We are going to start printing in ABS again and would love if you could share your slicer settings for Astroprint. We have never tried it as tech support recommended Cura. We also have a license for Simplify3D. I appreciate any help you might provide.
all you have to do is go to astroprint.com 5 and you will understand.
you set up agree account, then you follow the very easy instruction. basically you upload your model, close the machine, the type of filament and the quality, and it will generate the g-code so that you can copy it onto the SD card. even in the preset settings you can customize them even more, like the best quality slices at 0,1mm layer, but the airwolf will let you go down to 0,06, so you can even edit the settings manually. i suggest you try the presets first. if you want to send me the stl files, i would gladly generate the g-code for you at the resolution that you want. let me know if you want!
Another possible cause is burnt filament clogging the extruder. If you manually turn on the heat in the extruder make sure you turn it off or start the flow going within a few minutes. If the extruder sits at hi temp it can burn and cause jams.
Is AstroPrint is a Cloud based Slicer? Am I correct? The Company I am working for is very discrete with its designs, so this makes me hesitant to use this program.
I also switched to silver PLA, and printed a car model hood which was 10 inches tall and 11.6 inches wide. It took 60 hours to print probably because of the 3 layers instead of two but successfully, which is a personal record. HDX is working great now.
