AIRWOLF 3D HD2X Mouse bite

[Jordan_Dawson]

Hi all,

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!

[3dshapers]

Hi,

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.

[tonycerda]

Hi.

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

[tonycerda]

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

[3dshapers]

Yes that is true filamanet must be very good quality 2,85 as Airwolf recomend .

[atomsbits]

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.

[tonycerda]

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 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.

[atomsbits]

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.

[tonycerda]

Sureb thing!

all you have to do is go to astroprint.com 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!

[Jordan_Dawson]

I don’t not this this is my problem, we are using the abs provided by AW but thanks for feedback

[typo]

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.

[Jordan_Dawson]

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.

[atomsbits]

Thanks for the tips. I’ll try out it out and let you know my results.

[Jordan_Dawson]

So you mean to tell me that the Filament you purchased from AW wasn’t consistently 2.85? That is a shame.

Unfortunately we have three AW and have to make due with what we have.

but thank you for your comments

[Inventeo3d]

Hi I’m experiencing the same issues with clogging on my Airwolf HDX using only 2.85 mm platinum ABS filament purchased from Airwolf mid January 2015. I seem to be getting 3 to 4 decent large prints (11.6 inches wide 1 inche high in Z height) using Cura, and then I tried a taller and faster print and it clogged. I even experienced a clogged nozzle trying to print one of the vases off the company provided SD chip. So my printer does not work well on the fast print settings but prints decent on the normal or fine .15 to 0.06mm. After doing research, I found a printing group on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kihip31Ari8

and they had some good suggestions when printing ABS and PLA. and here are some of my useful suggestions:

1. For ABS: Print the first layer at 260C and then change the remainder of the print at 240C. (from the youtube group)

2. Heat the bed first and the Extruder 2nd and print minutes after.

3. After printing, retract the filament about 10 mm

4. Check the feeding assembly for dirty flakes of filament before printing your next print

5. Have an extra nozzle on hand in case you get another clog

So my question is IF we all are getting clogs with 0.5 mm nozzles, wouldn’t it make sense to make a 0.75 mm nozzle or even a 1 mm diameter nozzle for really large parts? Attached are some successful parts (Aston Martin Model parts)…

[tonycerda]

Mousebites may act strange and make it seem as if the nozzle is clogged, but it is really that the filament is slipping and not being fed, and it feels as if it’s clogged.

I got rid of mouse bites with 2 steps and back to great prints:

1-Pull off the retaining pin, pull it sideways against the springs as if you were inserting new filament, take an air source, like a compressed air can, or a compressor, or any other source of spraying DRY air, and clean the feeder assembly from small particles.

2- if 1 doesn’t do it, i disassembled the cfeeder unit by removing the back panel with the included allen wrenches. then remove the 2 top screws on the feeder assembly. it should swing downwards. take off the 2 nuts that hold the bobbed bolt in place. careful not to lose any washer or the bearings. remove the bolt and clean ALL the grooves that are probably filled with debris. Reasemble everything in the correct order. important to put the washer in the same position. do n to over tighten the nuts on the bolt. make them tight against each other, but make sure that the gear turns freely and not over tight.

That should put you back on great prints and no mousebites.

[Inventeo3d]

Tony, thanks for the great advice. I’m going to clean out my assembly this evening since it’s looking pretty dirty.

[Inventeo3d]

Here is an update on my extruder jamming problems I was having with my Airwolf HDX single extruder printer with premium ABS from their website.

Here’s what WORKED for me.

1. Spray out the inside of the extruder assembly with office canned air as suggested.

2. Remove filament and SPRAY CANNED AIR UP THE FEED TUBE. I did this and you wouldn’t believe all the filament particles that came blowing back out of the feed tube.

3. Check your file in Meshmixer for holes. I tried printing the same file twice and kept getting jams because of a bad file/hole that caused an error and curled the filament up around the hot end. I tried a different file as a test print and it printed perfect.

4. After a print, pull the filament completely out and check the front tip for a bulb that will cause you problems on your very next print. Then cut that bulb off the tip of your filament, and reinsert it.

5. Lastly, I printed a successful 8 hour print using Matter Control and Slic3r for slicing with the following ABS settings:

SPEED MULTIPLIER: 1.1

EXTRUSION MULTIPLIER: 1.1

EXTRUDER TEMP: 240/1st Layer; 237 to 235C rest of the layers

BED TEMP: 120/1st Layer; 115 to 110 rest of the layers

LAYER HEIGHT: .20 mm

PERIMETER: 1 mm

I hope that this post helps at least one of you to avoid as many headaches I have had trying to dial in this printer. I am now successfully printing out my 2nd 8 hour print that is 11.6 inches long x 4 inches wide and about 2.5 inches high on the Z height. Thanks for all the suggestions too.

[cm3D]

I have just recently encountered some mouse bites as well… I think I might have figured out the problem though and no one is really touching on it… Heat Creep. Normally this is an issue with PLA, but I think we are experiencing it on the HD2X with ABS. If I print with the fan on (which is mainly a extruder fan, not a print fan), it prints great…without it though, I believe the heat is building up in the filament and the gear can’t push it through the hotend. Anyway, something that you can look at when you a re trying to print. Turn the fan on manually or any other way right from the very begging and see how it goes.

Aaron

-Cm3D

[Inventeo3d]

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.