The nozzles are known as a wear item. The belts are also wear items. They eventually (wear) out.
Change to some p3-D nozzles. High-Lubricity.
Also, some teflon tape on that hex key would work if its a problem for you. Over-tightening is the most common problem for this issue.
That’s pretty good, PLA or ABS? When I first got mine, all it would do is click all day and air print, and the printed part would get too hot and melt or collapse due to the ambient heat coming from the hotends. The cooling fan helped with this, and silicon insulating sleeves around the hotend made it even better. For ABS, I thought you do not want to have the active cooling fan on, as it can and most likely will mess up the print. Rapid cooling is what causes warping, so you don’t want it to cool instantly the way you would want PLA to cool. Cooling fans are mostly for PLA.
Remember that the printer uses 24v so maybe get a 10x40 PC fan and use a 12v adaptor. I used resistors to step down the 24v to 12 and used a amazingly quiet fan, Noctua 40x10mm. I replaced the fan cooling the stepper drives underneath as well. That fan dropped the printer from 70db to is it on?? You could also use a bec to step down to 12v. eBay Like this
If you find that you are printing air then you might have inconsistent filament diameter That can be an issue with the stock extruder. There is no tensioner for the stock extruder. it’s just a roller bearing and the stepper motor. The best thing for that is a new spring loaded extruder. This way the filament has constant pressure pushing it up against the drive gear. So when the filament gets smaller it won’t slip on the gear. I’m using this Mk8 Spring loaded Drive Block Replicator 1 / Duplicator 4 / FlashForge / CTC by thruit00 - Thingiverse. It solved my air print issues with some inexpensive white ABS.
sorry, replied to wrong person
Chris, I was actually thinking of directly connecting it onto one of the unpopulated terminals of the power supply and installing another switch on the faceplate. Might also add a linear potentiometer for speed control. That way I have simple control. I already did this with the LED lighting I installed (two 12v strips connected in series so that 24V could power them without any modification). Or Ive also considered attaching it to the unpopulated “extra” accessory slot on the board, but not sure if that would give the control I’m looking for.
Yeah I just got in a couple quiet fans, and cant wait to replace that screamer of a fan underneath! Noctua is awesome, used them on my last PC build and its dead quiet. Might just use two 12v fans in series for more air, that way I dont need a step down regulator either although I could just use an LM7812 or a little buck regulator. Are your linear bearings crazy noisy? After I replace that fan, that’s pretty much my only other concern… I’m quite sure its the bearings that I’m hearing, and gosh are they loud. Even after greasing with a little Superlube PTFE grease.
Excellent thank you Chris! I will grab a bottle next time I drive past the local firearm shop. Cheap too!
Actually the better choice is to connect to the unpopilated terminal for the fan by soldering the correct FET (same FET as all the other FETS), this way you control what layer the fan goes on by the code.
The issue then is you have to add that to the G-code every time before printing an object, which would be a pain. With a switch and a pot I could simply turn it on whenever needed rather than ruining a print and having to modify the code several times depending on when the fan would be needed.
Bob, after all the mods, I can print a wide range of temperatures now it just comes out nice every time. The most noticeable effect is simply the color shade of the plastic now, and I can mess around with temperatures. High 180’s to low 200’s and I only print in pla. Can print polycarbonate and other high temp materials now but I haven’t tried it yet.
My rollers are the noise maker now. I have a drill press arriving today and will drill out some brass bushing to replace the roller bearings, hopefully this weekend.
Yeah I’ve considered making some brass or bronze bushings on my lathe, but have heard mixed things about using them. I see many people changing out bushings to linear bearings on other printers stating it to be an upgrade. I suppose if they ever went out of tolerance I could just turn a couple new sets.
Hmm, that’s an issue for you? I often change settingsfor every print job, and turning fan on is a checkmark or a 1 instead of an 0 in the gcode. After I change my gcode it stays changed, and my fan always cuts on after layer 2… I don’t have to change the fan settings ever it just stays on for layer two at all times. I only print in PLA for now though.
I am wishing to find a recommended settings information for the possible different type of models - fill not fill nozzle temp, plate heat no heat… slowly learning and gathering information but sure screwing up on the way
Hey Roni, make sure to share some of your prints as a separate post and share some of your learnings or tips & tricks on how to 3D print with a CTC machine. I’m sure it will be helpful for many of the people here. Cheers
Chris …
HELP! I went to readjust the nozzles and quess what… I lost the set screw. Where can I get set screws. look like 3m but not sure of thread screw
Send me an email with your address and we can get one to you.
Hi Chris… I’ve designed a Fan mount for ctc printer, so you don’t have to keep taking the fan off, and you can adjust it HOT now… It’s at:-
I’m a proud owner of a CTC dual printer and having read this comment, would someone point me in the direction of said modifications, which would allow for 50 micron precision printing?
By the way, I have recently started using a sitall glass plate and am very pleased with the results, the glass works as advertised, no need for hairspray or tape or any other type of adherent, just the glass plate - but it needs to be at real world 110ºC or higher and I managed to achieve that by switching to the Sailfish firmware and replacing the thermistor on the heat bed, from the 50K one included to a 100K thermistor (with the original one I wasn’t getting the correct temperatures as registered by the printer).
That was the only actual modification I have done to my printer, I’m currently printing a few mod parts on thingiverse, so back to 50 micron precision, if anyone happens to know of a guide or information on this, please let me know…!
Many thanks in advance!
