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12 / 17
Nov 2015

Hello everyone

a couple of days ago i started to have a problem with my davinci 1.0A when printing PLA (havent tested it with ABS). it will start extruding but it will do a strip of 5cm and then for 1 cm nothing. the strips will become shorter and shorter until it wont extrude anymore its stuck. also it is making a clicking noise. so when i open the extruder the PLA what was supposed to go into the nozzle was to thick. so i started searching online and they said recalibrate the bed so i did this 3 times no luck. another guy said that the temperature was to low but i am printing 200C and also tried 195C and 205C. in the attachment you can see how te end of the PLA looks like when i open the extruder and pull the PLA wire out of the nozzle (it is 33% larger than it is suppose to be compared to the rest of the PLA wire what is 1.75mm). also there is a picture what will show the strips of 5cm.

I have also noticed that a little flexible cap on the hotend where the tempeture sensor is located had fallen off. I dont know of this will show a false tempeture reading and will make the extruder to hot or to cold.

what is really strange about this all is that i printed PLA before with the same settings and same color just fine.

so here are the details

  • Davinci 1.0A
  • Repetier host 0.92
  • temperature 200C
  • Bed temperature 60C
  • bed hight calibrated with a sheet of paper.
  • PLA from 123-3d.nl apollo home brand.
  • extra strong hairspray as sticking material.
  • cleaning nozzle and bed every 3 prints.
  • 2 days and 8:52 hours and 293.3m printed in its life.
  • wire supposed to be 1.75mm when pulled out of nozzle something like 2.3/2.4mm

Greetings Sieuwe
IMG_3870_2015-11-19-2.JPG

Hey I just wanted you to know I read your message. I know some people had a lot of issues with pla and use some sort of lubricant so it extrudes a bit nicer. I’ve personally only printed abs myself. Would you be able to put a picture up of what exactly you mean?

The clicking you are hearing is the extruder feed gears slipping on the filament and they’re scooping out a chunk of your filament. Two things cause this for me:

1) remove your extruder and clean 25 the “gears” that feed the filament.

2) check your bed height. I have had exactly this happen in both PLA and ABS when my bed height was too close to the extruder. It just requires too much force to feed the filament, and it slips.

Once it does it enough, #1 becomes almost mandatory because the filament particles get shaved off and embed in the feeder teeth. This limits the extruders ability to “grip” the filament and it gets worse and worse.

Mineral oil is the “lubricant” mentioned by Brandon. You can print a “filter” 22

One or both of the above should get you going again.

Please follow-up with the results.

Thanks,

Steve

Hello steve

i have already checked the bed hight with a peace of paper but i will clean the gears and try to lubricate them like you said tonight.

Tanks for you post

greetings sieuwe

I agree with the others who have posted here, I have issues with clicking on my DaVinci when the bed height is improperly set or it fails to set the bed height correctly during the auto probe. Clicking also occurs if you are not setting the heat properly and are trying to push plastic through that has not hit the extrude temperature. Your DaVinci should have come with a couple of tip cleaners as well, these are invaluable to keeping your printer running right. Heat your extruder up to 200ish (pla) - 230ish (abs) and then use the tip cleaner to thoroughly clean out the inside of the tip. Twist the cleaner inside while moving it in and out of the tip. This will clean any possible gunk that’s inside. After this extrude 10-50 mm of filament to push any gunk out of the tip, if it curls off to one side then clean it again. It should extrude and move directly downwards without curling to one side. It’s going to be a little mushroomed at the end when pulled out due to how it compresses inside the chamber prior to extrusion.

Hello

so i cleaned the gears and started a print. In the begining it seemed promising but after a few minutes it stopped extruding. When i unclogged it again and started a new print it clogged up again. I am hearing the clicking sounds of the stepper still. Isint it possible that the filament melts to early and the cools down and becomes to thik for the nozzle and just blockes?

i treid on 200C with a red color and also blue color. I cant try the tip of lubricating the filament bequase i need to print the part first.

EDIT: when i extrude into the bin at the home position of the extruder it is coming out straigt and i can extrude 100mm without a problem but when starting to print it wont extrude anymore.

greetings sieuwe

Take out the filament, get a tiny amount of Olive/Canola and simply stick the end of the filament into the end of the oil and get a single drop on it. That is more then enough to lubricate the filament. Then run in through just like normal and extrude 50mm without printing. Try turning up the heat as well, you can go to roughly 240ish before hurting the hotend in this printer.

You could simply wipe a couple meters of the filament with mineral oil to see if that helps. You don’t need to print the “filter” to get some benefit.

If you try the olive/canola oil, I suggest you stick with canola as olive can burn at the higher extruder temperatures.

I suggest you revisit your bed height. I know you say you’ve confirmed it, but I would encourage you to lower it a small, fixed amount at all three adjusters and see if the issue changes.

You’re probably already doing it, but just in case, make sure you are cutting off all the chewed up filament and starting with fresh.

Try decreasing/increasing your feed rate slightly to see if it changes.

Check your filament diameter and make sure it’s in spec.

Steve

Reverse what Steve says regarding the oil… Canola burns at 205 c while OO burns at 271 c so in this printer Olive Oil would be greatly preferred as you are unable to reach the temperatures safely to burn OO. You can easily reach the temps that would burn Canola. Mineral oil burns at 320 c and would be best, but most often is not available in a standard household. I consider my household a working one, with tons and tons of development equipment and I have exactly zero bottles of mineral oil on hand.

After reading your edit, the issue points to your bed being incorrectly set. If you can extrude properly to the waste bin then and not when printing, then the issue is your bed height in relation to the tip. There are several videos on youtube on leveling your bed properly. I have tried all methods, including a machinists dial and the paper method and dialing in the screws is the only way to fly. It will take you a half hour+ to get the bed level properly and this is the most important aspect. Using this method I can get my bed within .02 variation between the test positions and my prints, well are spot on.

I respectfully disagree. All references I have found comparing oils show Olive oil smoke point at 193°C or lower. Canola at 204°C.

And I know of my own experience with a cooking pan. Olive oil is very easy to burn. Canola has a little more margin for error.

Steve

Very good to hear. Da Vinci bed height issue strikes again. Mine has the unfortunate feature of an incorrect offset between the metal contact points and the glass. Calibration gets the bed level, but the height is WAY off.

I’ve given up on the calibration routine. I just use the paper method. Works pretty well.

Happy printing.

Steve