Help needed with prints stopping

[chanman]

I had this same problem with my rep 2, turned out to be what most people have commented on. Many small steps and movement, this causes the filament to be pushed and pulled back very quickly and the filament drive gear eats away at the filament so it can not move the filament anymore. I ended up replacing the thermal tape around the extruder to prevent heat from going into the feed tube and making the filament soft near the drive wheel and then turning down the extruder temperature by about 5 to 10 degrees depending on the filament that I was using. Hope this helps.

[Tramalot]

If it does not click then I doubt it’s a jam.

do you calibrate for density?

is your ext spring loaded? is your drive gear tight? does your spool drag?

[CC3D]

One modification I made to my R2X that has resulted in far fewer print failures (Actually can’t recall any since fitting this) was to move the filament reels from behind the machine to above on a bearing system. Does away with the guide tubes and reduces friction in the feed system. You can see it in this video http://www.chriscameron.co.nz/cc/cc-vlog-01-makerbot-mods/

(The spooling mod makes an appearance at 3:20)

[Daniel_Gray]

Heat the tips and make sure they are screwed in all the way. Some tips are not all the way and mushroom inside causing clogs. Also upgrade arms and get rid of the default maker it assembly.

[Lembach3D]

Hello Andrew

looks familiar.

I am just taking a wild guess.

You printing environment is a little warmer than usual?

Your enclosed chamber heats up over the time of one print?

The failing layers have much less material than the starting layers?

I guess your filament is warm and soft long before it enters the extruder.

Try without the lamp.

Most important: Try printing with open hood to cool down the chamber.

Your temp is already low, but maybe you need to go lower?

[Joe_Harper]

Makerbot charges a base cost of $100.oo to address a support question. that is after your 60 days of warranty coverage are up…

I actually wrote a scathing article about it when i dealt with an issue related to service after my bot was just 10 months old.

How to alienate your biggest fans: What happened to MakerBot?

[3dpGeek]

I had a problem with the software not loading on my computer because of an update and they wanted me to pay to open a case so they could tell me how to fix their software. This is why I hate makerbot

[Joe_Harper]

Yeah. You are basically on your own after about 60 days. So might as well just install sailfish firmware and get on with your life.

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Hi lpercifield,

Yes it has a notch on it where the extruder gear is eating into it, yeah I tend to agree that it is lots of little movements and extrusions. By screw type extruder you mean the one you can adjust with an allen key to change the tension?

Ok thanks I will try some stuff out and get back to you.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Hi Doug,

Thats interesting, I found that I had to bump up the bed plate in winter to keep more heat in the enclosure to stop warping. Ok thanks, I will try a few of these suggestions out and get back to you.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Yes I have to say I am less than impressed with their customer service and given the fact that their printers do not seem to be the best (look at Zortrax way outstripping them on the 3D hubs rankings) I don’t know how they think they are going to compete, maybe just flashy marketing. Anyway nice article Joe, thanks for the share.
Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Hi Lembach3D,

Hmm I think I may get more warping of the part if I print without the enclosure (plus I like to keep the fumes away from me) but I’ll give it a go and let you know my results.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Hi Daniel,

What do you mean by upgrade the arms and default maker it assembly? I’m pretty sure the tips are screwed in all the way, I am running one default tip and one upgraded to compare them and they seem to be the same so far.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Hi Chris,

That’s a good idea, I was thinking of doing almost the exact same thing, nice video btw. I’ll let you know my results.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Hi Chanman,

Ok thanks for the advice, you don’t happen to have a picture of what you did do you? I don’t quite understand where the thermal tape is around the extruder.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Ok thanks CB, I’ll let you know the results.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

I’ll post the results of my testing soon so hopefully we can solve a few more problems.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew3dhubs44]

Thanks everyone for the responses, I am going to go through and look at everyone’s advice and then run a few experiments. Then I will post the results so that everyone can see what (hopefully) worked.

Cheers

Andrew

[ProtoPrynt]

I had a similar issue on our reprap, the solution was to slightly increase the printing temperature or slow down your print speed to allow filament time to melt, aswell as increasing retraction length to 5 mm giving the hobbed bolt a little extra filament to work with reducing the amount of chew happening to a particular spot in the filament.

hope this helps!

Nathan @ Protoprynt

[Drydock]

SOLVED!

Hey guys, My thermistors (so -called thermocouple) came in and I replaced both of them and still getting print failures. What it turned out to be is where the MotherBoard fan plugs in, or rather where the wires go into the plug. When I jiggled/pushed/pulled on the wires and plug I could get the MB fan to stop. I just had to strip the insulation back on both wires and tighten them both down. While I was in there I added a fan on the right side panel blowing in over the motherboard. Hope I am not premature as my first print is only 47% done at this point but I THINK it’s fixed!

Update: PROBLEM SOLVED… see above text.

Ran a 2hr 15min print perfectly!