Help needed with prints stopping

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-23T01:19:55.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T01:22:10.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T01:23:45.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T01:36:49.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T01:38:55.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T01:39:28.000Z

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

Cheers

Andrew

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-23T01:40:23.000Z

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

Cheers

Andrew

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-23T01:42:39.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T16:06:34.000Z

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 · 2015-08-23T21:42:41.000Z

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!

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-24T01:32:50.000Z

Hi Drydock,

Was every single of your prints failing before you replaced the thermocouples and tightened the wires? I was getting sporadic failures only, could you let me know if you have any failures after you have printed a few more objects? (just to confirm this fixed it)

Cheers

Andrew

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-24T01:42:19.000Z

Ok thanks Nathan, I’ll have a play around and get back to you.

Cheers

Andrew

chanman · 2015-08-24T17:47:07.000Z

Andrew, here is a link to show how to replace the thermal tape, in the file there is a view of the print head from underneath, the nozzle is surrounded by kapton tape, this is the thermal tape. You can purchase this from Amazon etc.

Instructables

Replacing Extruder Nozzle and Thermal Tape on MakerBot Replicator 2

Replacing Extruder Nozzle and Thermal Tape on MakerBot Replicator 2 : Has your filament been curling up on the sides of your extruder? Did you come back to your 3D Printer and notice a giant glob of plastic taking over your build tray? Or has your...

Drydock · 2015-08-24T20:33:06.000Z

I have the same problem, I suspect a temperature problem so I am awaiting Thermistors (Thermocouples as CTC/Wanhao calls them) to be delivered. In the Makerbot program it stops with just a generic “Print Failure” window and with RepG it just stops printing with no change in the program. Any help would sure be appriciated!

-Bill-

UPDATE: Problem Solved. see elsewhere in this discussion.

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-24T23:27:29.000Z

Thanks drydock

Drydock · 2015-08-25T00:31:00.000Z

Actually the thermocouples and fan wires were 2 different problems (lucky me!). The faulty fan wires would allow a 10-15min print job but the thermocouples would throw a temp failure. Both thermocouples went out withen a week of each other and I would continue to print because when 1 went out I set the machine as a single extruder (Tool Count = 1) in the sailfish firmware. Trace your fan wires to the plug on the MB and move them around trying to get the fans to stop. If you can get them to stop, you have a problem. I am, of course refering to the MotherBoard fan and NOT the extruder fans (of which I thermal epoxied alum heatsinks w/fan on the back of the extruder stepper motors).

eBay item number:

351047246939

-Bill-

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-08-31T00:18:33.000Z

UPDATE

Ok so I stopped directing the lamp into the enclosure and I also took an old bedsheet off the top of the enclosure (which I was using to keep the heat it) and it seems (don’t wana jinx it) to have fixed it. I have run 9 prints with no stopping extruding including two 4 hour and one 13 hour print. Although now there seems to be a tiny bit less adhesion between layers but I will still keep tinkering with the settings.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions especially to @bumsarama who suggested running without the lamp.

Cheers

Andrew

EDIT

Ok so the first print I ran after this failed after about 30 mins (typical) but this was using the left nozzle (standard makerbot) and all the other prints that worked were using an upgraded nozzle on the right hand side. So I am going to try the right nozzle with the same print and see if it works

ZachCG · 2015-09-03T19:41:27.000Z

I was just having this same “notch” problem with the replicator 2x as well. Glad to see it has already been addressed. Raised the temp to 240 and am going to try it now. Excited and hopeful. Great site here!!

Andrew3dhubs44 · 2015-09-04T05:25:19.000Z

Please let me know how you go @ZachCG because I am still having troubles.

Cheers

Andrew

Manush_Prame · 2016-09-20T00:29:03.000Z

Hey Andrew,

I seem to have the same problem .The extruder gear is eating off the filament coz of the continuous tiny movements. And it makes a notch and it is not able to extrude further , usually freezes off after 3 to 4 layers(usually the supports). Did changing the thermal sheet in the extruder work? Or reducing the temperature work? I tried to reduce the velocity of the print to 10mm/sec(from 90mm/sec) to reduce the viscosity. It did not quite work for me. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem ?