I’m thinking by saying “cross-wound” that could also be known as “twisted”
I have seen the effect of twisted filament upon a print, it can actually be so twisted that it’s able to pull back upon the extruder causing it to skip and click. If you feel the filament you should be able feel the tension within. When it’s not twisted, it feels relaxed same sort of feeling when you first place in the extruder. Sometime you can rotate the reel 180 in opposite direction of the twist or another method is to unwind until you see the twist; then wind back on the reel keeping the twist off the reel.
I done it a few times to almost the end of a reel but was able to print with once the twist was removed.
I had reduced the retraction to 2mm originally it was max of 4 as this has a bowden tube. My filament keeps getting bound up/stuck in the hotend somewhere. ive disassembled the hot end several times and restarted but within 30 minutes or so it is slowly getting bound up again
I think I misunderstood what you guys mean by twisting. The more a filament sits out in the open air the more it holds it’s curl and gets brittle. Hard to see what’s causing the waviness in the photo, but I suppose I could see my little stock mini kossel extruder struggling to pull that through consistently.
I was talking about where you can’t pull the filament off the spool because it’s tangled up in the other windings; maybe it’s more common on large spools. Once a spool does it to me, it’s a repeating problem. Sometimes it clears with a tug, others it needs more TLC - so I just wind spools onto new ones once this happens, working through all the knots.
Thumbs up on the ESun cleaning filament. I just got some this week (ordered thru Amazon), and manually pushed about an inch worth through each 0.4mm hot end and then just pulled it back out. They were both printing hairlines that would curl up around the nozzle, even after I cleaned the nozzles and the heat break tubes with a blow torch (probably leaving some carbon traces behind.) Apparently PVA can really clog things up. Then after the cleaning filament, they were squeezing out straight 0.4mm extrusions and printing nicely again. I was truly amazed.
I printed a little filter container for the filament, put a small sponge in with a few drops of vegetable oil and closed the lid, there is a small hole to feed the filament through, Besides cutting sections of the poor roll I added this to help ensure less jams. Dont know if it actually helps or not
I had a problem like this and it turned out the hot end thermistor was shorting out. This was causing the hot end to cool and then it would jam. Run it until it starts to jam and then check the temp of the hot end.
I have never had to clean my filament and I print alot. I think jams are generally due to the nozzle being too close to the build platform or incorrect temp.
I’ll suggest some of the various issues that come to mind.
1: Are you using ABS or PLA? - Most PLA filament I know of prints at 190-200c. ABS prints at 230c, so the 205-220 range you listed doesn’t really fit either of them very well. If you’re printing at too high a temp for PLA it might liquefy too soon in the hotend, expanding into areas and jamming the whole operation up. Additionally, pick up a spool of Hatchbox PLA from Amazon. It’s cheap, and known-good plastic to work with.
2: If it came with an “E3D V6” clone, that might be the issue right there. I only have experience with the E3D V6 and it’s important to get the PTFE tube (bowden style or direct drive) seated into the metal heatbreak connector tube. Sometimes you might think it’s in, but it’s not. Thus allowing filament to miss the nozzle hole and jam up.
3: Clean the nozzle and any metal parts with fire! I routinely get the steel heatbreak and brass nozzle up to red-orange temps with a torch for cleaning. Then I’ll drown them in veggie oil to “season” (lubricate) the metal parts before putting it all back together. I’ve also had to lightly push a needle point into the tip of the brass nozzle when something was jamming it up.
4: Get a filament filter. The simplest version is just running the filament through a piece of dish sponge. The one I use encloses the sponge and allows for application of veggie oil periodically.
5: Check out the extruder hobbed gear and clean it. Filament will get worn into the little teeth and reduce your grip. Upgrading to a “Mk8 gear” increased the reliability for me and I can even run it without a gear reduction at moderate print speeds.
Throw that crap out! That much variance is sure to jam your hot-end! After three years of printing, I’ve found it’s more than worth it to buy some good-quality, consistent filament. The few bucks saved on the cheap stuff will only make you pay in all the hassles and horrible print quality.
It seems a filament issue here. less material in the sample photos, alternating with extra in some layers.
Change the filament with a consister diameter one.
I have a Prusa I3 with upgraded e3d v6 and had the same problem with nylon taulman ,what supoused to be accurate, but no, 1.8 mm and more a recurrent jam in the high quality hot end.
Also check if the filament is getting hot before the hot end, so is getting soft and jams. Check the tiny fan who cools down the hot end’s tube.
You should try speed down the printing, really slow (30), and check again.
It was definitely the filament, as I said not only is it inconsistent but it is twisted like a twizzler. I have been taking so many meters off at a time and untwisting and using the piece I have cut to print. However I would say that half the roll is a loos due to the poor quality of it.
