So I have had this replicator 2 for about two years now. It has printed wonderfully since I received it. Recently though it stopped printing. I load in the filament and it goes through fine. Then I will start up a print (that I have printed before so i know its not just the file) and let it go. It will successfully put down the first few layers or even half the object sometimes. Then this is when it stops. It will let out small amounts at different points where it passes over the previous layer. If I pause the print and try and push the filament through myself it does not go through. When I remove the filament the section that was inside the hot end it hard and breaks off easily. If I take off some and load it again then it will continue to push through the filament. For the most part I have always used default settings with different tweaks for certain prints but since I have encountered this problem I have changed back to basic default. I am also using Makerbot PLA. I have tried to change the heating temperatures, used different filament, replaced the nozzle, leveled the bed. This is everything I could think of. I have looked online but not seen anyone that has had the same problem I have encountered just similar ones. When I switched from makerbot PLA to deltamaker PLA I was able to successfully print a whole hand. From then on it stopped with that filament as well.
I was getting very similar problems from a similarly aged Replicator 2. I think the problem is to do with heat creeping up the filament causing it to melt higher than anticipated.
Do you have thermal paste between the heat sink and block? That might help.
A more powerful fan could also help as it will more efficiently cool to be heat sink.
You could also try lowering your extrusion temperature. If it is lower there will be less heat creeping up the filament and therefore less chance of it jamming. I got some success with dropping my temperatures.
I recently upgraded to a E3D V6 hot end after getting too annoyed with the amount of failed prints I was getting. This has completely solved the problem, I’ve not had a single jam since.
Andy
2 Likes
ma_ko
February 24, 2016, 9:03am
3
Clean also the tube-part (that goes through the heater, sorry dont now the english word) above the nozzle. And try if the filament goes through easily. Had the same problem last month and my tube-part was dirty with plastic particles.
Joe_Gee
February 24, 2016, 9:07am
4
Have you tried using a different slicer? Had a problem with replicatorg pushing filament through at different rates.
Hi, I just had the same problem last week! I spent a lot of time doing the same experiments as you did. The solution: by the new tube plus heater plus nozzle. Replace that parts. Level the plate. Print. Keep with the old heater for future maintenance.
Problem: inside of the tube part starts to be rough and then during prints the filament starts to stuck into this microscopic elevations given yielding to the clog effect. I highly recommend to replace those parts and do not waste to much time on experiences. (3D Printer Nozzle Clogs, Effects & How To Fix Them - YouTube ).
I had the same problem.
Make sure your SD card is not full.
I guess too many files lead to a corrupt printing process.
After emptying my card everything was fine again.
Left
February 24, 2016, 9:36am
8
I am having the same problem at this moment;
Hope we found a solution. But when I read this awesome comments
the one of @DepthDesign3D make most sense to me.
Hi,
I’ve had a similar problem, in my caso with Replicator 2X and ABS. I’ve done all sort of experiments, and cleaned everything.
What has worked for me is using a little amount of oil over the filament. Just wetting your fingers, and passing them over a 10-15 cm of filament, between the extruder and the spool.
I have to repeat it about each 10-15 hours of printing.
Hope it helps.
vivenda
February 24, 2016, 10:11am
10
There’s a couple of things I can see as potentially being the problem here.
1. Partial block of the barrel and nozzle. One of the simplest ways to clean this out is heating it up and using a toothpick, dunking it in and pulling it out until it comes out clean. May need multiple toothpicks, be careful not to break them by applying too much pressure. Also look up the Atomic Method and try a variant where you heat the nozzle up, push through some normal PLA, let it cool slightly and pull back out. See if there’s any residue attached. I wouldn’t recommend the full atomic method that is used for UM2’s as it’s a different build.
2. Potential heating issue. When you mention that the PLA is hard and brittle when you pull it out, I get the impression that it’s cooled off. It may be that you need to make sure your heating block it getting to the right temperature.
3. Related to #2 . Might be the other way around and you’ve got heat creep. This will cause the PLA to expand as it enters the barrel and cause it to stop extruding. In this case I’d check to make sure the main cooling fan at the front of the extruder is functioning as it should. If there’s broken blades on it, accumulated dust or age/use causing it to slow down or not function optimally this will impact extrusion.
4. Check the insulation around the heating block. It can degrade very badly over time and use as some of the plastics can stick to it. I replaced mine with automotive exhaust manifold insulation (thin ceramic plate wedged between metal sheets) and it’s never worked better.
5. Make sure everything is aligned in your extruder assembly. May not impact as much as the others, but it has affected my prints in some way in the past, though in conjunction with other issues, so I wouldn’t consider this a primary cause.
I’ve run a Makerbot Replicator 2 for over three years with 3300+ print hours. If running well, these machines will never die. For the last two years I’ve had a 99% success rate once I’d learned the cause and effect of most issues.
1 Like
it’s a common issue. I had the same with replicator 2x . the problem was telated to 2 issues. the filament, too old and really rigid. you can break with fingers. and the second cause was the drive block that feed the extruder. It has a really smaal spring that with time loose strenght. check on thingverse a drive block upgrade. I ve designed one that can use the spring from a peg. and works perfectly using the old parts of the originak drive block.
It could be that your temperature sensor is not reading the temperature correctly, (so your printer thinks it’s at 230 but it’s at say 210) In your position, I would normally clean the nozzle, but as you’ve replaced it, that isn’t the problem. I had this problem with a replicator 2 and replaced the thermocouple and it sorted out the problem.
There are a few things that can go wrong, it could be loose, or poorly terminated. A thermocouple is two wires of different materials (in this case K type chromel & alumel ) that have been spot welded at the end and then fixed into a hollow bolt. If you’d like to try and fix it, you can remove the bolt (trying not to put too many twists in the wire), pull the thermocouple from its cement, clean the end and twist the end together tightly to make a new join, then glue it back in the bolt and re-attach it to the hot end. It’s fiddly, but it’s something you can try before you order a new one. If you can’t get a new one from MakerBot, any KType thermocouple will do, you’ll need to open up the top wire harness to feed it back down to the motherboard.
Hope that helps?
Regards,
MakeALot
I had similar issues with mine at about the same point in time. I fixed two separate items that I found related to the problem and never had a failed print since the fix
1.) replace the cooling fan it is in any way damaged. Mine was missing two blades out of the 9 because a piece of filament swung down into it. Those two missing blades was messing up the cooling. Use one with the same number of blades. Also, make sure your fan is facing the right direction. (sticker side IN) Mine, during one of my nozzle clearing fits, got installed backwards and it jams everything up because the cooling doesn’t work. I also put a dab of heat sink grease on the cooling fins between the heater block.
2.) replace the drive gear on the filament feed motor. They’re $14 and over time they wear. Especially if you use specialty filaments with carbon fiber, steel or stone fill. You can inspect it with a magnifying glass and if the center of the ribs is misshapen or has a different appearance in any way, replace it.
Good Luck!
I think you’re right on, Andy. They never said what temperature settings they have been using, but depending on the version of Makerbot Desktop, it could be as high as 230. I have 4 Replicator 2s and I rarely run PLA above 210 degrees. I typically run the first layer at 206, then drop the temperature about 2 degrees every two layers until I get to about 198 or 200. Of course you really have to know your material, and I haven’t found a PLA I trust more than Hatchbox. Another thing that can cause similar problems (that people don’t seem to give enough credit to) is when the actual filament diameter doesn’t match what the slicer thinks the diameter is. For example, if the slicer thinks the filament is 1.68 but the actual filament is 1.82, the machine is trying to push more filament through the nozzle to keep up with the desired layer height and width. It usually is fine in the first few minutes, but eventually the nozzle and tube will get too much material in there and you’ll be prone to having one of these jams. This especially can happen when the filament is getting too hot further up the tube… as it gets soft, the extruder gear slips and starts eating into the PLA rather than pushing it through. The part that makes me think it’s setting rather than hardware is that they said they have changed nozzles and still get the problem. Typing that last part made me think… could they have possibly changed the nozzle to a smaller size by accident and not changed the machine settings? That will certainly cause the problems similar to the situation above. I have about 4 different sizes of nozzles in my toolbox and they all have settings they like best. If you keep having problems, put a .5mm nozzle on that bad boy and see how it prints. I have never seen a jam with this size nozzle.
1 Like
There might be some buildup of dust, grit, or other substance in the extruder, this would prevent propper flow. I also have a Replicator 2 and I have had to replace the nozzle once before. I have owned it for 2 and half years. It could also be the filament…
JoeCarr
February 24, 2016, 4:49pm
16
I’m willing to bet you have a burned out MOSFET on your board. This is a common problem for the Replicator 2s and causes your fan to spin slower, cooling less.
1 Like
Hi Anthony,
the problem is how are you storing the filament, it has to be dry, pla absorbs humidity
Left
February 25, 2016, 6:55am
18
I try to change the diameter settings of the fillament.
1 Like
bmcage
February 25, 2016, 8:08am
19
Switch of retraction and see if it keeps working then. You will have stringing then, but at least you know then that retraction contributes to it, and you can play with that setting.
Also, did you clean the gear that pushes the filament in? I dissassemble that and clean the gears with toothpick if traction starts to fail.
KCT
February 25, 2016, 11:15am
20
did you upgrade the software ?
