Printing PLA on a CreatBot DX

[neildarlow]

Hi,

I have a CreatBot DX02 and am having difficulty printing PLA.

I enable the cooling fan at full speed after the first layer but even printing as slow as 20mm/s I find that the cooling is ineffective and the layers, particularly at the front away from the fan ducts, soon start to distort and rise upwards.

Has anyone successfully printed PLA with this machine? I am beginning to think that for small parts or small detail printed with PLA it is a poor performer.

Regards,

Neil Darlow

[3dwise]

hi neil you should not be having that problem with this machine i run 3x creatbots have a look on my website http://3dprintingtoday.com.au/member-2014.asp?MemberID=3886 and you will se how they print my be you have a driver problem you can swap out with e2 driver to test mr creatbot did have a bad run of drivers & make sure you have up to date firmware especially with non peek tube assembly calibrate filament driver motor also make sure it is set to only exudes 100 mm of filament thank you rick

[neildarlow]

I have the machine with all-metal hotends. The firmware is current.

I have had problems with inconsistent extrusion and even printing at 185C has resulted in a hotend jam. I think the hotend will require a complete strip-down to clear the jam.

I have spent a lot of time on this machine for no good result. I will have to put it down to being a bad buy and look elsewhere for a better quality machine.

[3dwise]

Hi The problem you are having is the same problem that I have had which is sticking in the metal end this problem is because the filament that mr creatbot filament has a additive added to it to stop sticking.what I had to do was to bore out the metal adaptor and insert a piece of Teflon this works great but what I had to do in the end was to change the metal end to peek tube assembly they cost about $150 dollars then you will have no problem the difference between creatbots filament is only this additive it is barred in the usa and Australia if you had the 2 kilos of filament that come with the machine I suspect they were probably your best prints thank you rick

[staalc]

Hi, I replaced mine with Aliexpress hotends (based on E3d V6 metal ones). Works really well. The screw thread for the Bowden tube fits directly on the height adjustment screw on the Creatbot assembly.

You need to file the heat sinks at the top and on the fins to make them fit.

When you screw them on use some PTFE tape to reduce any play.

Once assembled print out a small block at the top of the heat sinks to tie them together to further reduce any play.

On the aluminium heater block you can drill out the side of the block if you want the original creatbot thermistors to fit.

For buying the hotends I would like to recommend E3D as they did the original design but unfortunately you need one of the Chinese copy ones as they have a threaded bowden connector in the top.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/E3D-V6-Long-distance-J-head-Hotend-for-1-75mm-3mm-E3D-Bowden-Extruder-0-2/32482708127.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.wGjHgm&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,searchweb201602_2_10057_10056_10055_10049_10017_405_404_10059_407_10058_10040_10060,searchweb201603_1&btsid=29672e15-ceed-4327-946a-d92c194c3c0a

I’ve added a diagram with the mods you need to do.

Hope this is useful for anyone having issues with the Creatbot print heads.