Replicator2X Goes Bad

vanceg · 2016-07-17T02:42:35.000Z

I’ve had my Replicator2X for a couple of years, and it has done lots of great prints for me. But recently the plastic would stop half-way through a print.

Looking at discussions, the conventional wisdom is this is caused by a blockage. I did all of the things that are recommended for a blockage, and eventually even removed the nozzle, heated it up and cleared out the shaft, and replaced the nozzle with a new one. As I tried all of these things, it’s gotten even worse. It now doesn’t even get through the bottom layer of the raft before the plastic gets thinner and thinner and stops.

It doesn’t look like a blockage problem. Any thoughts?

-Vance

helmar_waiczies · 2016-07-17T17:33:25.000Z

is the fan still working properly ?

if its to weak than the nozzle will get blocked.

at least that was my experience. once i put new fans everything was back to normal

funkshin · 2016-07-17T17:37:08.000Z

I had the same issue and found adding a bit of lubricant to the tip of a piece of filament before loading was helpful. RE:

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magicpancake9 · 2016-07-17T17:37:35.000Z

Well if you have been using this for 2 years then it would be time to replace the hotend and peek tubing if it is not an all metal hot end I can generally get about 4 months from a tip without quality issues the peek tubing tends to get worn over time and also when you replace them you must tighten the new tip heat the hot end then tighten again or else it would just clog . all metal hot ends are a great upgrade they last much longer but tightening them correctly is very important . if there is any place for the filament to seep into the threads it will clog almost instantly

dhenrynola · 2016-07-17T17:40:08.000Z

I run a Rep1 Dual and I would agree with funkshin. My prints that lost material part way through were all due to the filament getting snagged or too much friction in the feed line. A little oil helps - also make sure your spindles can turn freely.

Joe9099 · 2016-07-17T17:43:19.000Z

Could you check the filament is still correct size? I have had filament printing fine, and then dia is slightly larger as i used the reel. If you just extrude well above build platform does it extrude perfectly? Straight out, not to one side? Finally, have you recently cleaned the drive gear the pushes filament out?

Facil3D · 2016-07-17T17:52:33.000Z

I had a similar problem with a rep2 and finally it was the extruded fan not working at full speed, try replacing the fan, they are cheap and you don’t have anything to loose.

good luck

MCdesigns · 2016-07-17T18:25:11.000Z

Try a different (newer ) spool of filament. It may have absorbed water. Is it only with one extruder or both? I have had this issue before on one extruder. The temp readouts looked okay but I decided to swap left and right heaters anyway. The problem followed the heater. Bought a new heater and the problem hasn’t returned.

MADEJUST4ULTD · 2016-07-17T18:33:30.000Z

also get a new nose head

i have had mine for 3/4 yers now

DROP · 2016-07-17T19:40:31.000Z

What material are you using? Have you check the diameter of the filament?

augusta3d · 2016-07-17T19:55:30.000Z

I ended up replacing the entire assembly on mine, and a bunch of other stuff too. Last thing I did was replace the cables to the end-stops which went bad.

TangibleCR · 2016-07-17T20:22:03.000Z

Yea I had this issue with PLA filament. Pla is much dryer than ABS. So I had to print a dust collector and in there I put a sponge with olive oil. It will last quite a while until you have to reoil it. You aren’t soaking the sponge in oil either. It doesn’t need much.

Jack_2 · 2016-07-17T20:44:51.000Z

Get a pair of vernier calipers and measure the filament diameter if it’s any greater than 1.9mm then it will jam in the extruder.

We had this problem when we found a cheap supplier of filament.

hope this helps

MDModels · 2016-07-17T21:23:05.000Z

try to tighten the extruder gear. I have a similar problem and this helped, although it still happens from time to time. I noticed the gear eats into the filament and then stops to push it through. It could also be that the gear shifted on the stepper motor shaft and is not aligned properly anymore. Does the gear perhaps slip on the shaft as soon as it gets hot?

crychair · 2016-07-17T21:52:18.000Z

It could be the heating block. If your heating block is not insulated well the heat will travel up. If the heat travels up that means the plastic in the motor gets a little mushy. If this happens your motor will usually just barely be able to push the filament and might make it come out stringy or not at all. I recommend the fargo 3d printing blocks if you want to try that. They are silicon covered instead of the default ceramic which I thought broke off pretty easily.

vanceg · 2016-07-17T22:46:41.000Z

Wow! I am overwhelmed at the generosity of the people on this forum! I tried several of the strategies proposed here, and I currently have a print going that has gotten a lot further than anything has gotten in a while.Thank you all so much!

-Vance

vanceg · 2016-07-17T23:34:37.000Z

My first print after taking your suggestions came out great! Thanks again!

-Vance

Sarah_id · 2016-07-19T15:52:49.000Z

Hi,

Congratulations on fixing your printer

I am having the same problem with my rep2.

Can you please share what exactly did you do to fix this? Was it the fans?

Thanks in advance

-Sarah

vanceg · 2016-07-19T17:25:10.000Z

Mine is a 2X and I’m printing with ABS, so it may be a different issue for you.

I checked my fan (the 2X just has one fan per extruder) and it seemed to be working fine, so I swapped the drive gear (the gear that pushes the plastic through) from the other extruder, switched to a different reel of filament, and dipped the end of the filament in 3-in-1 oil before I loaded it. Since then, I’ve added a few drops of oil to the filament at the point where it enters the tube when I start a print. I’m not sure which one or ones of these did the trick. I ordered a new drive gear from Makerbot in case that was the issue. It was just $12 plus shipping. Anyway, I hope this helps you!

-Vance

Sarah_id · 2016-07-20T08:44:14.000Z

Hmm I see. I never thought of changing the drive gear though.

However, I found that some of the fan blades are broken. I’ll try changing the fan then the drive gear…

Thanks!