In the last few weeks I have tried to print PETG with very little luck so I decided to go back to PLA but I cannot get a good print at all, prints seem to have little volume, infill ends up light and fluffy, lines dont complete.
I think its under extruding but I am not sure and am fairly new to 3d printing so not 100% where to change it and what to change (on CURA or on the printer, what setting etc as flow is already at 100.00%).
Images below, any help would be massively appreciated. plus CURA setting for calibration cube.
This really looks like a clogged nozzle to me. Especially as you stated to come from PETG that has a higher melting temperature. It is possible there is still some PETG left in the nozzle but due to the lower temperature you are now printing on for PLA, it will not come out. Try the atomic pull method (google is your friend) I guess that will solve your problem.
You should check your PTFE tube inside the hotend, these wear out even when printing PLA, and by printing PETG at higher temps it may have degraded quickly.
It’s a clog, you need to heat the nozzle up to PETG temp and manually push PLA in until it unclogges:)
I also use Glow in dark PLA.
This is very abrasive and using 3" or so once a nozzle starts to show issues.
It’s like using sandpaper on inside clears any sticky residue.
Using small amount should not wear the nozzle too much.
Cheers
Garth
I decided to take the whole extruder apart and the issue was the drive gears teeth had become worn and the whole gear had shifted down the shaft (had the printer 3 weeks so it must have been a badly executed atomic pull when I was using PETG). Anyway I moved the gear along to align a good section of teeth with the guide and its printing fine now.
Thanks for all the help.
With stock hotend it is not wise to print petg. It is better to switch to a whole steel hotend and best brand is Micro-swiss. I replaced my hotend with it and now I can print every material.
