Some issues with new MakerFarm Prusa 8 i3v

Hello all!

So, I am new to this whole 3d printing thing, I just got my printer all setup today and I am having a few issues.

I have a Prusa 8 i3v with 0.40MM 1.75mm Hexagon head

1: My prints aren't sticking to the glass I tried the hairspray method and it didn't help much.

2: The filament is barely extruding, and when it does it curls up.

3: The extruder is kind of popping off the V rail.

I'm not sure how to level the bed exactly, I just made the head EXTREMELY close to the bed.

I am currently trying to print with PLA and the temps I'm using is 250c for hot end and 80c for the bed. I tried with 220c for the hot end but it was even worse and if I go higher than 250c the curling issue remains.

I will post a video and some pics soon of the extruder to show how it just comes off the rail.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Something is definitely wrong there. You should not have to use temps that high for PLA? I use 50 or 60 for the HBP on my Prusa 13, my son uses 40. We use 3mm extruders on our Prusas but I have never had to go above 220 degrees. Are you sure your thermistor are set in all the way in your hot end? I might try and get a real temp reading with a laser thermometer? I print right on blue painters tape all day long? Wipe with alcohol if you want it to REALLY stick. Curling of the filament might mean you have dirt in the nozzle? Try cleaning that out.

I have the same extruder setup on my i3v. Comments and suggestions:

1. Are you feeling the heat bed getting hot? Or at least pretty warm? I've had no adhesion issues with PLA from three different sources sticking on the glass when running the bed at 70 degrees, hairspray or not.
2. I often see curling if I'm extruding only small amounts into free air, but no curling if the extruder is running at a normal speed. I think the melted filament just tends to stick more to one side of the tip. Note that I noticed in my build that two of the v-pulley bolts on the X carriage were long enough to rub against the large gear on the extruder. If not fixed, that would keep the gear from rotating properly and the extruder from pushing through the right amount of filament. Periodic catching on the bolts would lead to the x carriage being torqued, possibly leading to your popping off the rails?
3. Something's not right here. With the eccentric spacer adjusted properly, the X carriage and extruder shouldn't be able to pop off the rail.
4. A lot of people adjust the bed with only a piece of paper used as a thickness guide for the gap between the hot end and the glass.
5. 250 degrees seems pretty high. Are you sure the thermistor is making good mechanical contact with the aluminum body of the hot end? I used a tab of automotive muffler cement to keep mine in place.

My build thread might have other i3v suggestions you find interesting. I found numerous ways to tweak the i3v as I built mine.

EDIT: I see JohnA136 and I have some of the same ideas. I'd also look into how to calibrate the amount of filament being extruded. That process would reveal whether the extruder is going through the filament like it should.

This may or may not help you. But it will give you a little bit of perspective. With PLA, I typically print at about 195. If you raise the nozzle 50 or 75 mm above the bed so you have some room, you may want to try this. Set the temperature to a point where you can manually extrude some material without using a lot of force. By manually, I mean turn all the stepper motors off (big button in the upper left of PronterFace) and gently turn the extruder gear. Then, raise the temperature 10 degrees and let things stabilize. Turn the gear again by hand. Perhaps repeat this process a couple more times at 210 and 220 degrees.

You will see and feel a couple of things. First, the filament almost starts to squirt out as the temperature gets too high for PLA. And you will feel the extruder gear requiring less force to turn as the temperature goes up. You may have a clogged up nozzle. I don't know, but most of the problems are pretty simple if you can get to root cause. It is figuring out what is wrong that is difficult.

You can print at the higher temperatures, but the filament doesn't hold its shape and the object you are making gets pretty poorly defined.

Thanks to everyone for replying. I've been busy so I haven't read anyone's posts yet but I will after this. I noticed the hot end is VERY loose and i noticed theres filament leaking from the top of the hexagon nozzle. I will post a video.

Roxy has a great point there, old man ole also suggests this to gauge a good extruder temp but I always forget to mention it. Give that a try and then go level your bed. That has to be done if you want reliable, consistent prints. I spend the time to get it right when I first build and seldom have to goof with it again. Good Luck and let us know how you make out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehStranger

Thanks to everyone for replying. I've been busy so I haven't read anyone's posts yet but I will after this. I noticed the hot end is VERY loose and i noticed theres filament leaking from the top of the hexagon nozzle. I will post a video.

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My hex hot end tip was loose as well and needed to be tightened. More thoughts -

The hobbed bolt pushes the cold filament up against a bearing that must rotate freely. I had to work at the bearing mount quite a bit to get the bearing to rotate freely. That could be hanging things up.

It's easy for the hobbed bolt to dig into the filament. Once that has happened, you need to retract the filament out and re-feed the filament after cutting off the worn part. I can't say this is part of what is going on, but figured you should know.

Don't try to use the manual LCD control to drive the extruder. I haven't had good results with that. Either disable the steppers as Roxy said or use Pronterface.

I haven't had time to cut and convert the vid so sorry guys I might do it in the next hour. @printbus I tried tightening it but it's impossible because I think the melted filament clogged it up and it's impossible to move when it dries. @roxy I did that but it didn't help. I levelled the bed and the results are much better but still curls after a few seconds and the whole print gets stuck to the nozzle, dries up and moves around with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehStranger

I levelled the bed and the results are much better but still curls after a few seconds and the whole print gets stuck to the nozzle, dries up and moves around with it.

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This may not help you. But I got a roll of cheap PLA. If I let it sit in the nozzle too long with the heat on, it clogs the nozzle and I get that curling you are talking about.

Here is what I noticed on the front end of dealing with the issues it was causing. If I manually retracted the filament by hand so I could change to another roll, the end of it would stretch. The very end of it would have a clear, crisp shell and not much plastic inside of it. But there was a clear crisp shell on the outside sort of pulled to a point. So of course, I turned the heat way up and tried to push the remains out the nozzle. No luck. That clear crisp layer just didn't want to melt and extrude. I ended up having to take the nozzle off and clean it up.

Since then, I can print fine with that cheap roll of PLA but if I let it sit in the nozzle too long with the heat on, I see that curling behavior start. If I don't let it get too bad, it will clear out. But it seems like there is a point of no return on that PLA roll.

It might be interesting to heat up your nozzle and pull the plastic out and see if you see something like what I ran into.

@roxy Yeah I got cheap PLA too and I saw that clear shell also. I took off the nozzle and theres was nothing inside of it but I cleaned it anyway and its still doing the same thing. I will try what you said though. Also, How do I tighten my Hot end? I tried turning it but it doesn't tighten and there isn't a nut i can hold with a wrench like in the build guide :S

Edit: I also mentioned the nozzle is leaking before, could that be the problem? if so how do I fix it? It's already tightened really good.

If the hex hot end build video doesn't appear to apply to the hex hot end you received, it could be you're at the point where you need to contact MakerFarm for help. Colin has been good at responding quickly when people ask questions.

I replayed the hex hot end build video. I don't see any discrete nut being mentioned, but mine did have the described flats on the brass nozzle and on the narrow shaft above the aluminum block. Has the hex hot end been changed? Tightening should have been done when before the hot end was used and would now have to be done with all traces of filament removed from the mating surfaces. Maybe someone has successfully tightened things with the nozzle at temperature so the filament is fluid, but I don't know that.

i fixed it all. The only problem now is the prints look terrible haha. Here are some pics: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uq8zcdmimpbz0bm/DSC_0690.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/mcqkz1rfngjb2zh/DSC_0691.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmh7gc1smjtoakv/DSC_0692.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TehStranger

i fixed it all. The only problem now is the prints look terrible haha. Here are some pics: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uq8zcdmimpbz0bm/DSC_0690.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/mcqkz1rfngjb2zh/DSC_0691.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmh7gc1smjtoakv/DSC_0692.jpg

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My recommendation would be to go through a complete calibration cycle. I would start with trying to get the temperature right:

Quote:

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This may or may not help you. But it will give you a little bit of perspective. With PLA, I typically print at about 195. If you raise the nozzle 50 or 75 mm above the bed so you have some room, you may want to try this. Set the temperature to a point where you can manually extrude some material without using a lot of force. By manually, I mean turn all the stepper motors off (big button in the upper left of PronterFace) and gently turn the extruder gear. Then, raise the temperature 10 degrees and let things stabilize. Turn the gear again by hand. Perhaps repeat this process a couple more times at 210 and 220 degrees.

You will see and feel a couple of things. First, the filament almost starts to squirt out as the temperature gets too high for PLA. And you will feel the extruder gear requiring less force to turn as the temperature goes up. You may have a clogged up nozzle. I don't know, but most of the problems are pretty simple if you can get to root cause. It is figuring out what is wrong that is difficult.

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And then, I would check that the amount of filament extruded exactly matched reality. That print looks horrible, but I'm thinking with the temperature right and the extruder putting out the right amount of filament it will look good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roxy

My recommendation would be to go through a complete calibration cycle. I would start with trying to get the temperature right:


And then, I would check that the amount of filament extruded exactly matched reality. That print looks horrible, but I'm thinking with the temperature right and the extruder putting out the right amount of filament it will look good.

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Sorry I forgot to make a post saying I fixed it. The problem was I forgot to load the config in Slic3r... Silly me haha. I printed a fan duct and it looks amazing!

So now the only problem is the filament leaking from the top of the heat block and I think that's my fault because I unscrewed it today and I may have damaged it while trying really really hard to tighten it :'(

Is there anything I can use to patch it up?

I just noticed there is some white stuff on my cogs, any idea what it could be?

If you post some pictures, somebody might know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roxy

If you post some pictures, somebody might know.

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I was going to but I guess I forgot, my bad. I spoke with Colin and he told me it's normal though, they are just wearing in. Here is a pic anyway if anyone wants to see it for whatever reason: https://www.dropbox.com/s/67s45985amzgl6b/DSC_0693.jpg

Hey guys, I was just wondering is it safe for my dog to be breathing this PLA stuff?

You know a funny thing I have the opposite problem as you. I do not sure hair spray or anything, as I am printing right on the glass, and it is all I can do to get the objects off the glass. What is the easiest way to get them to release?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tachout

You know a funny thing I have the opposite problem as you. I do not sure hair spray or anything, as I am printing right on the glass, and it is all I can do to get the objects off the glass. What is the easiest way to get them to release?

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Printing with a substantial brim helps hold it to the bed but also makes it easier to get a knife underneath to pry the part off.

I actually use a thin steal plate supplied by GeckoTek that I place directly on top of the heated print bed. If a part is too hard to take off by hand, I remove the plate and flex it slightly. The part pops right off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tachout

You know a funny thing I have the opposite problem as you. I do not sure hair spray or anything, as I am printing right on the glass, and it is all I can do to get the objects off the glass. What is the easiest way to get them to release?

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Not sure whose post you're referring to, but are you using PLA? If so, are you letting the bed cool down to room temperature to remove the prints? They should come off without any problems once the bed cools down.

the best way is to just let your bed cool down (to avoid warping the print) then gently pry a knife through the first layer and carefully lift it up.

Well I figured out what I was doing wrong thanks to you guys. I never let it cool down before trying to take the parts off. Sure enough. I shut the printer off yesterday before I went to work, and when I got home I decided to see if it was any easier. They just came right off. Thank You all.