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  1. #11
    Engineer-in-Training
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    So I am thinking about buying a roll of filament outside of Makerfarm to see if the filament is the issue. I have two people above mentioning hatchbox, is there anything else I should look into?

  2. #12
    Engineer-in-Training voodoo28's Avatar
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    I use Hatchbox religiously...never had a problem. $21 a roll from Amazon is perfect!

  3. #13
    Engineer-in-Training
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    So last night I purchased the Hatchbox filament and it arrived today (Thanks Amazon). I just tried to print with it and I ran into the same issue, the funny thing is that the last few times I attempted a print and then later found it air printing, I noticed the filament is being folded over inside the area around the hobbled bolt.

    The one thing that it could be but I highly doubt is the fact I lost the heat sinks for the stepper drivers, so they have been running without them. I am going to contact Collin and see if I can get some replacements. If that doesn't fix the issue the only thing left is the Hexagon Hot End which I have been reading online has had issues with the 1.75mm filament not working.

    Edit: When I loaded the Hatchbox filament it bubbled out the nozzle making me think they include something in their filament that others don't.

  4. #14
    Technologist
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    I have been using eSUN 1.75mm PLA for $21.99 for the last few months without problems from http://intservo.com/products/pla-fil...iant=800124035 . I have also used the PETG filament from there. They offer free shipping for $60 or over orders. I printed my 10" plastic Y-bed out of that PETG & have been using that since May. I am using the hexagon hotend.

  5. #15
    Engineer-in-Training
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    I found the heat sinks and ordered some thermal ceramic paste to adhere the heat sinks to the stepper drivers. I will receive the ceramic paste tomorrow and will test the last thing that I can think of before buying a new hot end.

    One thing that I have noticed is the fact that it is difficult to hand feed the hot end, I have to apply a lot of force for it to ooze out the nozzle. With my old printer it was extremely easy to feed the filament by hand so I am pretty sure the hot end is what is terrorizing me. Who knows maybe I got a hexagon nozzle from a bad batch, but I have been reading reviews and found that the E3DV6 is a terrific hot end. In the long run I will be upgrading to the E3D I just want to make sure that everything else on the printer is 100% functional.

  6. #16
    Staff Engineer printbus's Avatar
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    Add printbus on Thingiverse
    Quote Originally Posted by BLKKROW View Post
    ...I just tried to print with it and I ran into the same issue, the funny thing is that the last few times I attempted a print and then later found it air printing, I noticed the filament is being folded over inside the area around the hobbled bolt.
    Um, what is the "same issue"? Filament being notched by the hobbed bolt? Are you saying the Hatchbox filament did not fold over like others had before?

    I don't think you previously mentioned the filament folding over, even though that is critical info. Of course, once the filament has folded the fact that the filament is carved by the hobbed bolt is pointless to pursue. The filament folding over opens up new possibilities. A few others have battled that. One possible take is that you have issues since you're using 1.75mm filament in an extruder body really better suited for 3mm - a minor detail Colin won't admit to you. The feed hole below the hobbed bolt has to be large enough to pass 3mm filament. 1.75mm will fit, but with slop around it than can encourage some slight bending in the filament that could be the start of the folding problem. One way to try eliminating that is to add a liner tube to the feed hole below the hobbed bolt in the extruder base. Before I revamped the extruder design to fix the issue for real, I used 2mm ID aluminum tubing. Someone had reported a length of empty ink tube from a Bic pen worked fine as well. Of course, the E3Dv6 hot end provides a PTFE tube that can pass up through that hole. Also, envision the difference between 3mm and 1.75mm filament being pressed between the hobbed bolt and the guidler bearing. When you use 1.75mm filament, the filament has to be pushed over to the hobbed bolt side, leading to a misalignment between the filament and the feed hole in the extruder base. This often works OK, but perhaps in some cases this misalignment leads to a problem. The extruder design revamp that I've linked to previously makes it easier to adjust both of these issues as part of optimizing a Wades extruder for your particulars.

    The one thing that it could be but I highly doubt is the fact I lost the heat sinks for the stepper drivers, so they have been running without them. I am going to contact Collin and see if I can get some replacements. If that doesn't fix the issue the only thing left is the Hexagon Hot End which I have been reading online has had issues with the 1.75mm filament not working.
    You've lost me, and likely others. What issue are you having that could be caused by the missing heatsinks on the stepper drivers? The heatsinks would make a difference in whether the drivers would overheat. If they overheat, they simply don't step. Folded filament or the filament being carved by the hobbed bolt would not be a symptom of this.

    -------------

    You previously mentioned you were going to try printing at 230 degrees. Did you try that? Don't fret over the absolute temperature number, at least for test prints. Maybe even try a higher temperature than 230. Print at whatever temperature setting works for you. A temperature is too hot only if the print is demonstrating features of the filament being printed too hot. The uncalibrated thermistor scheme used in the rep rap printers is generally known to only be good to +/- 20 or 30 degrees - it could be that your setup is reading high for some reason. Are you still running MakerFarm provided firmware, or your own build? If the latter, are you sure the firmware was built with the proper thermistor type selected? You should be able to feel a difference in how filament can be manually pushed through the hot end as the hot end temperature is changed - use that as input in figuring out what a good printing temperature is, not what a filament manufacturer, Colin, your neighbor, or anyone else says you should print at.

  7. #17
    Engineer-in-Training
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    Jul 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by printbus View Post
    Um, what is the "same issue"? Filament being notched by the hobbed bolt? Are you saying the Hatchbox filament did not fold over like others had before?

    I don't think you previously mentioned the filament folding over, even though that is critical info. Of course, once the filament has folded the fact that the filament is carved by the hobbed bolt is pointless to pursue. The filament folding over opens up new possibilities. A few others have battled that. One possible take is that you have issues since you're using 1.75mm filament in an extruder body really better suited for 3mm - a minor detail Colin won't admit to you. The feed hole below the hobbed bolt has to be large enough to pass 3mm filament. 1.75mm will fit, but with slop around it than can encourage some slight bending in the filament that could be the start of the folding problem. One way to try eliminating that is to add a liner tube to the feed hole below the hobbed bolt in the extruder base. Before I revamped the extruder design to fix the issue for real, I used 2mm ID aluminum tubing. Someone had reported a length of empty ink tube from a Bic pen worked fine as well. Of course, the E3Dv6 hot end provides a PTFE tube that can pass up through that hole. Also, envision the difference between 3mm and 1.75mm filament being pressed between the hobbed bolt and the guidler bearing. When you use 1.75mm filament, the filament has to be pushed over to the hobbed bolt side, leading to a misalignment between the filament and the feed hole in the extruder base. This often works OK, but perhaps in some cases this misalignment leads to a problem. The extruder design revamp that I've linked to previously makes it easier to adjust both of these issues as part of optimizing a Wades extruder for your particulars.



    You've lost me, and likely others. What issue are you having that could be caused by the missing heatsinks on the stepper drivers? The heatsinks would make a difference in whether the drivers would overheat. If they overheat, they simply don't step. Folded filament or the filament being carved by the hobbed bolt would not be a symptom of this.

    -------------

    You previously mentioned you were going to try printing at 230 degrees. Did you try that? Don't fret over the absolute temperature number, at least for test prints. Maybe even try a higher temperature than 230. Print at whatever temperature setting works for you. A temperature is too hot only if the print is demonstrating features of the filament being printed too hot. The uncalibrated thermistor scheme used in the rep rap printers is generally known to only be good to +/- 20 or 30 degrees - it could be that your setup is reading high for some reason. Are you still running MakerFarm provided firmware, or your own build? If the latter, are you sure the firmware was built with the proper thermistor type selected? You should be able to feel a difference in how filament can be manually pushed through the hot end as the hot end temperature is changed - use that as input in figuring out what a good printing temperature is, not what a filament manufacturer, Colin, your neighbor, or anyone else says you should print at.
    Thank you for the detailed response!

    Also, I would like to say the first 3 months I had the printer with 0 problems extruding. Then this issue arose and I have been fighting it ever since.

    #1. The filament folding over is a new thing, typically the hobbled bolt eats the filament and that's the end of the print. Now I have seen it fold the filament twice. Once with the Hatchbox and once with Makerfarm filament. I will look into the play between the filament and Greg Wade's extruder, I was going to take it apart soon and look into all of that.

    #2. I have raised the print temperature to 230*c with the filament tests and I am running into the filament being chewed and now the filament being folded over. I can certainly try a higher temperature although I was originally printing at 210*c with no issues when the printer was working.

    One thing I have not mentioned but I have tried was making sure the large and small gears are aligned on the extruder.

    What I was trying to imply with the stepper drivers is that I have tried pretty much everything else and thought maybe the drivers were overheating and causing problems. I really need to do it anyway so I thought I might as well try it before I purchase a $90 hot end.

  8. #18
    Engineer-in-Training
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    349
    Sounds almost for sure like a partially clogged nozzle, like I had. Particles from the wades gears dropped down in there, and stopped it up. A cold-pull will fix it.

    The feed hole below the hobbed bolt has to be large enough to pass 3mm filament. 1.75mm will fit, but with slop around it than can encourage some slight bending in the filament that could be the start of the folding problem. One way to try eliminating that is to add a liner tube to the feed hole below the hobbed bolt in the extruder base
    I did this too; I brought the liner up to about 3 mm below the surface where it would stick out into the bolt area, then melted with a soldering iron the plastic above the liner to keep it from retracting up further, then used a drill to clean it up.

  9. #19
    Engineer-in-Training
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    Jul 2014
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    305
    I have tried to cold pull like mentioned above with no success.

    I also forgot to mention I am running stock firmware.

  10. #20
    Engineer-in-Training
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    349
    Did you get a 0.4 drill and use it?

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