who knows these things real well. Cannot get it to print

[Tachout]

Last year I had my printer humming and printed a few cool things. got busy over the summer and let it sit. Nothing changed, nothing was touched. now all of the sudden it does not feed the filament. all of it turns but it eats the filament up. I have tried to season the hot end, I have tried pushing other things through it.... it feeds up through about the first layer and then just quits feeding and jams. it is running exactly the same as it did before, actually loaded a file I printed last year and it still did not print that one either. any ideas? I have tried all day to work with Colin and I am feeling stupider and stupider. cannot get anything to work.

[Alibert]

Printer make/model?
Filament type?
Relevant print settings?

Without writing up that data you are not going to get much response....

[Roxy]

Tachout, one thing I would do is back out the filament and check the diameter. Is the diameter of the filament correct? It kind of sounds like you have sections of your roll of filament that a little bit over sized.

[spaceorange12]

To elaborate on Roxy's comment, if the filament was kept in a humid place it is possible it has swelled due to absorption since it was last used.

[Roxy]

And one more comment. Tachout knows this. This thought isn't directed at him. The title of this thread is: "who knows these things real well. Cannot get it to print" This is why it is so helpful to build your printer as a kit. You really do get to know your printer. There is always pain bringing up and getting comfortable with a new printer. But at the end of the process you know your printer and can work through the issues. This is kind of the opposite. Techout isn't ready to divorce his printer and he wants some counseling.

[printbus]

... Techout isn't ready to divorce his printer and he wants some counseling.

A degree of counseling was already provided to Tachout in his thread on the same issue from two weeks ago What am I doing wrong Extruder eating fillament.

Tachout - in that thread, you reported the printer was doing fine on a file sliced previously, and here you're saying a prior file doesn't print. Are these the same files or different ones? I previously provided a link to a composite description of everything people have suggested as causes to their extrusion stopping. As those descriptions suggest, the hobbed bolt carving into the filament can be caused by any of a number of things. Can you elaborate on what you have investigated and what you haven't?

[Tachout]

Printbus I went through your guide as recommended and worked each idea and could not figure it out. Then working with Colin I decided to just take and order a new spool of filament. Was going to order if though him and then I realized something.... thanks to a little investigation was that the filament I had was 3mm filament and I ordered a 1.75 hot end so I thought that must be it.... I am stupid and the last time I ordered filament I ordered the wrong size. I ordered a roll of 1.75 from Colin (and let me tell you I ordered it on Christmas Eve and it was at my house the day after Christmas. Outstanding service). I tried to just load it and no luck. it felt weird like it was too small and I am still not sure if it is not too small for my hot end although I looked at what I originally ordered and the original order for a hot end was for 1.75 hot end. Well I have tried for a couple of hours at different tutorials on you tube for slic3r and that has not helped. I know it is flowing as it started out printing that stupid cube for me several times. I have tried several different ideas of changing the heights in the slicer to get them to print. I can get the first layer down and on the bed, but after that it just does not want to print.

I have tried when the head is hot to push a piece of wire through the head to make sure it is not clogged, and I can get it to go through with no resistance. I can get the filament to load and I tried putting cooking oil on it and it loaded and then did the first layer like all the times before and then did the same thing. As for the assembly of the hot end, I have not changed anything from when it printed good last winter. Only difference is the filament and the computer I am on. It just keeps chewing up the filament. I am going to try to load a piece of tubing down the extruder to see if this helps but not sure I understand how this could help as I can load it easy and it seems to feed thought and into the hot end without any issues.

Machine is a Maker Farms 8" Prusa i3V
Temperature for hot end 200 - Printing PLA
bed temp 70.

No problems getting it to stick to the bed. Machine is running fine for about the first layer. Usually at about the end of the first layer it just stops extruding. Extruder is turning so I know something is bad. I look and sure enough it eats the half moon shape into the filament. I am not sure if it is in the settings of my Slic3r, if it is in the extruder, or what it might be.

Let me start at the beginning of what I am checking before the print.

1. Check Z in the corner (slight drag on paper) Check in center of bed and in 3 other corners and it feels about the same. With a Micrometer on the top of the top aluminum extrusion to the bed we are within .003 at all 4 corners

2. Check extruder to make sure it is clean and heat it up to temp and load the filament when hot. Make sure bearing spins free, and put bolts in finger tight and watch as spring starts to compress to about 15%.

3. Load card. Start program.... let bed heat, and then watch it move, and home.
Watch hot end get to temp. Since I preheat it the time is not long on either.
watch it start and it starts putting down filament almost right away in the perimeter 1st pass and I have it make 3. then it lays down the exterior of the box and looks fair but it is real light and hard to see. I then have it start to do the fill of the first part of the box and it sometimes makes it thought this part, and sometimes it does not. then if it did, and it starts the second time on the perimeter it starts to skip and real soon after that I can tell it is not printing anymore.... I pause it and shine a light into the extruder to check out the hobbed bolt and sure enough it starts to eat the filament so I stop it and have to clean it and start over.

Any recommendations as to what I should do next?

[spaceorange12]

what happens when you manually push filament through? do you meet any unusual resistance along the way?
the hexagon is a good hotend from what i've experienced. the problem might be the filament or your extruder.
one tip i saw is to dip the end of your filament into some vegetable oil and then extrude it. it might make it easier for the filament to slide through the extruder and hot end.

[spaceorange12]

What hotend are you using?
It would be most helpful if you could provide a link to exactly where you got it, so that we can determine whether it is a reputable brand and model.

[Tachout]

http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/h...n-hot-end.html

This is the hot end I ordered with my Printer from Colin at Makerfarm.

.40mm Hexagon Nozzle for 1.75mm Filament(Prints ABS, PLA and Higher Temp Materials