Flashforge Dreamer Maintenance

[Les]

Can anyone point me to a maintenance schedule for the Flashforge 2 nozzle Dreamer.

Mine seems to be working as designed but with all that movement it seems that their should be some periodic maintenance based on hours of printing or some other criteria but I have found mostly how to repair and replace parts but no planned maint schedule.

[LambdaFF]

Ah... that's an interesting question. In fact appart from real industrial settings, I don't think any of the table top versions have scheduled preventive maintenance.

I think we should come up with recommendations. Here's a proposition, don't hesitate to comment.

On condition :
If you print materials that are filled with metal particles, carbon or glass filament, you can expect much faster wear on your standard nozzle. Various indications from filament manufacturers tend to show that a standard nozzle could wear as fast as 200 hours or 1kg in that context.

Time-based :
Put some PTFE based lubricant in all rails and bearings once every 3 months.
Put a little cooking oil on the filament to diminish friction in the PTFE section of your hotend.
Expect to change the kapton (or whatever silicon) sheet on your print bed. Mine lasts somewhere between 50 and 100 prints depending on how agressive I am with the print removal.
Clean and remove debris on the drive gear.
Clean and remove dust/filament hairs in the fans.

[ServiceXp]

I would add; tighten all electrical connections once per year.

[Les]

[QUOTE=Les;86517]Can anyone point me to a maintenance schedule for the Flashforge 2 nozzle Dreamer.

Thnx for the info as I am a newbie to 3D printing but know everything else in my shop needs maintenance and did not know where to start on this machine. I did have to remove and 3M heated Plate cover but that was partly due to a cleaning regimen mentioned for earlier machines that destroyed the surface and it started cracking.

Thus I do not know enough to add to your listing but will start with your suggestions. I do like model of "On Condition and Time Based" maint events

[Les]

Thnx, good addition I already had a problem with the connection of the USB cable to the mem card as the mem card socket was not formed properly and had to be re-shaped a little - I suppose the constant vibrations could loosen a lot of things.

As an additional note, I tied down the machine to a separate bench top I made with light cargo straps and a solid plywood top on spacers to transfer some of the vibrations to the bench top and that seemed to help a lot but had to be careful so as to not throw the machine out of alignment. Also have not yet found cargo straps that are fine toothed enough so had to adjust eye bolt tie downs to the bench top to get what appears to be the right tension