Flashforge Creator Dual / Pro How to fix Dual Extruders dragging across prints.

[Billzilla]

Okay got my first blockage last night. A bit cheesed off about it as it was six hours into a seven hour print.
The machine started to make a ticking noise and after a few minutes (couldn't see anything obviously wrong so I let it keep going) I could see the nozzle wasn't very close to the object and the heat from it was just roughing up the surface.

Any tips on how to clear the blockage before I start?

[Geoff]

Okay got my first blockage last night. A bit cheesed off about it as it was six hours into a seven hour print.
The machine started to make a ticking noise and after a few minutes (couldn't see anything obviously wrong so I let it keep going) I could see the nozzle wasn't very close to the object and the heat from it was just roughing up the surface.

Any tips on how to clear the blockage before I start?

It depends on how long you let it click for, if you let it clicking until it stopped, then you will most likely need to take that fan off, and just the front of the extruder case (nothing falls apart, its pretty easy) and get the gunk out, because most likely its ground to a powder in there and clogged the gear.

If it only clicked for a little bit and you stopped it, then you might be able to do a preheat purge, ie set your preheat to like 245c and see if that can get the main gunk out, then try feeding filament ontop of that to push it through.

[Billzilla]

It depends on how long you let it click for, if you let it clicking until it stopped, then you will most likely need to take that fan off, and just the front of the extruder case (nothing falls apart, its pretty easy) and get the gunk out, because most likely its ground to a powder in there and clogged the gear.

If it only clicked for a little bit and you stopped it, then you might be able to do a preheat purge, ie set your preheat to like 245c and see if that can get the main gunk out, then try feeding filament ontop of that to push it through.

Ah, fan-off it is then.
I tried to heat the extruder and back the filament out but it was still pretty jammed.
A job for later today.

[Geoff]

Ah, fan-off it is then.
I tried to heat the extruder and back the filament out but it was still pretty jammed.
A job for later today.

Once you do it the first time, you will laugh at how remarkably simple it was. It's easier than taking apart a bubblejet printer. There are no tension aspects, no springs magically burst out leaving you wondering where it came from.. it's is literally a couple of hex screws and the fan slides out completely (toward you) and you have full access to the extruder. I think I was into the 6th or 8th week with my machine when it happened, you get it down to a speed record after a while

[lycan]

Gday All,

Shortly shall be purchasing my first 3D printer and as it will most likely be the flashforge Creator X with dual extruders, can anyone tell me the diameter clearance you have when printing on one extruder only before the second extruder starts to become an issue ?

IE : Basically what is the distance between the two extruder nozzles.

Thanks in advance
Steve

[Geoff]

Gday All,

Shortly shall be purchasing my first 3D printer and as it will most likely be the flashforge Creator X with dual extruders, can anyone tell me the diameter clearance you have when printing on one extruder only before the second extruder starts to become an issue ?

IE : Basically what is the distance between the two extruder nozzles.

Thanks in advance
Steve

about 33.2mm nozzle to nozzle

[lycan]

Thanks Geoff,

For the size of housing areas on most units you would think they would have created greater separation distance between nozzles, say 100mm so less chance of these issues arising.

Thanks Again
Steve

[Billzilla]

Once you do it the first time, you will laugh at how remarkably simple it was. It's easier than taking apart a bubblejet printer. There are no tension aspects, no springs magically burst out leaving you wondering where it came from.. it's is literally a couple of hex screws and the fan slides out completely (toward you) and you have full access to the extruder. I think I was into the 6th or 8th week with my machine when it happened, you get it down to a speed record after a while

It seems to be quite similar to my UP printer, so it should be something I can do pretty easily.

[jfkansas]

Thanks Geoff,

For the size of housing areas on most units you would think they would have created greater separation distance between nozzles, say 100mm so less chance of these issues arising.

Thanks Again
Steve

It has to do with how big the machine is. If they separate the extruders more the x travel would need to be lengthened so both extruders can hit all spots on the build plate. Also as you increase the x travel bars the more they can sag in the middle due to the extruder weight. That brings up some more issues, a wider space between the extruders means the extruder assembly will weigh more and that makes more weight to move back and forth, more weight to stop/change directions, etc. You would probably have to slow down the travel or the belts will skip. It is all a trade off. For now until I need to do dual extrusion I have removed my left extruder stepper motor. I haven't increased travel speed yet but I intend to eventually to see if I can gain some print speed due to the lighter extruder weight.

[Geoff]

It has to do with how big the machine is. If they separate the extruders more the x travel would need to be lengthened so both extruders can hit all spots on the build plate. Also as you increase the x travel bars the more they can sag in the middle due to the extruder weight. That brings up some more issues, a wider space between the extruders means the extruder assembly will weigh more and that makes more weight to move back and forth, more weight to stop/change directions, etc. You would probably have to slow down the travel or the belts will skip. It is all a trade off. For now until I need to do dual extrusion I have removed my left extruder stepper motor. I haven't increased travel speed yet but I intend to eventually to see if I can gain some print speed due to the lighter extruder weight.

Yep, I actually would prefer the extruders to be closer together (wha?) yeah, when they are set up right and don't drag, ideally they could be even closer together. This would allow a bigger build area, and levelling the build plate would also be easier.

The problem I have that is a constant on my machine is the slightly sagging heatbed (should have a new one soon) when you level the heatbed, you will find the extruder closest to the edge is always a tighter tolerance to the one closer to the center of the plate. I have adjusted the height of my nozzles to compensate for this, but ideally I wouldn't have liked to do that. If they were set at even 20mm apart, this would facilitate in getting the hot bed even more level because both nozzles are closer to the edge giving you a more precise area to level rather than that rough inch you need to account for due to one nozzle not being on the edge of the platform.