I know this is a difficult question to answer, but if you where to get spare parts, which parts would you have bought?
Are there any parts that are known to wear out before other?
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I know this is a difficult question to answer, but if you where to get spare parts, which parts would you have bought?
Are there any parts that are known to wear out before other?
There is no source of parts for the CTC that I've found. The eBay sellers evaporate after selling a few of them. I'm not exactly sure how identical it is to the FF, so I've only bought generic parts (nozzles, PTFE, filament) so far.
I contacted my China seller from Ali, he told me the most common parts that wear out is the nozzle and the PTFE tube inside. Anyone else had some replacements on their FF printers?
Pure genius on their part. Sell a few, and then move on before you need to answer any questions, or deal with any problems.Quote:
The eBay sellers evaporate after selling a few of them
I am at 1960 hours on my FF, and so far only the extruders and nozzles packed it in, a couple of motors.. nothing that couldn't be bought anywhere, But don't buy it of Flashforge, really - they are 3 x the price. Everything for the past year I've bought off Ebay, or ever since Flashforge USA tried to charge me $140 to deliver a $30 hotbed :)
I have found compatible dual extruders for about $100, Flashforge China (the cheapest!) want $300+shipping for a new dual head. Now granted, this is already assembled etc, but really there is nothing besides the motherboard that is terribly significant to Flashforge, and even then it's not really.. they just use an all-in one sangui board or similar.
standard nozzles don't fit. Tried that.
everything else would seem prety standard.
I bought some nozzles on eBay, and they did require drilling them out to fit the PTFE tubing. A 3mm drill comes in handy for cleaning the heat tube, as well.
I bought my first replacement off flashforge for nearly $400, Ebay about $150-$200
eg..
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PrintME-3...item20eb012e22
just look for that head stock, or alternatively buy the parts seperate and make your own, it is not hard stuff.
The extruder is simple enough that I can't see how there's anything wrong with mine, unless both motors actually got suddenly weak. Seems like it might be a mainboard parameter got messed up or something...
How does the calculation for the amount of filament to feed get done? I actually have some steppers that are a little thicker (they'd fit), but I don't know the specs for the FF motors, so they might be a differnet number of steps per rotation, etc.
It is extremely unlikely to be different steps per rev they are almost universally 1.8 degrees, 200 steps per rev.
What will be different is the impedance so power requirement will be different and the resonant frequency will also change though that is probably not going to be a problem.
Lots of useful information on this thread. Thanks! Somehow plastic keeps getting wound around my extruder feeder gear and causing it to jam and click. I've tried changing the temperature, making sure the diameter in Replicatorg is correct, and cleaning the feeder gear. Any idea what might be causing this? Is it the plastic, is something misaligned maybe? Or maybe, the fan isn't keeping the plastic cool enough before it gets to the extruder?Attachment 3135
Unfortunately, the mounting threads appear to not be metric.
You solved it yourself :)
That exact problem you are having is the exact problem I have with flexible filament, in this thread, check my picture lol, its very similar with the white wrapping around the gear. If that is PLA then yeah, its getting too Hot before it gets to the smaller hole and does not go in, therefore gets pushed around and the gear grabs it and does that.
There is a couple of ways you can go about this, I don't want to suggest swapping it out for a direct drive extruder without the spring, because you should not be having that issue with PLA. If it was flex filament, ok, yes we would need to swap the extruder type, but for normal plastic, to me it seems the top of your tubing is not insulated and is letting too much heat rise. Unfortunately on my old flashforge, we dont have the PTFE tubing, its a direct stainless steel barrel that sits under the extruder, so I am unsure how much clearance you have or whether that tubing can be pulled up or extended to keep the top of the filament hole a bit cooler.
Cutting your filament on an angle also helps ALOT! :)
Wen you go to feed new filament in, cut it on a 45' angle, giving it a sharp end instead of flat, this just gives it a finer tip to enter that hole. Also, don't let it feed through the spring loaded gear. By that I mean, when you are feeding, make sure you press that spring down so there is no pressure on the filament BEFORE it makes it to that little hole. Push the thumb thing all the way down, put the filament in straight down and push. The gear is close enough to grip it without the bearing pushing against it. Its when you apply the pressure with the bearing all the troubles begin.
Thanks you so much for the prompt help. I recently tried leveling my nozzles and somehow got it supper stuck in a position closer to the extruder, and messed up the insulation around the nozzles. So, I guess it makes seance that it's getting too hot now and getting pulled in to the gear. I ordered a new assembly mount, so I'll be able to leave more space between the nozzle and extruder once it gets here. Could you please describe or post a picture of what it would look like with PTFE tubing? Just so I have a better understanding. Thanks for the tips on loading the extruder, and the link to the flexible filament thread. Flexible filament is going to be my next purchase. Awesome job with this thread, it have been extremely helpful!
I wish I could sorry, perhaps someone with a new flashforge could. As far as I know, the newer flasforges have a fatter steel pipe and a tubing piece inside to guide the filament down to the nozzle. It's just white tubing thats heat resistant. My flashforge has a 1.8mm steel pipe, which the filament goes down to the nozzle without any tubing.
The nozzle and heat tube both have a 3mm bore. The Nozzle bore is just short of breaking though the tip, while the tube is 3mm all the way to the 1.75mm aperature at the top, again almost to top. If you have a solid set-up, you'll need to do some machining.
No you wouldn't, just wedge the tension lever open and flexible filament prints just like normal filament.Quote:
If it was flex filament, ok, yes we would need to swap the extruder type,
That is a weird issue though.
JFrost, how did you resolve this? I have the CTC Creator and its basically a copy of the Flashforge. Did you buy a new control board?
I ended up caving in and buying a new motherboard. Found one for $100 somewhere online. Changed everything out and it works perfectly now.
Do you remember where you bought it? Flash forge has one for 180.
Just purchased a FF Creator Pro about a month ago. Only ran ABS through it while learning and adjusting. Had the carriage that holds the extruders crack. They are shipping me a new one shortly. Until then I am still printing. I recently ordered some ninjaflex and a couple spools of PLA. Was wondering if anyone has setup a active cooling system for printing PLA?
Attachment 3655
Here is the crack I have.
hello,
I had a question to anyone who can help.
"Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it.
MightyBoard, S3G via Serial The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information."
this is the error I have.
I just went and bought a All-in-one computer just for my printer. I was running it on a older laptop but it crashed.
now I have this message and i'm not sure what to do.
thanks for the help.
I have found the rest of this forum very helpful!!
Sorry to ask but I've been having a lot of issues with corners rising up during print. It looks fine for the first few layers and then the bottom right corner starts raising up, every time.
I've tried lowering the tempurature to the 106-109 range like you reccomended but I'm afraid I'm still having the same issue. My concern is that there is a defect in my build plate because it is almost 100% of the time the same corner that lifts up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Try some "helper discs" that you place at the corners to give more flat surface area. These are about 1mm high and round and can easily be trimmed off. S3d can be configured to print a Brim at 0mm distance from the model and would achieve the same thing. Other slicers you will have to import the helper disc and place where you need them.
okay I have another question. I was able to get the driver installed properly but now im getting this message in the replicatorG program. I rescanned ports but nothing ever shows up. and the only option is COM3.
in my setting for the driver it says that COM3 is the correct port for the driver. can I change It to a different COM #? will that help?
"Connecting to machine using serial port: COM3
Connection error: Serial port 'COM3' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it."
no other program is running at the time just the replicator.
so lost at this point. I have uninstalled and reinstalled everything at least twice now. still nothing has change.
Thank You for the Help. =]
Hi, and thank you for this thread, a lot of usefull information here.
i have bought the Creator about 14 days ago, and it has performed well, except for the normal bending in corners and so on.
Today when I was waiting for the extruder/plate to heat up, the X-axis motor started making an awful noise and the extruders where shaking. It has never done this before. it started to print, and it ended well. Next print made the same noise in the beginning, but now the print started a lot more to the right. I aborted the print and started a new. Now the extruders are just shaking, and the noise is there all the time. I am sure it is the X axis motor to the right, confirmed this by trying Jog Mode. It will not move the head from left to right (or back again).
I thought that the motor was faulty, and since this is a dual extruder and I only use the right one, I swapped the motor from the left extruder. But nothing changed. I removed the bottom plate, and found that the mainboard has 5 small controllers next to where the motors are connected. Tried to swap 2 of these as well. Same problem still.
when trying to move the extruders from left to right, there are no force needed, they move smooth and fine.
As far as I know, this has to be a mainboard thing? Or is it something I have forgotten to check?
Cables usually. They aren't flex rated and can break easily.
Sounds like your end stop switch is faulty or broken, the motor doesn't know when to stop so the motor makes a horrible noise because it's trying to move in a direction it cannot, very much like me pushing against a brick wall and growling with frustration that I cannot move through it.
I say this because you said it is happening at the beginning, which I am only assuming is the homing routine it does. If you have a multimeter, just test the terminals on the end stop switch and see if the circuit closes when the switch is activated. The good news is if it is a faulty end stop switch, it's a $2 part.
I'm at my wits' end. I keep running into problems with the corners curling on my prints.
I'm running a FlashForge Creator dual extruder (wooden frame). I'm printing in ABS with kapton tape and a ton of Aquanet.
I've tried the following things already:
Levelled the bed
replaced the kapton tape
tested at speed settings (40/70, 65/90)
tested with various heatbed temperatures
75C -> pretty bad lift
80C -> slightly less lift
85C -> about the same as 80C
90C -> only right side lifts
95C -> slightly worse than 90C, left and right side lifts
100C -> left and right sides lift
110C -> Good way to make a bowl
I've played around with the extruder temps as well. At 230C, the raft is pretty much fused to the bottom of the print, and there are some melty bumpy textured portions of the print. At 220C, the raft releases fairly cleanly with a little work and decent layer adhesion. At 210C I see a lot more lift from the print bed and get the occasional poor layer adhesion. In all cases it starts out looking great, but at some point between 11% and 26% complete, the corners lift and curl upwards.
I've tried using MakerWare and ReplicatorG with similar results, although MakerWare's rafts seem better and the slicer is MUCH faster for my model.
I'm trying to print a quadcopter arm. It is basically two boxes 1.5" wide by 1.5" high by 0.25" deep that are connected by a solid 5.5" cruciform span (a 5.5" X sandwiched between two plates). I've tried two different spools (both black) of ABS from two different vendors with similar results. I've tried insulating the printer (aluminum foil wrapped around cardboard and taped over the open sides, covered whole unit with blanket), and the results are similar.
Anyone have any suggestions for what to try next?
edit: Added 1" square "mouse ears" to the corners. Helped hold down one side. Added bigger ears to the other side, trying again. Will update with a status.
edit 2: tested twice with large "mouse ears". Still failed. Going to run one of the test prints that came with the printer to see if that is having problems too.
Is the printer fully enclosed? If not try that.
Or try PET which does not curl.
http://3dprintboard.com/attachment.p...tid=4928&stc=1As you can see, my ends are pulling up. The raft sticks fine. ABS. Leveled right before printing. Print bed is at 110 deg, using Kapton only. Any ideas?
In addition, I would have liked to have printed this in the other direction, but I have problems manipulating the drawing in Replicator. It's just all over the place using the mouse. Most of my larger builds pull up like this.
http://3dprintboard.com/attachment.p...tid=4929&stc=1This parts box pulled uo as well.
Hi. I have a small problem. Just bought a Flashforge Creator Pro and I didn't open it well and it's gone crazy. :))
I am trying to calibrate it, but when I run the software from the SD card, the nozzles move to the back, into the corner and start to bump into that corner repeatedly and make a horrible noise. :(
Any ideas how to fix this?
sounds like a broken or loose wire on the limit switch back there...
but when the switch is activated a green button lights up...