Nozzle drags through already printed material

I am having an issue with my prints where as I print, the nozzle of the printer will run through previously printed material and destroy the entire print. My model is fairly small, a cylinder of about a half inch thickness with a honeycomb inner structure surrounded by an outer solid shell. I created the file in SolidWorks and imported it in as a .STL file into the MakerBot software. Im using the 5th gen MakerBot Replicator with PLA filament. It is just the one model that it does this on, I have printed other models after this and they print fine. Anyone else have similar issues or have any idea where the error is occurring? Thanks in advance

That usually means you are extruding too much material or if its on the first 1-10 layers i means your first layer is being printed too close to the bed. If you can change these parameters on 5th gen i have no idea.

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Originally Posted by jimc

That usually means you are extruding too much material or if its on the first 1-10 layers i means your first layer is being printed too close to the bed. If you can change these parameters on 5th gen i have no idea.

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The malfunction usually begins after about the first quarter of the print has completed so it doesn't seem like it is an issue with being printed too close to the bed. In regard to extruding too much material do you think it is a layer height issue or a nozzle temperature issue?

sounds like the slicing isn't right and it's not adjusting height for that layer.

5th gen uses json code so i dont think there is anything you can do. not to sound like a downer but those printers are what they are and you get what you get. if it doesnt print right all you can do is call makerbot.

Well thanks for all the help guys, I'll look into the options you talked about

- I would try another slicing software and see if its returning the same results. I use 'Repetier-Host' software with the CuraEngine.

I ran into this problem quite a bit during my first few months.
- calibration of the extruder.
- x,y,z calibration as tight as you can make it.
- make sure nothing is loose, my x-carriage had cracked and was moving quite a bit. that was my bingo but all the other factors were also off at one time or another.

I made sure I calibrated with the firmware config file, left my slicer settings to default as much as possible. I use slicer settings for specific parts, little tweaks. Firmware is used per filament roll (I keep a file for each roll, often I can go by batch, 1 maker, 1 color, 1 type of filament (pla,abs,laywoo, nylon). I put a sticker on the roll, write down my parameters, temp, config file name and I keep them, they become my starting point when I buy the same again (each bloody roll tends to have it's own tweaks and cheap filament, I calibrate 3-4 times per roll and numbers tend to vary enough to cause small issues)

And now I print like a pro, a king, champion of the ring ;-)

Hope this helps.

~ Doing my thing with a Prussia RepRap i2 built from scratch, pain and sweat. I reprinted all my own parts, the kit had shady workmanship, workable but real crooked. ~

M.