The first tip is, and believe, it is a must-have! its a filament dust filter. its pretty simple and you will only need a bit of filament to print, a small sponge and a bit of oil (optional but recommended)
After you print this filter, cut a small block of sponge (a new kitchen sponge is great for it), and put it inside the filter. you can also use the filter to help the filament trough the pfte tube (used on Bowden setups), a few drops of oil will help a lot with the friction for months.
The second tip is even easier, do not keep the plastic away from its bag! but why? three main reasons!Dust will accumulate on itHumidity and air pollution will decrease the filament quality over time, it will break easier and this is a huge problem if you use bowden setup with cornersThree: Sun light is known to crack plastic over time, thus decreasing its quality
Third tip: Research the manufacturer on the internet before buying, there are both good and terrible options, price doesn’t means anything! trust me!, once i’ve bought a 60$ filament, and guess what? it was terrible! a 10$ one from china was incredibly best.
Fourth tip: Not always clogging means bad filament, sometimes there is something wrong with the nozzle and the stepper, follow this checklist:
1 > Thermistor!Check the nozzle temperature!, the thermistor might break or get loose over time, maybe it showing 200C but actually its 160C. check if it is okay. a laser thermometer is great for it. Warning! Loose thermistor are known to cause the printer to get on fire! This is extremely dangerous!
2 > Nozzle Cleaning2.0 > Heat the extruder to 160C and remove the filament inside,2.1 > Heat up the extruder up to 300C (don’t worry), and wait for 30 seconds after the temperature gets to 300.2.2 > load filament in the extruder and try to extrude about 1 meter! (it will take some time), if there are failures you should remove the filament and try again from step 1. until it comes out linearly. Be sure that the extrusion speed is not too fast,2.3 > If the filament is going out ok, try printing again, it should have worked. if not, you might need to open it and do a harder cleaning, with drill and some needles. try this tip a few times, remove and insert the filament and try to insert again.
3 > All-Metal extruder refrigerationThis is a common issue, the all-metal extruder is composed of three parts, Heat dissipator; Heat-break and the Heated blockThe heat dissipator and the heat-break work together to keep the heat only at the block. a bad quality heat-break will let too much heat go up to the dissipator, which will get too hot and melt the filament where it was not supposed to and will make it jam. Make sure you use one with a PFTE core.There is also the cooler! you need a good quality cooler to help the dissipator, if you don’t use one, this might be the problem.
Post time: Oct-10-2017