Trying putting a piece of glass on top of the heatbed. That should minimize your problem.

Guys!

I am exploring the software side of 3D printing. Trying to learn how to draw my own 3D object. Is there any good program which you would recommend for a beginner like me? Tried using Sketchup but all the measurement does not seems to add up once i export the file out as *.obj.

Thanks for the suggestion guys! Really appreciate it.

Download and tried Freecad last night but was overwhelmed by all the available tools there. I end up downloading and using the latest version of Sketchup and finally managed to draw and print out a 3D object! Will definitely try out the rest of software which everyone have suggested here.

Guys! I have got a problem with my hotend. Filamant tend to get stuck inside it on a very regular basis. Once that happened, i will disassemble the hotend to clean the nozzle and get all those residue filament out of the hotend. Can anyone suggestion what seems to be the problem here?

Thank you.

I didnt notice anything wrong with the filament. It may be caused by the dust which may have settle on the filament during the whole time i did not use the printer. Will observe it further and see what seems to be the issue.

Argh!!! I broke the thermistor on my hotend. Anyone know how i can fix this?

Thank you.

Elo guys!

I am here to update everyone regarding the issue I have with my printer.

To keep this short, my printer seems to have this problem of filament clogging the hotend resulting in incomplete or no print at all. The printer seems to be functioning fine in the initial stage but after around 1 minute into a printing session, the dreaded sound of the extruder grinding on the filament can be heard. By this time, little or no filament will come out of the nozzle.

Initially i thought it was something to do with the filament quality so i swap the filament from another source and yet it stills clog up the hotend. After that i went to the trouble of cleaning the filament off dust cause i thought it might be the cause of the problem and yet the problem persist. I tried to manually push the filament into a preheated hotend and the filament seems to be able to pass out fine.

Next, i tried to clean out the hotend which i thought must have some residue filament inside clogging up the component. So i disassemble the hotend and clear the filament pathway as best as i could. Still the problem persist. I even go through the trouble of borrowing a new hotend from a friend of mine and yet it doesnt work.

Last but not least, I checked on the extruder stepper but there wasnt any problem with it too.

So after accidentally snapping my old hotend in half, I have yet to find a solution for my problem. Any advice from all the seniors here?

Thanks in advance.

It is a Blomker custom hotend. PLA all the way for me.

Increasing the stepper motor power? How do i actually do that? Is it the same if i were to increase the flow of filament?

Yup, there is a teflon tube inside the throat but as far as im concerned it didnt block the filament from entering the hotend. I actually tried to use a different hotend which doesnt require a teflon tube and the problem still persist.

PS. I went back to reexamine the printer last night and found out that there seems to be an issue with the part of the extruder which is suppose to hold and feed the filament into the hotend. The bearing does not seems to be moving sometimes so instead of guiding the filament into the hotend, it ends up pinching the filament in place with the stepper on the extruder grinding away the filament. I took this component apart and lubricate the bearing. Managed to print a small item without any issue after that but i will need to conduct a few more runs to make sure that i have managed to get rid of this problem.

Thanks for the help anyway.

My issue is similar to what this bro has been facing previously.

The teflon tube was still intact the last i was able to print with the jhead which came with the kit. I have now gotten myself a new barrel for the hotend but the ID seems to be a little bit too small for me to install the teflon tube. I was told that i need to drill the barrel down to the diameter of the tube but I have yet to do that.

And regards to the firmware setup for the extruder. As far as im concerned i have never done anything to it and it is still in stock condition. Same goes to the printing speed. You gave me a good suggestion though. Makes me wonder if its going to solve my problem if i were to reduce the speed of the printing instead.

Will double check on the size of the filament later when i got home.

I print solely on PLA and i have tried printing at 185 to 215 and yet the problem persist. How do i ensure that it is as smooth as silk? Put some wax in it?

Anyway, im planning to test out printing on a decreased speed. Any suggestion on what speed to use? 90%?

I made some observation and found out that the jam will and can happen anytime not just during the infill stage. Im really lost here.

By the way, is it possible that the extruder stepper could be a culprit here?

I have tried numerous spool from 2 different sources but the result is still the same. Im using the barrel without the lining and it is still the same. Argh!!! This is really frustrating!!!

I am quite certain that the printbed has been adjusted to be as even as possible. Have been through that tedious phase of calibrating the Z-axis countless time that I think i can safely said that I have finally master the art of it.

Anyway, last night i took the extruder unit apart for some simple servicing. Once i have resemble the feeder unit to the stepper unit, the stepper refuse to work altogether! With that problem in hand, I checked the stepper wire, stepper motor and stepper controller and all seems to be working. Now i suspect that this has something to do with a faulty RAMPS. I will be able to confirm this once I can get my hands on a RAMPS. Any suggestion where i can get my hands on a RAMPS?

Thanks in advance.

Yup, I have tried swapping the stepper motor driver from one of the other stepper motor but the stepper on the extruder slot still refuse to work. That is why i conclude that it has something to do with the RAMPS.

Alright! I will try that out too! Thanks in advance guys and will keep everyone updated.

What seems to be the problem with your Kossel? Pleas share it with us. I bet I will be able to learn something from it.

Guys!

I have finally managed to get the stepper for the extruder to work again after resetting the arduino board. Initially i thought i am through will all my problem but looks like my clogging problem is back after trying to print something last night. So it is back to square one for me.

Anyway, will it be alright if i were to use a hotend which can feed on 3.0mm filament with those low quality 1.7mm filament?

Thanks in advance.

No, i didnt reflash the board. I figured out that was a bit too much trouble and work for me so all i did was separate the arduino from the RAMPS and later power it up using the USB and press the reset button which was on the board. Didnt thought that it will actually work but try it out anyway cause i am down on my last leg.

Do you guys actually go about modifying your barrel all the time? I guess it can be done with the right tool but it is going to take time and effort for me to do it. OR should i just go look for another more reliable hotend which doesnt and shouldnt clog up too frequently? Any suggestion on what type of hotend should i get? I have my eyes on this but not sure if it is good though.

Thanks again.

This post has been edited by eehtsitna: May 19 2015, 11:32 AM