Hotend & Nozzle Need Help

[ercnbal]

I don't have any PLA chip and I don't want to print abs

Do you suggest me to use original slicer or is there a good s3d profile?

Since I have only abs chip, maybe trying to change the generated file's chip controlling part. I.e slice the part as an pla but it willl check whether abs in the machine or not. ( I don't know how to handle it yet.)

Btw, is the only job of the encoders in the extruder check the filament flow or is it an control system to feed required filament to not loose step?

[TommyDee]

I was afraid of that. It just digs a deeper hole to not have the PLA chip.

I am suggesting to use the native setup for CubePro, yes.
In order to that with an ABS chip, you will need CubePro v1.87.
You can modify the file to change the material to ABS to match the chip.

This process is only to prove there is no problem with the extruder.
If the problem persists, then the extruder need more investigation.

I'm sure the encoders have their hooks deep into the F/W.

[RicciEU]

ercnbal, did you ever solve your issue? I am experiencing the exact same issue. Please share the solution if you have found one?

Cheers, RS

[ercnbal]

I've sold the printer due to financal problems.
I can suggest you to clean the nozzle with a heated paper clip or better more thinner metal.
The heated metal will melt the filament and stick to it. Its like a reinforcement cold pull method

[RicciEU]

Oh, sorry to hear that.

I actually have new nozzles and the problem in persisting. I was hoping you had found a solution.

Cheers,

RS

[Cubical]

This is an old thread, but posting here in case it helps someone in the future. My nozzles were getting more apt to jam up and what I found is that the teflon sleeve inside the hot end was going bad. The end that extends into the heated nozzle was discolored and deformed (narrowed) which resisted the easy movement of the filament. I didn't have any of that tubing on hand (but I do now) so I used a small drill and reamed it out. I use Simplify3D and print with a wide variety of materials and have sometimes used temperature settings as high as 260'C so that may've added to the degradation of that sleeve above an beyond what would happen if just printing with the usual CubePro slicer.

I also opened the nozzle on one of the print heads with a .45mm drill bit and that made printing with some of the more challenging materials easier.

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Posting this made me think more about this situation with the PTFE sleeve. I would like to find an alternate material for the sleeve that can withstand higher temperature exposure without degrading. I see I can buy Alumina Ceramic tube in the correct dimensions but I'm thinking there would be a problem of the heated filament sticking to it. Any suggestions? I'm not looking to go super high on temps, but a little higher than I think the PTFE can withstand.

[RicciEU]

Cubical, Thanks for posting. Not sure how many people are still using the cubepro machines. I unfortunately are one, so any insight is always much appreciated.

I am using the CubePro Duo with the Simplify slicer. I have a great deal of trouble with my nozzles and have noticed slight discolouration and deformation at the hot end of the PTFE guide tube. I will look at changing it out and see if that make a difference. I mostly use PETG and have varying levels of success and not much consistency. I rarely have success printing supports or internal fill. Would you mind sharing your settings that you are using for PETG?
Cheers, RS

[Cubical]

RicciEU, it's been a while since I've tried printing with PETG. What I do remember is that the first few items I printed with it, the items turned out perfect. But midway through a print the item I was printing got all gooked up and I wasn't able to print very successfully with that material since then. However, that was before I learned some things about Simplify3d settings and before I discovered the PTFE tube issue. However, Nylon is similar to print with as PETG and I've recently printed some items with nylon with the .45mm nozzle and they came out decent. I'll make a point of trying some PETG and let you know how it goes.

One thing that has made life with the Cubepro much more pleasant is that I've completely abandoned using the filament tubes that snake throughout the printer up to the print heads. Instead, I made a box that sits on the top and I feed the filament directly into the feed motors. A side benefit of that is whenever I run the printer, the heat from the chamber is heating and drying the spools. Currently it's just a cardboard box but I'm working on a wood/plastic box that will be able to hold about 6 spools.

[RicciEU]

Cubical, You have described what I experience exactly. I have replaced both nozzle assemblies with new assemblies and I still get the same issue. Like you when I open a new spool of PETG it prints fine but after 1/3 of the roll the prints start to get a bit stringy and the print quality starts to seriously drop off. Some where around half of the roll it be comes unusable.
I had looked at the feeder tube in the past, I changed the tube and still got the same result. My latest theory is water, I live in 80% humidity, give or take, so I have bought a food dehydrator and I also have a vacuum pump for vacuum forming. So I am now going to try and put the spool under vacuum for 6hrs and then in the food hydrator for 2hours before I print with a half used roll to see if that helps.
I am wondering if moister and the tube can be working together to cause the problem. The ID of the feeder tube should be 2mm the filament should be 1.75. As you mentioned the hot end of the guide tube gets discoloured and deformed, narrower. If the filament contains moisture, the moisture could be expanding under the heat and make the diameter larger. Which could be binding on the reduced diameter of the tube.
I will swap out the tube and dehydrate the spool and see what happens.
I have never considered Nylon as I have always understood it to be problematic and very hydroscopic, also more expensive than PETG. I do like nylons stiffness and durability. Might have to give it a look.

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If you do get a chance to try some PETG here are the settings I am currently using:

IMG_1544.jpg IMG_1545.jpg IMG_1546.jpg IMG_1547.jpg IMG_1548.jpg IMG_1549.jpg

If anyone knows of any settings changes that might improve my prints please let me know?

Cheers,
RS

[Cubical]

I was thinking maybe moisture too. But I've had some kind of filament (I forget what) but it had so much moisture in it it would crackle and pop coming out and I could see the steam coming off it. This PETG is no where near that bad.

Being curious, I tried some test prints using MatterHacker PETG. The spool had been open for some time but it is winter here, thus lower humidity in general, plus I have a little heater pad in the cabinet where I store the spools. It's not a sealed cabinet but I figure having the heater pad in there helps a little.

I started off with the settings I was using for Nylon with the .45 nozzle and the prints were terrible! I gradually adjusted settings until it was looking pretty decent on a solid cube shape, then I whipped up a little bridge test. It wasn't perfect but decent. I think with some additional tuning it could be improved.

One thing I noticed was that there was no filament retraction taking place, even though I had it turned on for 5mm retraction. (I put marks on the extruder motor shafts so I can easily see what they're doing). I changed some settings and then it started magically working. I'm not sure what setting did it, but I think turning on the Retraction vertical lift made it work. So that may be a Simplify v4 bug.

On a side note, I recently purchased the Simplify V5 upgrade but to my disappointment, the .cubepro files that come from the v5 .bfb files crash the cubepro software when I load them in. I'm not sure why that is. When I first ran V5 it offered to import all the Process Settings from V4, so presumably the script code and such should be the same.

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Here's what I printed. It's not great but I thought not bad considering how bad it was when I first started out with this particular spool of PETG.

5 & 6 mm spans

(Hmmm...I tried to cut and paste pictures here but it just inserted thousands of lines of text. Is it not possible to cut and paste pictures into a message on this forurm?)

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Okay so I can't cut an paste, so I made some files. Here are some screens of the settings I used. FYI, you have the nozzle diameter on yours at .40, but I'm pretty sure it's .35mm. Probably not a big deal, I'm assuming it'll just make it extrude more or less than what it would. Mine is set to .45 because I bored mine out with a .45mm drill bit

Attachment 4658Attachment 4659Attachment 4660

Here's the cube
Attachment 4661

Here's the bridge test. This view shows the 5mm and 6mm spans
Attachment 4662

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One more setting tab
Attachment 4663