I’m sad to say I’m getting very frustrated with this machine. Both nozzles on the Vertex are blocking up very frequently (twice today), with the extruder motors retracting. I’ve replaced the PTFE tube to make sure the length is correct, reduced the temperature of PLA to 187°C, set the retraction distance to 3mm, set the retraction speed to 110mm/s.
This is driving me mad as I have wasted over 100g of filament on failed prints now. I am desperate for a solution that works, otherwise I’m going to start blaming the parts and design rather than my building skills.
If it helps, I’ll describe the nature of the blockages. Hopefully someone can explain why each happens.
Sometimes the filament will push in but not out. Normally if I just force it down with a small metal rod, and then push the filament through it clears the block.
Other times, the filament gets completely stuck and I have to disassemble the hot end and knock it out.
I would very much appreciate some solutions to this problem. There should really be a huge FAQ for each of the problems, because I am not the only one who’s experienced trouble at almost every turn.
Not sure what’s going on.
Did you check the length of the tube inside of the heat break (PTPF tube I think is what it’s called)
Are your thermistors properly positioned?
What are you printing with PLA or ABS?
[quote=“Wrong Way”]Not sure what’s going on.
Did you check the length of the tube inside of the heat break (PTPF tube I think is what it’s called)
Are your thermistors properly positioned?
What are you printing with PLA or ABS?[/quote]
Thanks for the reply. Nor am I!
The PTFE tube is definitely the correct length, within a tenth of a millimetre. I replaced it to make sure.
My thermistors are positioned as shown in the online instructions.
I am printing in PLA, although I plan to print in all manner of things when I get all these problems fixed.
This is a long shot but worth checking.
The pulley that mounts on the extruder.
Check it for correct alignment.
Also check the screw that holds the pulley on the motor make sure it’s tight.
You should check the reference voltages for the driver cards as well.
I had the same problem, now im printing 0,2025mm layerheight at 190c and 0,105mm at 180c. I also force the fan fully on in the end code so the remaining head doesn’t creep up into the filament. Cura already turns the fan on at 50% in the startcode, but sli3er doesn’t so I changed that too. I didn’t had any blocked nozzle for 2kg already.
maybe this can also work for you.
I’m not 100% sure about this but I think my white PLA filament is the most prone to the clicky noise thing, although the nozzle does not appear to be completely blocked. Sometimes it continues to print and slowly blocks, but other times it seems to keep going but click continuously. This does affect the print quality though, so it’s still a problem. Could the filament have become brittle somehow?
Hi there I have the same problem. But I think it isn’t the nozzel what blocks. Yesterday I print an Object and its starts to clicky. Then I stop the Print and waiting for colldown. I have cut the Filament over the Hot end an clean every thing. After that I put everything together and try to Extrude. Nothing, so I take out the PTFE Tube from the fast coupler and try to Push Material out with the Extrude an still Clicking. Then I Try to extrude with Repetier 50mm an push with force by hand when the extruder try to Turn. So this was helping for yesterday. After the Part witch don’t want to through the extruder was pushing trough it, everything was working fine. So maybe the error comes from the extruder and not from the printhead. But I need an solution of this problem too.
I have all problems with blocked nozzle and so on which are written here for a long time.
I can’t print anything for over 5 weeks now!!!
Printer is standing still till now!
I think the hotend should be made new by Velleman??
I think to reduce blocking you have to start with the basics and work back.
Using Velleman filament? If not, get some. It’s cheap and the printer was designed and tested using it. Cheaper, low quality filament will block your nozzles.
If blockages are occuring during printing, there has to be a fault with the temperature settings or something physical, such as a problem with the PTFE tube or the filament extruder.
Do you hear clicking? That is the extruder slipping on the filament. Either it can’t pull it off the roll, or it can’t push it up the tube. If it’s the latter, then you’ve got a blockage or the filament was previous stuck and it’s been ‘stripped’, i.e. the drive wheel pressure has changed the profile of the filament and now it can’t grip the filament properly. Pull it out and pull some off the roll, cut it cleanly and try again.
Can you push the filament through the hot nozzle by hand (up the tube) by releasing the hobbed wheel spring and pushing it with your fingers? If so, then there may be a problem with the feedrate (too slow, too fast), or the filament needs higher temperatures or (in rare cases) the temperature is too high - causing burning of the filament. Check for burnt brown matter being extruded occasionally. If this happens regularly, then it will inevitably block your nozzle with particles of carbonised filament.
Is your fan working correctly - is the temperature profile of the hot ends fairly even during printing? Check those graphs!
Blocked nozzles are one of those things you have to track down methodically until you find the cause. There are so many possibilities it’s hard for others to help you with specific advice. But you will eventually find it and solve it. It’s not rocket science, as they say at NASA.
I bought my vertex k8400 to just over 1 year.
now I am having problems with nozzle clogging all the time.
I clean the nozzle and have a very good print , but when I go to print something on the next day , I have again clogged nozzle
Note:
I use velleman original filament
print PLA about 190 degrees
Actually depending on the position and good contact of the thermistor, the reading can be more or less accurate (less than more usually). So the displayed temperature can be quite far from the reality. It’s a try and error routine. Print a test object and manually (tune option/LCD) lower the temperature in 5° steps and check the result on the print. The lowest temperature possible is 170° (lower there will be a cold extrusion error). So don’t go under 175°.
