Hello, I’m new to this forum but I’ve acquired a [color=#0000FF]Vertex[/color] printer about a month ago.
The problem at hand is, that when ever I decide to print a bigger job [color=#FF0000](in PLA)[/color] that requires 8-9 hours of printing, the filament simply stops coming out, despite the fact that the machine is still issuing operations (printing emptily).
This problem isn’t always there, but when it happens it usually happens 4-5 hours into the model, which can be a pain because you would have to start over again.
The things I’ve already checked is the [color=#FF0000]pulley [/color]that feeds the filament. And as I suspected, it did need some cleaning because it had a lot of “plastic dust” stuck inbetween its teeth. It then printed fine for a while and it successfully printed properly and normally again.
Then recently i had the same issue, and i quickly checked the pulley and it was perfect, with no issues there, i checked the nozzle by heating it up to 210 deg C and manually forcing some filament through, and it was coming out as it should.
I then checked all wires and settings, everything seemed to be okay, so I reset the print job and tried again, but the problem was still there. as soon as the job got to 83/230 layers the filament simply stopped coming out and it was printing in the air with no material.
SO, my question is - What am i missing? And how do I fix this problem? because I can’t afford delaying my print jobs over and over… some help would be greatly appreciated.
I made a new print today but it did not work so well. The beginning was fine but when i came to take a look at it again (around 30 min later) the extruder was ticking a lot and the wheel that pushes the filament upward was just moving back and forth. No filament came out of the nozzle. I reset my printer but now I am not sure of what to do.
By the way, i saw some small black (burnt?) pieces of filament on the first few layers of the print. Could the filament have got stuck? How do i fix this?
For the first observation you may check your temperatures settings and the temperature log. Please have in mind, that within the firmware a safety mechanism is implemented which prevents extruding below a temperature of 160°C. If the temperature sensor is below this limit, extrusion is omitted without notification, the motion is still executed.
For the second case you may check the retraction length for the filament. I would expect that the filament stucks in the nozzle. You may seach the forum for different approaches of nozzle cleaning.
In reply to Temperature log:
I’ve checked it and you are right, it does go below 160 deg C at some point, but why on earth does it do that?
In reply to clogged nozzle:
If that is the case, how do i prevent a perfectly clean nozzle from clogging 4-5 hours into a print?
(I dont need tips on cleaning it, I’m fully aware of how to do this)
My main concern is how I prevent these problems from happening 50% of the time.
Thanks for the replies
Check the screw on the green connector for the heating element make sure that are tight.
If you are printing with PLA 190C is a good starting point.
In the Cura settings change the following.
Retraction 4mm
Retraction speed 110mm