Anet A8 3D Printer.

[bigegg]

Don’t have an a8 but how stable is the bed on this printer

seems pretty good - i can get a nice even squished coating across the entire bed.
*when* it works.

have the machine solidly mounted to a 45mm corian worktop.

 

[bigegg]

as far as it gets.

then click. click. click

 

[DAPPH]

Thinking aloud … My printer is a true Prusa i3 original

First .
Have you got a 4 mtr or so length of decent filament not off the reel you are using . Thoughts ……. faulty filament or varying diameters so the feed roller not gripping it ? re -read post , you are using a different colour .. is it the recommended diameter over a metre length ?

Second
Excessive play in the axle bearing of the of the feed roller or motor on it does not always have the same level of grip on the filament ..is the motor squarely & securely mounted on its mounting or is it too tight pressing too hard on the filament , increasing resistance to move . Change / swap the motor to another , use an Allen key to set the distance of the spindle to see if anything changes ?
PIA as it will mean dismantling the mountings ?

Third
Has the filament gone oval because of moisture / humidity affecting over time it whilst its been on wound on the reel? It absorbs moisture if it is PLA … Not applicable …. he's changed to a different colour .


Fourth
Is the filament coming off the holder reel in the right direction and in the right manner ..ie it's not coming off the back of the reel & having to pass over the frame of the printer . That's how my Prussa i3 original runs . When I first set it up , the reel holder was not placed as shown in the construction manual plus I had it coming off the back of the reel .

 

[bigegg]

hmmm
interesting stuff @DAPPH

the new filament has been in a sealed airtight(?) box in the shed.
the old filament was in the (red hot) conservatory, as is the printer.
it was hot and dry yesterday.
today has been miserable - colder and very wet. with thunderstorms.

could it be as simple as weather?

i've brought the filament in the house, and put it in the airing cupboard.
i've also ordered a new reel.

I'll make an enclosure tomorrow, with a small heater in it.

 

[carbon]

To me looking on my phone first layer is to close the bed. Not sure what options you have on the printer but increasing the z offset may help. Have noticed on mine (not a8) that when changing filament brands z offset needs to be set slightly different

 

[bigegg]

To me looking on my phone first layer is to close the bed. Not sure what options you have on the printer but increasing the z offset may help. Have noticed on mine (not a8) that when changing filament brands z offset needs to be set slightly different

i've tried everything from too close to barely touching.
makes no difference

 

[tflnemesis]

I tried a bowden setup about a month ago (e3 volcano clone), had nothing but problems and ended up resetting back to original direct drive setup.

The issue for me was getting the long ptfe tube to seal against the throat properly, if my nozzle was too close to the bed the pressure would force the ptfe tube back up the throat slightly but just enough to create a small cavity between the throat and ptfe tube(1/2 - 1 mm). This would fill with molten plastic which would then cook and block the throat.
I think I managed about 3 successful prints out of about 25-30 tries. Went back to direct drive and hardly any problems.

 

[bigegg]

I tried a bowden setup about a month ago (e3 volcano clone), had nothing but problems and ended up resetting back to original direct drive setup.

The issue for me was getting the long ptfe tube to seal against the throat properly, if my nozzle was too close to the bed the pressure would force the ptfe tube back up the throat slightly but just enough to create a small cavity between the throat and ptfe tube(1/2 - 1 mm). This would fill with molten plastic which would then cook and block the throat.
I think I managed about 3 successful prints out of about 25-30 tries. Went back to direct drive and hardly any problems.

I think that's pretty much where I am.
I bought my printer 2nd hand, and it came built - with the bowden system.
I'm going to investigate what I'll have to do to make it direct drive - and then order the bits. (almost certainly a new carriage at least)

 

[PhillipM]

Have you got locking clips on the pnuematic bowden fittings? They stop a lot of that if you're not using decent preloaded ones.

 

[bigegg]

Have you got locking clips on the pnuematic bowden fittings? They stop a lot of that if you're not using decent preloaded ones.

I did use a clip on the hot side - the one that came with the e3d hot end.
Worked yesterday, didn't work today

 

[bigegg]

I've never really seen a direct drive hot end, and I can't tell on the videos I've watched

How does the extruder drive actually attach to the hot end? does it screw into the end of the heatsink, replacing the bowden fitting?
and does the filament just get pushed in, naked, across an air gap from the drive hob?

 

[bigegg]

stripped down cold this morning.

this is from the hot end:


so i'm *definitely* getting slippage of the ptfe tube out of the clip.

i'm going to offset my z by 1mm, and run some strings to see whether it is just nozzle clearance which is the issue

 

[bigegg]

regardless of my other issues, my filament is *definitely* a serious issue.

with the stuff i got with the machine, i'm barely managing 100mm of extrusion before it jams (tried four different reels)

cadged a couple of meters off someone local, and its feeding fine.


so either, i've stored them incorrectly. (in an unheated garage, but sealed bags, in a sealed airtight box).
or...
the bloke i bought the printer off got a duff supplier, and dumped all the draugr [1] on me.

i've ordered a cheap 1kg reel of filament from ebay, and a reel from rigid ink (on back order), and the naff filament will go to the car boot sale @£1 a roll.





[1] I'm running out of north European mythological creatures to describe how {mod friendly} i am with 3d printing

 

[bigegg]

todays.

 

[PhillipM]

There's a lot of shocking filament out there, I go some rolls from 3DQF because all the cheapskates on the printing forums were pushing it and it was absolutely unusable unless you were printing ****ty trinkets - there were so many lumps in the filament it would jam in the tube.

 

[AndersK]

If you suspect storage issues, put the roll in an oven , or on the printer bed if you have an enclosure, at 60° for an hour or two to dry it.

 

[tflnemesis]

todays.


View attachment 186223

That still looks like you have the filament set to 3mm in printer settings...

 

[bigegg]

That still looks like you have the filament set to 3mm in printer settings...

its the same file.
i was using a "known working" file, didnt want to add other variables until my extrusion issues were sorted.
this was just a 2m length i got from someone on FB to try.

its pretty obvious that filament *was* the issue.
i could have bought 4 kgs of rigidink filament for what i've spent.

 

[tflnemesis]

todays.


View attachment 186223

This is what it should look like:



Some no name PLA I had kicking around, 200c 40mm/s, stringing a little but I haven't calibrated for the filament yet.

 

[bigegg]

roll of geeetech pla off amazon arrived.

had to tweak my extrusion temp down to 180°, and it's *really* finicky about nozzle gap. (1/4 turn difference between not sticki g, and jamming).

but, so far, so good.