Ender 5 Plus - Filament Jams

[indy4x]

I have an Ender 5 Plus, well technically its my BIL but we did a swap as he wanted to try our my CopyMaster for a few months. He passed just over a year ago and my CopyMaster is locked in his workshop and the door has remained locked since he passed but thats another story

So back on topic, the Ender 5 has been pretty good since I have had it and cannot remember having a single failed print, until now.

About a week ago I was running a long print, probaly 12 hours, about 3 hours in the filament jammed in the hotend.

Stripped it down and the insides were pretty gunked up so bought a new heatbreak and reassembled with a new nozzle.

Attempted the same print and had the same issue, stipped and cleaned out the hot end again, reassembled and same result

This sequence of events has now happened everytime I print.

After jam No.3 I noticed that the plastic filament feed setup was quote worn so installed a Creality all metal replacement and this time it jammed so bad I had to bin the capricorn bowden tube as well because the Creality feed gear was scoring the filament that much it was binding in the bowden tube. (Since found out the fix for this is to cut a coil or 2 off the tension spring as some kits have been supplied with the wrong spring!)

Today I was determined to resolve the issue and had purchased the following

Another new heatbreak
Copper heating block
Dual gear filament feed setup
Heatblock silicone sock

Put it all back together but this time paid close attention to everything I was doing, end result, yet another filament jam

 

[indy4x]

Having eventually stopped sulking, back to it to try and work out why

It looks like the heatbreak isn't doing its job, I have stuck a thermocouple down the heatbreak and where the bowden tube stops the temps are getting to 92/93C

Looking at the filament I pulled out appears to confirm that I am getting heat creep up into the bowden tube

Heatbreak was installed with thermal compound so should be doing its job

Initially I did wonder if the thermocouple on the printer was having the funnies but the temperature measurements I took with an external probe are within a degree or 2 of what the printer is reporting

 

[ukracer]

Are you running a bowden tube?
If so is it genuine Capricorn.

Also even with Genuine tube the holders sometimes leave a gap.

 

[indy4x]

@ukracer yep, genuine Capricorn, well each time I have bought some it comes in a bag with the fittings and a sticker

 

[Screwdriver]

Thoroughly recommend this mod. #16

The key issue to note is how the OPRDER of ASSEMBLY completely removes the possibility of the bowden tube backing out of the hotend. You MUST get the order correct.

It might also help with whatever heat creep you may be experiencing. The capricorn tube also is notorious for overheating and melting, the oem teflon (?) is better at resisting that.

 

[indy4x]

This was the last failure, there does appear to be a small gap between the end of the capricorn tube and heatbreak that filament has oozed into

 

[ukracer]

@ukracer yep, genuine Capricorn, well each time I have bought some it comes in a bag with the fittings and a sticker

Yeah well....it says baked beans on the back of buses but they don't sell them. Lol

But yes it's hard to spot fakes there are so many about.

At least you know what's the best..

 

[ukracer]

This was the last failure, there does appear to be a small gap between the end of the capricorn tube and heatbreak that filament has oozed into

View attachment 357877

Have you done the mod screwdriver linked to??

 

[indy4x]

@Screwdriver Not sure if this Ender 5 has different heatbreak, the bowden tube does not go all the way to the nozzle, it terminates in the heatbreak section within the cooling block, see arrows in the photo




Yes they are 2 different designs, the one on the right was what I originally removed from the printer and the one on the left is what I've fitted

And then there is a gap to the heater block, yellow arrow shows where the probe took its readings from




So when I measured with the probe, its inside the cooling block and not in the heater block

My understanding is, in this design the bowden tube is kept away from the melt zone so as to avoid melts in the bowden but with the heat creep I'm seeing this isn't happening

 

[indy4x]

@ukracer nope, everyting has been good for the time I've had the printer

Can't 3d print one until I fix the printer but I could machine one out of Ali

Given how I think this hotend should work I'm not convinced it will fix the issue but its worth a try and nothing to lose. If it works I can see @Screwdriver doing a little jig

 

[m_c]

I wouldn't say that's too high a temperature to be measuring where you are, and is why high temp tube should be used.

Have you tried some different filament?
If the nozzle blocks, the filament itself adds to the heat transfer.

If you want a couple original Ender 3, a Creality Spider, or a MicroSwiss all metal, I've got them kicking around doing nothing.

 

[indy4x]

@m_c yep, 3 different rolls of PLA and same with all 3

Thanks for the offer, have ordered a copperhead style heatbreak to try, I did look at the Creality Spider and was tempted but let's see how the copperhead goes 1st

Cheers