Sunday, December 5, 2010

Extruder Problems Continue

After rebuilding the extruder and running some test prints the extruder is still having problems. After about 10-minutes of printing the filament stalled again. The PTFE of the nozzle had backed up with molten PLA again.


I think I'll try two more things tomorrow. Firstly, I'll rebuild the extruder with the original nichrome wire heater - perhaps the block heater is more suited to the new style extruder where the brass doesn't get inserted as far into the PTFE. I think that perhaps because the brass nozzle extends into the PTFE 15mm or so, it is transferring heat further up the insulator than with the new style extruder.


Secondly, I'll try boring out the PTFE insulator. There is a slight notch on the inside where the drill slipped when I was drilling out molten PLA previously. This notch appears to be catching the molten PLA, which could be causing the feed problems. This will increase the internal bore diameter slightly which hopefully won't cause any problems.


If none of this works, I'll be rdering some PTFE and joining TechShop and using their lathes.

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