MN-S 3D Printers: Difference between revisions

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==General Info==
==General Info==
=== Changing Filament ===
Changing filaments is responsible for most clogs. These instructions will help keep our printers printing. Whenever you're changing filaments, always preheat to the highest temperature of the two filaments.
When you approach a 3D printer it will have filament from the previous user in the extruder. If the reel is still there, look to see what the material was and select the appropriate temperature to Unload the Filament.
Often, the previous user will have clipped the filament and taken their reel with them. The only thing you'll see is a pig tail of filament out of the top of the extruder. Trying to Unload the Filament with a temperature too low to melt the filament will not work and may damage the extruder.
The rule is: '''if you don't know what material was in there before you, pre-heat to 255''' which is hot enough to melt any existing filament material and then Unload the Filament. Extrude lots of material to make sure all the old material is gone. You then WAIT for the extruder to cool down to the correct temperature for your filament, load your new filament, and preheat to what you actually need. 
If you have enough 3D printers, you might designate one printer for just PETG, to avoid this issue. 


===Big ball of plastic on the extruder of Prusa===
===Big ball of plastic on the extruder of Prusa===

Revision as of 11:21, 16 November 2019

Filament

Filament is NOT included in the membership fee.

We have a limited amount of donated filament that you can use. If you make big parts or a lot of small parts, then you should bring your own spool(s) of filament. You might consider buying an extra spool and donating it to the common supply.

If you are purchasing ESun PLA+ printer filament we recommend buying the refills, we have plenty of extra spools available.

Currently all of the 3D Printers owned by Maker Nexus use 1.75mm filament.

Specific Models

General Info

Changing Filament

Changing filaments is responsible for most clogs. These instructions will help keep our printers printing. Whenever you're changing filaments, always preheat to the highest temperature of the two filaments.

When you approach a 3D printer it will have filament from the previous user in the extruder. If the reel is still there, look to see what the material was and select the appropriate temperature to Unload the Filament.

Often, the previous user will have clipped the filament and taken their reel with them. The only thing you'll see is a pig tail of filament out of the top of the extruder. Trying to Unload the Filament with a temperature too low to melt the filament will not work and may damage the extruder.

The rule is: if you don't know what material was in there before you, pre-heat to 255 which is hot enough to melt any existing filament material and then Unload the Filament. Extrude lots of material to make sure all the old material is gone. You then WAIT for the extruder to cool down to the correct temperature for your filament, load your new filament, and preheat to what you actually need.

If you have enough 3D printers, you might designate one printer for just PETG, to avoid this issue.


Big ball of plastic on the extruder of Prusa

A large ball of plastic attached itself to the nozzle and heat block, and in removal, the wires for the thermistor were damaged. To clean up an issue like that, don't try to remove the plastic while it is cold, you will break things every time. Typically, first thing to do is to remove the filament through a normal filament unload (preheat the nozzle ONLY - no need to preheat bed & unload filament). Then, raise the z axis so you have plenty of room to access the ball'o'plastic. Bring the nozzle temperature up to 30-40 degrees over your printing temperature. Be careful, this is obviously going to have hot plastic all over the place, and it sticks to skin. Wear gloves, use tools, do not try to grab plastic with your bare hand!!!

Once the hot end is at temperature, slowly begin pulling out loose plastic. What is contacting the hot end will get molten. Start scooping/pulling it out, push more plastic against the hot end, repeat. Be very careful of the wires attached to the hot end. There will be two sets, one for the heater cartridge, one for the thermistor. If you damage either, you'll be replacing them. Work the plastic blob into contact with the hot end until it starts to soften (as a blob). You can then try to start working larger chunks free, but again, don't force it, the wrapping for the thermistor, in particular, likes to bond to melted filament because it is a woven wrap. Some time and heat will free up the hot end. Once the majority is gone, cleaning up with a coarse paper towel that won't leave towel fibers is fairly easy. Again, it's HOT, be careful.

So that's what you do if you're at home, if it's one of our printers, ask for staff!

Typically, a failure like this is a first layer adhesion issue. If it failed after the first layer, there are a lot of potential causes. A good takeaway though: get a staff member to deal with it. There are specific ways to clean that up, but if you do it wrong, you'll break wires. In this case, we lost a $9 thermistor. Not a big deal.


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