3D Printing and RVing

[TJ&LadyDi]

@TJ&LadyDi does this almost sound eerily like reloading? I am staying away.

Yes, it does. Much like trying to get 8-point crimps right on 20-ga hulls without buckling the tube.

TJ

 

[BuckyII]

@Neal 3D printing is back in my good graces...I hope your new hotend solves your issues. After many hours of recalibration, YouTube videos and reading posts on the Prusa forum...my issue turned out to be a lack of lubrication on the X-axis bars. After identifying that as a potential problem, I did find an un-opened tube of lubrication in with my original stuff that came with the printer. In other words, USER ERROR.

 

[Neal]

@BuckyII I'll add you to the don't build airplanes list Glad you're up and running. I'm thinking of burning some PLA like incense. Miss the smell

 

[BuckyII]

@Neal well, everything was going well until it wasn't. I guess the nozzle did not get tightened enough when I replaced it...resulted in printing problems. As I dug deeper, this is what I found: melted filament all over the heater block.

Then I struggled trying to remove the entire hotend assembly until I found this which was very helpful:

Prusa Knowledge Base

help.prusa3d.com

Ended up ordering a new hotend kit from Amazon:
Amazon.com: E3D Prusa MK3 MK3S V6 HotEnd Kit: Industrial & Scientific

Getting it put back together and working will be a challenge for tomorrow.

Hope you're doing better than I am.

 

[Neal]

Yikes, not good. I looked at the hot end "kit" but decided to order the prebuilt one which still hasn't shipped. Reason is I'm hoping the prebuilt will come with a PTFE tube that I need replaced where the kit doesn't have it included so you'll need to reuse yours which is fine.

I don't know why my hotend was loose from the heat sink, I saw it wobbling, may have been me not securing it good enough in a nozzle change that I broke it loose. I think this next time around I'm not touching the nozzle again or will have to do better in securing the hotend.

You will need to do a careful first layer cal again once setup again.

 

[Neal]

I may order the kit as well and just have a spare hotend on hand.

 

[BuckyII]

@Neal My MK3S kit came with the hotend assembled...no extra PTFE tubes. My current PTFE seems to be in good shape...however, I am going to order some just to have on hand. In searching for good instructions for the re-assembling my heater block, heat break, PTFE tube and black retainer ring, it seems like it is extremely critical that it be done correctly. I haven't seen a real good set of instructions yet. You won't need it since you are getting the assembly. I will keep you posted on my progress (or lack thereof)...my kit should be here tomorrow.

 

[BuckyII]

Good instructions for re-assembly of hotend:

How To: Successfully Assemble an E3D v6 All-Metal HotEnd | MatterHackers

This detailed guide by the Pros at MatterHackers walks you through the steps to correctly assemble the industry's leading hotend.

www.matterhackers.com

Slightly different than the Prusa hotend, but through step 20 seems about the same (different collet)

 

[BuckyII]

@Neal...update: Received the hotend kit yesterday and closely followed the instructions in the previous post. As a result, I have a much better understanding of the filament flow and nozzle change process. I also know what I did to create my problems in the first place...hopefully, I'll remember long enough to avoid them in the future.

Bottom line...my printer is working great and I'm a happy camper again.

Also, I ordered some stuff from Prusa including a number of PTFE tubes...will be happy to send you a couple if you'd like.

 

[Neal]

Glad to hear. I was thinking the same if one of us placed an order to get a good supply of the tubes. I’ll let you know if what I have doesn’t work. I think I have the original and one spare.

My kit comes today and a week or two the assembled one. Just had knee surgery yesterday so no rush. Looking forward to printing again soon and stop dealing with problems. Hope to never change a nozzle again but I think we both know how important it is to secure the hot end to keep it from breaking free of the heat sink. I think these kits are slightly different from what Prusa includes and may be more durable. I’ll let you know if I have any questions in the build.

 

[BuckyII]

Just had knee surgery yesterday so no rush.

Sorry to hear...hope everything is okay. Probably no pickleball for awhile?

 

[Neal]

Thanks. Yeah. Gonna be a few months but at least next time hopefully not playing in a lot of pain and muscles going bezerk. Torn meniscus and cartilage mess. Went much better than expected. No meds today. Just ice and elevation.

 

[Neal]

Good instructions for re-assembly of hotend:

How To: Successfully Assemble an E3D v6 All-Metal HotEnd | MatterHackers

This detailed guide by the Pros at MatterHackers walks you through the steps to correctly assemble the industry's leading hotend.

www.matterhackers.com

Slightly different than the Prusa hotend, but through step 20 seems about the same (different collet)

I followed the above link, may finish this up today. It's a bit weird how the heat sink screws in and butts against the nozzle. Makes me wonder if I'll get the nozzle flush against the heat block. Did you have to do any tweaking on this?

 

[BuckyII]

@Neal , Yes, I wondered about that also. However, step 25 is the key...heat it up and tighten. Ultimately the nozzle seats against the heat sink vs the heat block. If it touches the heat block, it may not have seated properly against the heat sink. This was part of my enlightenment about how this all works and the importance of properly changing nozzles. Actually, the nozzle may end up seating against the PTFE tube?

 

[sheridany]

Gonna be a few months but at least next time hopefully not playing in a lot of pain and muscles going bezerk. Torn meniscus and cartilage mess.

@Neal Been there and done it 2x. Get Well soon and do your PT!

 

[Neal]

Google always listening - this popped up in my YouTube feed today. Explains why the nozzle is not flush to the heat block

 

[Neal]

And of course now YouTube will keep feeding me hotend videos, but this one was a good one.

 

[BuckyII]

And of course now YouTube will keep feeding me hotend videos, but this one was a good one.

Very helpful...easier to maintain things when you know how they work!

 

[BuckyII]

Just to prove that us 3D printing geeks don't spend all day just fixing our printers, thought it's time to show the kind of thing we can create. This was designed/printed to improve the efficiency of our silverware drawer. Here are before and after pictures:

 

[Neal]

I created bins for my pantry sliders, not sure if I ever showed them here. Takes a long time to print but it gives you full height of storage within each bin to just underneath the pantry drawer above. Can really improve pantry storage by taking advantage of full height.