It seems to be a “known problem” of the X1C nozzle wiper having problems wiping PETG, and even pressing it up against the nozzle where it gets stuck, accumulates, and eventually may start ruining your prints. Very frustrating! Hence, probably why the A1 was a different wiper design…
Anyone yet found a worthwhile solution or strategy for dealing with this? Maybe the slice engineering nozzle paint? A better fitting silicon sock? Anything?
I’ve seen the NeedItMakeVideo, but it didn’t look like he had much success. And, of course, there is all kinds of downloadable junk, which is… mostly junk. But maybe there’s a diamond in there that I’ve overlooked?
Presently I’m using a silicon glue brush to manually brush off PETG accumulation after heating up the nozzle. It gets the big chunks off, but there’s always residual, which acts like a primer to immediately restart the accumulation process. Changing nozzles is radical, but it works (for a while at least) because it delivers a clean start.
If anything drives me to a non-stock nozzle ecosystem, this may be it.
FWIW, my Creality CR1 SE has the same problem, and it doesn’t even do wiping, so maybe the problem is more general. This is the main reason I purchased a Flashforge 5M Pro, because it has very quick nozzle changes. I haven’t yet seen that it has the problem, though, but maybe it will arise over time. It didn’t seem to be as much of a problem when I first purchased my X1C, so maybe the outside of the nozzles just get unavoidably crusty with time? I guess I’ll order another and try again.
I print a fair amount of PETG on my X1C. If your PETG is super dried out, and you have manually calibrated flow/PA/temp, you shouldn’t have any significant issues.
If you have a lot of PETG building up, it’s an indication that one or more of these things aren’t right.
Wiping it off is a band-aid workaround to the more fundamental problems related to properly calibrated flow. Moist filament can never be properly calibrated. So start with drying…
It looks notionally similar to The Ultimate Wiper version 2, built and reviewed here:
However, at least with that design, he showed that it would fling bits of poo all over the build plate. Can you confirm whether or not that also happens with the wiper you posted your link to?
Now that I’m more aware of the problem, I’ll try to pay closer attention as to exactly when it is occurring. In general I do quite a lot of manual filament calibrations, and I now wonder whether the actual calibration process is contributing to the problem, since the first pass in Orca slicer’s flow rate calibration will generally lead to both under-extrusion and over-extrusion during printing of the calibration tiles. Again, I’ll try to pay more attention now to observe whether or not this is the case now that I’m more aware of the problem.
As for filament drying, I 100% agree and I’m already all-in on that. I even purchased a blast oven to do it properly, together with using desiccant to keep it dry afterward.
I know some nozzle vendors advertise that they use nickle coated nozzles because they claim it affords a less sticky surface for hot extruded plastic to cling on to. Unfortunately, AFAIK, Bambulab doesn’t offer any nozzles with either that or similar no-stick/low-stick finishes.
You might occasionally get a small piece of debris flicked from the nozzle, but I haven’t had any prints fail because of it landing on the build plate. That said, it’s possible—if the debris lands in just the right spot, it could cause an issue.
However, I prefer it being flicked off rather than sticking to the nozzle and being dragged around during the print, which tends to cause more problems in my experience.
You can also experiment with the X-Large setting, which covers more of the nozzle, or the Small setting, which only touches the outer tip of the nozzle. That said, I haven’t had any prints fail since installing this—quite the opposite. With the original setup, debris would sometimes stick to the nozzle, get dragged onto the plate, and ruin the print. This adjustment has made a noticeable improvement.
The amazon reviews are favorable and deemed genuine by Fakespot. On the Bambulab forum, I’ve read two reviews of it: one said it was worthless (which is why I hadn’t yet tried it), but a later review said it worked. So, I guess I’ll be the tie breaker.
Even though NeedItMakeIt didn’t rate it as highly, I like that it’s fully deterministic, inexpensive, and that I can put it together faster than waiting on the alternate wiper parts from Germany. Plus, it allegedly works well for this guy… so why did it not wirj well for NeedItMakeIt?
Anyone reading this tried it?
In contrast, the K2 Plus looks like it has a more evolved wipe design that gives rise to more repeatable results:
@RocketSled Which brand of PETG do you print? I wonder if that might have anything to do with it.
I’ve printed a wide range of different brand PETG’s on mine, so if there was a problem that could be attributed to brand, I wouldn’t know which to pin the blame on. In general I’ve been a fan of Elegoo Rapid PETG, though, because in general it prints high quality, and very, very fast (faster than high speed PLA!) and very inexpensive. My only grip with it is that it comes on a cardboard spool.
All that said, I’ve logged 1750 print hours on my X1C. There was some wear on the wiper, although not really obvious if you don’t know what to look for. With that as a reference, I’ll be more vigiliant inspecting it in the future. Today I replaced the wiper and the entire hotend and nozzle, so it should now be back to factory “good as new” condition.
Now that I’ve started fresh, I can confirm that running an Orca flow rate calibration on even a well dried spool of PETG has resulted in unfortunate build-up on the nozzle. Not surprising when you think about it. In the past I would not have noticed, but now that I’m paying closer attention I’ll be more vigilant in not allowing it to accumulate, especially after a flow calibration. Then, If @RocketSled is correct, maybe this will be all that’s needed. Time will tell.
I wouldn’t dare to try anything that covers the waste bin area again. I once tried something similar, and after a few ASA prints, some filament buildup formed. During a color change wipe, the nozzle somehow fused to the buildup and ended up ripping the cover right off.
So for me, there will never be a cover over that part of my printer again! Thankfully, nothing was damaged — maybe because the cover wasn’t fastened to the printer. It just got ripped off and taken for a little ride around the build plate.
I use a utility knive cut a part of the silicone brush holder so that it won’t interfere with the build plate, not this particular one in the picture but a different aliexpress build plate.
Gone through about 15 rolls of PETG recently. There still a small piece trapped between the teflon tube and the silicone brush sometime, but generally this setup keeps the poops inside the chute like 98 out of 100 times, while stock wiper just flings the poops all over the bed or under the bed like 99 times out of 100 times.
I tried teflon coated nozzle before (with anycubic i3), it didn’t work whatsoever. Similar to this one
I’m actually surprised how well the plastic repellent paint is working. There may or may not be some PETG stuck to the nozzle at the end of the print, but with the PRP it comes off easily during the nozzle wipe, whereas without the PRP it may remain stuck the nozzle even after wiping…
I recently encountered an issue while printing with PETG HF. This morning, I printed a model for my daughter that required fine ironing, which can sometimes cause residue to accumulate on the nozzle. The print itself turned out exceptionally well, with a flawless finish on the top surfaces. However, due to the ironing process, some small remnants adhered to the nozzle. Typically, I perform a manual nozzle cleaning after such prints, but today I proceeded directly to printing with ASA.
The leftover PETG HF attracted the purged ASA, attempting to deposit it onto the build plate. Fortunately, my nozzle wiper removed the debris before it caused any issues.
Regarding the plastic repellent paint you mentioned, could you please inform me of its maximum temperature tolerance? I require a solution that can withstand temperatures between 220°C and 300°C. The plastic repellent offered by Slice Engineering is rated up to 290°C, which may not suffice for my high-temperature applications. One potential solution could be to dedicate a specific nozzle for PETG variants to ensure the temperature remains within the repellent’s effective range.
The PRP is the one from Slice Engineering, so 290C.
I don’t have enough datapoints to claim real statistics, but after the first coating I had to re-apply after the second or third print. Although it’s easy to apply, it does set you back 90 seconds while you wait for it to air dry at ambient before heating the nozzle for a print. I think I’d rather have a nickle plated nozzle, or some other more permanent slick wonder material, but we’re stuck with hardened steel or stainless steel if we stick with Bambulab nozzles. It might warrant changing to a different nozzle ecosystem if there’s one that’s a lot more slippery without painting/re-painting.
Keep me posted! Always nice to have a clean nozzle — and PETG? Well, that stuff is way too eager to stick to literally anything… including things it absolutely shouldn’t.
Time will tell.
