Hi, I am having again issues with filament residue on the A1 nozzles and seemingly creeping up the heater element. I did recently exchange the heater element for a new one, as the space in the element where the thermistor and heater sit was clogged up and seemed to break the thermistor cable.
I did suspect the hardened 0.4mm Nozzle I used back then to be the issue and was not sure, if it was leaking at the nozzle part. So since the change, I used exclusively the stainless 0.4mm that came with the printer and was used for less than 10 prints before I switched to the hardened steel. Now I had issues with my 1. Layer mesh again, so I suspected again issues with the heater/nozzle assembly.
I let the pictures speak for themselves, I dont understand this anymore. Not very much print time since the replacement and again residue everywhere. Also, the screws of the heater assembly were loose (again…). Anyone else with similar issues? How did you approach them? This is getting really really annoying, at this rate, I would soon call my clapped out modded to hell Ender more reliable than this.
I did contact support the first time for some information on how to approach this, but they ignored my leaking nozzle theory and told me to buy a new heater element.
That filament getting back into the sock or encasing the extruder is because the extruded filament can act like a lava tube and kind of plumb the molten filament back into the extruder head.
You see it with a few different filaments. Where I’ve seen it is with PETG HF and with silk PLA. Both cause weird thick/short filament purges which can act like lava tubes to transport molten filament to other places.
Are you running PETG HF? That is a filament that loves to do the lava tube thing. It gets a little sticky and wants to curl if moisture content is high enough. Early last fall there was a rash of encased extruders in PETG HF likely because of weather changes that increased filament moisture into the danger zone.
I have seen something like this but not as bad with petg filament, again nothing like this but it did get back up in the nozzle/heater area. Also had a bad/torn sock in that scenario but could happen with a good sock too.
Nope, no PETG HF. Actually no Bambu filament at all basically. I do have one roll but only use it if I need the color. I mainly print eSUN, Sunlu/Jayo and some Geetech currently.
I know some filament residue from printing PETG on my Ender, but not that extreme that it creeps in between parts.
I would guess your petg is backing up in there somehow and you don’t even know. The one that did it to me was sunlu petg, just was slightly overextruded and I didn’t know while printing a lot of parts.
Now I do use separate nozzles for pla and petg, it might help to narrow it down I guess.
Filament is calibrated well, the A1 is not my first printer besides, using the Bambu blackmagic auto calibration is also something I run from time to time, but yes, my own calibrations are mostly slightly under extruded.
How are you cleaning that off? I noticed mine has a tiny bit mostly on the edges of the heater, and none on the nozzle. Just cleaned it off by gently scratching it off when a very small screw-driver tip while having it heated to 200C, not sure if that was the smartest way to do that.
That’s how I clean mine also. I don’t have near the issue you have but do like to keep things tidy. I use brass bristle brushes like these. I print almost exclusively Overture PLA but I do see build up with PETG. There is another thread where a type of anti-fouling paint like this one is recommended and got positive replies. I’ve not tried it so can’t say if it works.
besides, using the Bambu blackmagic auto calibration is also something I run from time to time, but yes, my own calibrations are mostly slightly under extruded.