so I have about 1300 hrs on the X1 and the strangest thing started happening. The cutter arm gets stuck on the inside, filaments cant be pulled out automatically and it acted as if it printed but nothing came out. I removed the hotend and the extruder, cleaned them both and i thought it was working again but still getting stuck. any one else had a similar issue they were able to resolve? Thanks again.
Edit: one thing that sticks out, if you press the cutter handle it, it will not come back out on its own like it used to. Replacing the bade did nothing. Could it be the extruder?
I had this issue about 1 month ago. My solution may sound crude but it worked. I filed some of the plastic edge on the extruder housing so that the pivot arm would not get stuck. Did you recently change the filament cutter? I had and I have the feeling that I may have slightly bent the mechanism. This worked for me and has been printing fine since.
Funny thing is i changed the blade after the issue started. I printed so much before with no issue but i then switched to PLA-CF and one thing worked then the rest went down hill. CF or not. Ill check it now and see if its rubbing
You need to check if the filament cutter handle gets stuck. That is what caused my issue. If I recall the homing rams the cutter level on the side. If there is an issue then the homing is off and the housing cap may even come off. That was also an issue caused by this.
The only problem that caused the filament cutter to get stuck on my X1C was an extruder blockage. If the filament has a certain consistency at the moment it cuts, the arm won’t come back out, it will get stuck in it. If the filament forms a small protrusion/clump at the top of the nozzle when it becomes too soft, the blade can get stuck and the next filament feed can fail, the filament cannot be drawn into the extruder (pushed into the nozzle at the top). In this case, I take a soldering iron, heat the tip to the filament melting temperature (200°C to 240°C) and press the tip of the soldering iron into the filament from above as close to the center of the nozzle as possible. This creates a small edge on the outside of the plug and the filament is pressed slightly into the nozzle on the inside. I can then take a small pair of pliers, grip the filament and pull it out easily.
I checked it now and the clearance is perfect. Got curios and took the extrude off and removed the yellow wheel. I placed it back in without it and bam, moves in and out without getting stuck. cleaned it out completely and now i put it back together and will test it. I did order another one since they are not too expensive to have on hand.
Had to do that with the nozzle too. i got what was stuck in it out. now just to see if the fix i did on the extruder works. is it normal to have issues like this around 1400 hrs? what other maintenance should i do that this point? Last week i cleaned the whole machine, stainless rods, carbon rods and cleaned and lubed the screws.
Ok. Extruder works but when i load a filament and press the down button for the extruder i hear a clicking sound and barely anything comes out. I have a suspicion it might be the nozzle itself. now to see if i can find a small enough allen to get in there and pull it out…
Hi ! You deep cleaned th extruder, now it’s time for the nozzle. You said you have done cf filament? Did you change to 0.6 nozzle? Because if not you certainly have something clogging or partially clogging your nozzle.
not necessarily indeed. It comes from years of experience with 3d printing. Fiber infused filaments(wood or cf) are prone to clog nozzles tighter than 0.6mm.
I had clogging problems right from the start with many filament changes with PLA. As for the problems with my X1C, it was due to too much heat rising from the nozzle into the cold end. In my opinion, this is due to the design of the print head, which is why some users cut out the cover in various places to allow more or better air to reach it. This was the main reason for clogging, especially when changing the filament, as the nozzle becomes even warmer during flushing than during normal printing. This also caused the blade to jam. Long story short: I added a fan that blows a cooler stream of air onto the print head from the outside during filament changes. This was apparently enough to counteract this heat creep and, above all, to ensure that the filament doesn’t become too soft and bend, causing it to get stuck in the extruder. I’ve been rid of these problems ever since.
I inspected and cleaned my extruder yesterday, visually it seemed perfectly fine. My X1C has 2587 printing hours.
The filament is inserted above the nozzle through the filament sensor. Make sure that it sits properly so that the filament is guided straight to the nozzle. I’m not sure how much play the filament sensor has when it is attached. I no longer remove it either. Somewhere I found instructions where it was described that you should / must remove it. With the X1C, you can remove the entire assembly once you have removed three screws, i.e. with the nozzle and filament sensor together. That is easier.
