Arrrghh!

So - I completed a design at around 1PM on Saturday, very pleased with myself. Slic3r hadn't finished slicing it by 2:30 so I switched to Cura (which took under a minute to slice). Started the print around 3PM. Cura stated it would take just under 10 hours, and it all went great - I was sat at my PC at 00:30 watching the last 3mm print, then planned on getting to bed. My Avast! anti-virus had popped up a message asking if I wanted it to remove a few "suspect" browser add-ons (in fact I suspect a ruse to change the browser home page), and not thinking too hard I clicked the "OK" button. Chrome had been connected to the Duet and minimised throughout, and as Avast! started interfering, the Chrome window maximised with a "please select a search provider" message followed (after I hit "cancel") by "Chrome has stopped responding" and the Ormerod suddenly stopped dead with motors and heaters unpowered. Somehow whatever Avast! had done to Chrome had resulted in resetting the Duet (either that or it was one huge coincidence). OK, so 70 meters or so of filament wasted, and lesson learned. By 01:15 I had started the print again from scratch, this time switching off the PC altogether as soon as it was underway, and went to bed - trusting in my smoke detector to prevent any huge disasters.

In the morning the Ormerod was still printing away, but with the head a cm or so above the print and no filament being extruded. Ah well - I'll clean the extruder innards and re-start, I thought. Except that an hour later I discovered that the nozzle was completely blocked, and by mid-afternoon my best efforts had not only failed to clear it, but I ended up damaging both the nozzle and the heater block (don't ask!).

So the print will now have to wait until I receive replacement parts from RRP.

Dave
(#106)

Jzzzzzz! how annoying...

Now I'm curious about something. Before the Nozzle blocked, had you changed the Filament and started with a Square end to the Filament.
I had a nozzle partialy block... Not thinking I was cutting the Filament to have a nice clean square end, and I think what was happening was the square edge was catching on the PTFE
tube insert inside the Nozzle, and killing it. Now (when I remember), I try to put a taper or at least take the edge off the end of the Filament.
Hope the parts arrive soon for you.

I've had a few experiances of the Printer stopping when an external device (normaly my Samsung phone), or a SD card were removed.
I try not to do that now, and if I really need to connect stuff, I leave it connected till after the printing has finished.

---

Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or problems with Big Blue 360.
I won't see comments in threads, as I move around to much.
Working Link to Big Blue 360 Complete

Quote
KimBrown
Jzzzzzz! how annoying...

Now I'm curious about something. Before the Nozzle blocked, had you changed the Filament and started with a Square end to the Filament.
I had a nozzle partialy block... Not thinking I was cutting the Filament to have a nice clean square end, and I think what was happening was the square edge was catching on the PTFE
tube insert inside the Nozzle, and killing it. Now (when I remember), I try to put a taper or at least take the edge off the end of the Filament.
Hope the parts arrive soon for you.

I've had a few experiances of the Printer stopping when an external device (normaly my Samsung phone), or a SD card were removed.
I try not to do that now, and if I really need to connect stuff, I leave it connected till after the printing has finished.

In this case I did not change the filament from the 9 hour aborted print. That started as a fresh 1kg reel - and judging from the height it had printed to, the nozzle had been clear for at least 4 hours of printing but then got suddenly blocked, so it could have been anything - possibly a bit of foreign matter on the filament (though the reel looks clean enough in general), or maybe a bit of PTFE decided to flake off one of the tubes and got carried in with the filament, or even a metal shaving from the extruder bolt (which seems to get worn in the bearing).

Dave
(#106)

I had a freeze when my laptop's battery went flat and died. It took the print with it!

Replacement nozzle arrived from RRP yesterday. It is printing a lot better that the old one - I can print at higher speeds before the extruder starts skipping, and it is bridging a lot better as well. Previously the first solid layer over a 30% infill was extremely bumpy and ragged, and needed 4 solid layers to create a reasonably smooth finish. With the new nozzle the first solid layer is smooth, with the infill pattern making it look like honey over a hot waffle, and 2 solid layers is sufficient cover. So I'm guessing that my original nozzle had a partial blockage or other issue.

Looks like the dark cloud had a silver lining!

Dave
(#106)

Don't throw your old Nozzle away unless it's broken... Heat it up on a cooker, and gently clean it out....
If the plastic inside it catches fire, it will still clean out ok, but like charcoal...
I think the PTFE tube supplied with the kit is the right size to line it, but not totaly sure...
But RepRap might be able to supply some the right size.

---

Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or problems with Big Blue 360.
I won't see comments in threads, as I move around to much.
Working Link to Big Blue 360 Complete

Quote
KimBrown
Don't throw your old Nozzle away unless it's broken... Heat it up on a cooker, and gently clean it out....
If the plastic inside it catches fire, it will still clean out ok, but like charcoal...
I think the PTFE tube supplied with the kit is the right size to line it, but not totaly sure...
But RepRap might be able to supply some the right size.

I bought a spare nozzle. They are cheap enough that it is hardly worth trying to save the old one. I messed it up in any case when I attempted to unblock it whilst using the aluminium hotend block as a holder in a vice, but gripped it too tightly and effectively crimped the block onto the nozzle, and then I damaged the nozzle's threads trying to unscrew it from the crimped-on block. I was too impatient to get it fixed and printing - had I left it soaking in acetone for longer than I initially tried it would probably have cleared it OK (I only print in ABS which would eventually have all dissolved away).

Dave
(#106)