NEED HELP my 3d printer isn't working

I have a reprap pursa i3 3d printer. I had it for 2 months and right now all that's wrong with it is that it makes the first layer of what ever i make great but after that the filament just comes out in little clumps. I loaded and unloaded the printers filament but it still did the same thing. i have no idea what to do now. can any one help?

ello deep blue

may I make a suggestion edit your post and provide information like which electronics,hotend/extruder, which firmware you using have you calibrated the estep?

maybe some information would be a good thing?

-what controller do you have?
-what firmware are you running?
-what filament are you using?
-what hotend are you using?
-what extruder are you using?
-what temperature are you printing at?
-what heat bed temperature?
-Is the extruder moving smoothly throughout?
-is the Z axis moving correctly, ie is it moving higher when its supposed to be
-Is the Extruder grinding the filament?
-What speed are you trying to print at and does the problem get better at slower speeds? (or it it getting worst becasue you printing the second layer at a higher speed than the first?)

-send pictures of your print,
-send pictures of your printer
-send a video of it printing

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

-what controller do you have? Ramp 1.4
-what firmware are you running?marlin 1.6.8
-what filament are you using?3mm
-what hotend are you using?XCSOURCE J-Head Hotend 0.4mm Nozzle Metal 3mm Short Range
-what extruder are you using? wade Prusai3
-what temperature are you printing at?235 degrees Celsius
-what heat bed temperature?50 degrees Celsius
-Is the extruder moving smoothly throughout? yes
-is the Z axis moving correctly, ie is it moving higher when its supposed to be? yes
-Is the Extruder grinding the filament?yes
-What speed are you trying to print at?
print speed 47mm/s
outer perimeter speed 41mm/s
infill speed 75mm/s
does the problem get better at slower speeds? i don't think so
i can't get any photos on this website
i will try to send some photos
or did it get worst becasue you printing the second layer at a higher speed than the first? no it remind the same

Quote
deep blue water

-Is the Extruder grinding the filament?yes

we have a winner

filament grinding has several causes

-too low hot end temperature, when I asked what filament you are using 3mm may be techincally correct, but what I really wanted was material (PLA/ABS) 235 is more than enough for PLA, may be a little low for ABS
-too low hot end temperature... technically the same cause, but even though you have set the printer to 235, if you have a poorly setup thermister then you may only have 180C temperature, get a trusted temerature probe and test the actual nozzle temperature
- nozzle blockage.... try cleaing it
- bowden issues.... guessing you may actually be direct drive (3mm with a wade suggests DD, but if your using a bowden check the filament runs smoothly
- too fast printing speed, its quite likely that your slicer is set to print the first layer 50% slower, so your getting a good quality first layer, but subsequent layers printed at a higher speed may be too fast for your printer, try slowing it down to a speed where it pritns well (halve your current speds then ramp it up to a point where it starts to fault.
- poor tension setting, too much tension or too little can cause increased grinding reducing the extruders grip on the filament.
- too small nozzle but smaller nozzles offer greater resistance, try a larger nozzle


and the favorite...... combination of all the above

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2016 06:34PM by bgkdavis.

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

I suspect the hotend "XCSOURCE J-Head Hotend" is actaully a clone of the e3d v6 they have a flaw with the heatbreak, there two types in circulation one all metal and one with a liner. if it all metal it will need to be replaced or worked on by polishing the inner hole.
they start of just fine and so long as you keep pushing filament through, the moment you pause in printing or retract they jam. only way we know is too take the nozzle off and look at the heatbreak.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2016 02:24AM by jinx.

so i used a Infrared Gun Thermometer, i found out that when my LCD 12864 smart controller it was 40 degrees cooler that what it was supposed to be.
when it said 210 the thermometer read 170 about. is there something wrong with my marlin or is there a way to reset my LCD smart controller?

An infrared gun is fine for bed temp measurement, but not the best way of measuring nozzle temp, and its probably under measuring, but its a good starting point, many IR guns actually include a contact probe which can plug into the gun, this would be a better indication of actual nozzle temperature.

Your RAMPS controller will have a way of calibrating the thermister, but you need to ask someone with RAMPS experience about that.

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

It's better to use a thermocouple to check the temperature, an infrared thermometer isn't accurate on bare aluminum that most hotend heater blocks are made from.

Check that you have selected the correct thermister setting in the firmware.

ok so i think that its heating to the right temperature but it is still not making a steady steam of filament, at first it comes out fast but then slows down and then stops I did clean the nozzle several times. i do direct drive not bowden. I slowed it down to 45% and it still did not work. I do not have a larger nozzle. I have to tighten the screws that holds the filament so that it will work. i"m sending a photo of the extruder body i use now

k so if i wait for a while for the filament at 230 it will flow almost perfectly but it will then return to its regular non working self should i get a new hot end because it is the only thing i think that makes sense?

Normally bowden is fine, I run two deltas and a Mendel (well its now a Prusa) all with Bowdens, and 0.4mm nozzle should be an issue either.

One thing I have learnt with printers is you can waste a lot of good time and even lose the will to live when using a crappy hot end, and by far the best performing hot end I now have is the E3D V6, and its magnitudes better than the Chinese E3D clone that my Delta printer was originally shipped with.

Ive just gone through the process of rebuilding my Mendel printer as a Prusa, and looking back on it, whilst I did replace the Extruders with E3D titans, I'm now regretting not 'replacing the hot ends too

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

So should I buy bowden or not?

Nothing wrong with Bowden, you may get more stringing than with a direct, but good retraction settings on the slicer should help that.

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

Quote

i think that its heating to the right temperature but it is still not making a steady steam of filament, at first it comes out fast but then slows down and then stops I did clean the nozzle several times

everything you said leads me to think it's the heatbreak V6 clone test we cant tell, till you disassemble the hot HE look at the heat break. if it is all metal be worth swapping that out for one with a liner. something like this but if you think you gonna like 3DP and stick with it, then spend a little extra get a geniune e3d be the last hotend you need to buy it should last a live time,
converting to a bowden is a good idea "takes the weight of x carriage but before that you may need to print a new carriage to mount the hotend onto, possible a new extruder.

okay now i got the extruder it was smaller that my other one but the filament still fits. but I figured out that when i try to send the z axis as high as possible it would only go 25mm high. when its supposte to go 180mm. is the problem in marlin?