e3d V6 hot ends not extruding

[Cutlass]

I have equipped my Max V2 with 2 e3d V6, though only one is plugged in right now, and I have had trouble getting them to extrude correctly.

first night I installed the extruder it worked perfectly, and I printed out a 1.5 hour object at equal or better quality compared to the default. The next morning I tried to print out short 45 minute print and the extruder only worked for a short time and then stopped pushing any filament out.

After much testing this afternoon I have determined it is not a clogged nozzle, but rather that the filament never makes it to the heater block to get melted. It appears to be getting stuck on the heatbreak (piece that connects the Heatsink to the Heater block) and not melting.

Sometimes I can get the filament to get down to the nozzle and it extrudes wonderfully, and will print fine until a retraction occurs. when the retraction occurs it appears to "miss" the opening for the heater block and get stuck there, and the ExStruder will grind the filament up top. I have tried pushing filament through with just the heat sink, bowden tube and heat break attached and it will get stuck and not come out the other end. I have tried this on both extruders

Has anyone had this issue with their V6, or am I doing something so obviously wrong that I should be ashamed of myself (I assume the latter).

[Mac The Knife]

What material are you printing with?

[jesse]

Make your retractions 3mm or less. Make sure the heat break is connected firmly to the nozzle. If there is any gap between the steel liner and the nozzle, filament will leak in between and clog the hot end.

[Cutlass]

This issue was showing up with both PLA and ABS filament (1.75mm). I re tightened the heatblock nozzle assembly when the nozzle was heated to 235C, and the nozzle was still slightly out when tight, indicating that the nozzle is firmly against the heatbreak but that didnt fix the issue. The clog seems to be occuring before the filament reaches the nozzle. I noticed that because I was having no extrusion after I cleaned out the nozzle, and when i removed the nozzle there was no filament in it at all.

The retraction setting seems like a good fix, since it could stop the filament from coming out of that hole. Assuming that is how all of them work, that seems like a weird oversight on their part though, assuming this isn't my fault (lol).

I will give the retraction setting a shot and hopefully that will prevent it from happening mid print, but it just seems like you should be able to send filament down there without having to tediously guide it into that hole.

[Eaglezsoar]

I have equipped my Max V2 with 2 e3d V6, though only one is plugged in right now, and I have had trouble getting them to extrude correctly.

first night I installed the extruder it worked perfectly, and I printed out a 1.5 hour object at equal or better quality compared to the default. The next morning I tried to print out short 45 minute print and the extruder only worked for a short time and then stopped pushing any filament out.

After much testing this afternoon I have determined it is not a clogged nozzle, but rather that the filament never makes it to the heater block to get melted. It appears to be getting stuck on the heatbreak (piece that connects the Heatsink to the Heater block) and not melting.

Sometimes I can get the filament to get down to the nozzle and it extrudes wonderfully, and will print fine until a retraction occurs. when the retraction occurs it appears to "miss" the opening for the heater block and get stuck there, and the ExStruder will grind the filament up top. I have tried pushing filament through with just the heat sink, bowden tube and heat break attached and it will get stuck and not come out the other end. I have tried this on both extruders

Has anyone had this issue with their V6, or am I doing something so obviously wrong that I should be ashamed of myself (I assume the latter).

Did you remember to insert the PTFE tube into the heatbreak and to the top of the V6?

[Cutlass]

I don't quite know what you mean by "and to the top of the V6" But I did *eventually* follow the instructions to put the Bowden tube completely into the extruder so it touches the heat break. I did try running filament with it possibly not quite there yet, but when I looked at the heatbreak after it didn't seem to have any filament melted onto it so I think the contact with the tube was good. Since putting the tube all the way to the bottom it still hasnt fixed the problem.

[Eaglezsoar]

I don't quite know what you mean by "and to the top of the V6" But I did *eventually* follow the instructions to put the Bowden tube completely into the extruder so it touches the heat break. I did try running filament with it possibly not quite there yet, but when I looked at the heatbreak after it didn't seem to have any filament melted onto it so I think the contact with the tube was good. Since putting the tube all the way to the bottom it still hasnt fixed the problem.

If the tube is down inside and the the heatbreak is inside the tube then you have done it properly.

[Cutlass]

After getting it to extrude for a brief moment before it started grinding on the ez struder I pulled out the filament and it looked like this

For those curious that filament length is ~20mm from the PTFE tube to where the filament tapers.

I measured how long my Tube is extending down into the extruder and measured it to be 36mm. I measured this by taking a marker and drawing a line on the first exposed part above the small black plastic bowden fitting on the extruder. I then removed the tube and measured the length from that line to the end of the tube. At that time the filament was unable to extrude at all, and stuck out of the end of the tube by ~10mm.

[Cutlass]

After further testing it looks like that nozzle might have been a little on the small side, or possibly clogged still. I noticed that if I cranked up the heat to 247C with my ABS in the nozzle it would extrude about 50% of the distance expected and then have a ton of oozing after. This was indicative of pressure building up but the filament having nowhere to go.

After switching the nozzle with one off the second extruder it has printed fine. I have done two prints, the second of which I did no prep etc to the nozzle before starting the print, just set it up and let it heat up, so I am cautiously optimistic that it is fixed.