Air Printing; Signs Of A Blocked Nozzle - 3D Printing Systems UP PLUS 2 User Manual

Extruder head has a clicking
sound
Others
If the nozzle is blocked, remove the nozzle
and clean it.
The extruder and platform are hot. Use gloves when working in this area of
printer.

14.1 Air Printing

If the printer is just printing in thin air and nothing is coming out, or has only completed half a
model. Then you most likely have one of the following problems.
Sometimes it can take several hours to diagnose the problem by cleaning out relevant parts. It is
highly advisable to purchase a spare extruder block, this helps you fault find and quickly get back
up and running.
•
The roll of filament has a knot in it. Check by unspooling about 10 meters
always keeping tension on the spool.
•
The filament feed guide on the back of the printer needs to be at about 10
degree angle. Ensure the extruder can pull the filament without any stress.
•
Platform not level, then nozzle gets blocked by platform being too close
to the nozzle.
•
Nozzle too close to the platform
•
Warping, therefore the nozzle gets blocked by the warped part being too
close to the nozzle.
•
Drive gear has plastic residue around the drive gear causing feed slip-
pages. (clicking sound)
•
Dust on the filament caused by static, (ABS attracts dust) this leaves a
dirty residue in the nozzle (use a small piece of foam to wipe the plastic before
it goes into the head if your environment is very dusty or has a lot of static.
•
A residue of ABS in the silver column and/or in the nozzle

14.2 Signs of a blocked nozzle

• When printing the fine raft cross hatching and if the lines are uneven, not a constant
diameter that's a sign of a blocked nozzle / column.
• When extruding plastic, if the filament comes out at an angle, that's a sign of a blocked
nozzle / column.
• The photo above shows a good extrusion. The filament is a thick straight line.
UP Plus 2 3D Printer User Manual
contact support.
1. This means that the drive gear is slipping on the fila-
ment. Check the nozzle and column are clean.
Contact Technical Support : Support@3DPrintingSystems.com
(only when the nozzle is hot)
v 2013.10.24