do you have a CR 10 CR 2 mini or even in
under three and you're getting sketchy
prints like intermittent flow I'll show
you how to fix it
on today's filament friday filament
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one of my print farm printers it's a CR
10 minutes been printing six months
printing non-stop 24/7 it's been very
very reliable but then I started getting
these very sketchy prints it was missing
it was like not flowing properly so I
ran a calibration cat which is really
just their sample print and I was
getting all kinds of under extrusion
lines across it so I knew something was
wrong because I had printed that before
and this one came out good this was the
original this one lots of problems the
most logical thing is to replace the
nozzle right you probably got a clogged
nozzle and that's what I did I buy my
nozzles in big packs this is a 20 pack
I'll put a link in the description below
to Amazon where I get them they work
really well and so I replaced the nozzle
cleaned out the filament that seemed to
help it ran good for about maybe half
the print and then the problem came back
I was running the original PTFE tube
inside this and it was running good but
I noticed when I took it out the end of
it was all burned and there was filament
stuck inside of it so what I decided to
do is just cut it off and you just can't
cut it with anything if you try to use
just these side cutters like you cut
your filament with you'll actually crush
the tubing so what you want is a good
tubing cutter like this one from
Capricorn you just put it on there and
it snaps off nice and clean so I did
that to get rid of this little clogged
piece put it back in and started printed
again and everything went good for about
the first half a print and then the
problem showed up again I decided to
just put some better tubing on and I
thought well maybe it's sticking inside
of here I was finding pieces of filament
at the extruder gear and so I could tell
something wasn't
properly so I put some actual Capricorn
tubing high-temperature and it also has
tighter tolerances I've had very good
luck with this but I wait until I have
problems with the original before I go
and replace it so I put new Capricorn
tubing on it and cleaned everything out
again and it started printing
beautifully for about half a print and I
couldn't figure this out I mean I've
replaced everything that I could think
of that would cause a blockage so I took
it apart again and when I pulled out the
PTFE tube I noticed this big blob at the
end normally when I pull it out it's
smooth I don't get that clump so because
of that clump I knew something was wrong
and that's when I found the real problem
so this is the hot end for any of the CR
10 SCR 10 mini or even under three it's
got a heater block then in a heatsink
and in a coupling the nozzle screws in
to the bottom of the heat block and then
PTFE tubing goes into the top coupling
and pushes all the way down into the
nozzle so if I take this nozzle off I
should be able to push this all the way
through a little bit of help and there
you can see the PTFE tube is coming out
and that will actually butt up against
the nozzle inside of here and this
coupling stops it from coming out but if
I press down on the coupling I can now
pull it so this is a lock mechanism that
releases it so the idea is that you just
put the nozzle in push this all the way
down and then the two are butted
together but I found when I took it
apart is the lock mechanism was broke
and the PTFE tubing could slide in and
out of that coupling with ease so what
was happening is it was pushed against
the nozzle but as the filament pushed
against the nozzle and tried to squeeze
out it would push the PTFE out so I
ended up with a gap between the nozzle
and the PTFE tube and that's where that
clump came from and what that did is
heat up against the nozzle it was PLA
filament
it just expanded and eventually blocked
the whole flow I mean some would push
through because it was soft but it
limited the flow and that's what gave me
the bad press
so the whole problem was this coupling
was broke now you can get new couplings
cheap I got like a pack of 10 for $10
its what a buck apiece and it locks on
nicely you press down on the clip and
now you can move it so it works really
well so I put a new one of these on the
hot end put everything together and this
thing has been printing beautifully ever
since the fact is printing better than
it was because now I have the premium
PTFE tube I have a new locking clip I
don't know how long that thing was loose
but my extruder is clean now I don't see
any shavings and the flow is just
absolutely perfect so even though I was
getting what I thought were good prints
I went back and looked at some old
prints and I found there were gaps in
the prints
I just wasn't noticing because it wasn't
that bad now the prints are coming out
perfect so that's it for this week I
hope I helped you out
I know getting this fixed was huge for
me and now I'm checking all the
couplings on all my machines to make
sure they're good if you like this maybe
check out some of my other videos that
are popping up over here if you want to
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