I bought my M300+ a while back now but never really used it. Managed to print out 2 benchies, 2 figure models - all came out quite nice using white Z-HIPS. Then wanted to test other settings (higher resolution) and noticed that print came out quite yellow with very distinct stronger yellow stripes. Tested it several times and all coming out yellow now. I have never used other filament, filament is kept in a sealed vacuum bag together with silica gel dehumidifier bags in a home temperature around 22 degrees. The printer only has around 30 hours of use so really like new. Any idea what that might be ? To me it seems like it could either be:
hot end problem - perhaps providing to high temperature ?
problem with a fan ?
dirty hot end ?
To be honest, I am sceptic about the last one as the printer has only about 30 hours of use and I never used any other filament apart from white Z-HIPS. Is there any way I could test what the real fault might be ? Is there a preferred way to try to clean the hot end ?
I attach a picture showing one of the very first printouts from the printer (benchy) which seems to be OK and other printout which is yellow.
Do you have some other material you could test? We would then make sure whether there might be a hardware-related issue or the filament has some manufacturing defect. However, the heater&thermcouple might be at fault, thus as the printer is new - please contact either your reseller or our support team directly. Also, I would recommend making sure all cables are firmly plugged into the extruder PCB and that the screws securing the heater&thermocouple in the hotend are tight. Also, run the fan test in the menu to make sure all fans are operational.
Thanks for your reply.
Yes - I have few other materials - I will check them but to be honest I would need a white one to properly check it. Even more - I would have to use another white Z-HIPS as this might manifest only with this profile settings (temperature, feed, etc). I will order another spool soon and check it. So far - I have taken out the hotend block, removed the nozzle and the feeding metal tube from it, left it for 5 days in D-Limonene to completely dissolve the remains (again - I used only HIPS with this printer so far so D-Limonene makes sense to be used). Then I gave it a final ultrasonic bath (twice for 15 minutes and one for 20 minutes - more than enough). When checked - they appeared to be very clean. Lastly - I put a brand new teflon cap on the nozzle and printed another item yesterday - unfortunately still the same result I checked the 2 fans - they appear to be working fine. The only thing left really are either heater / thermocouple or the control board turning the heater on and off. When printing - I was monitoring the temperature displayed on the display and it was around 85 for the bed and around 240 for the nozzle - is that the correct / expected temperature for the Z-HIPS profile ? I will send an email to support - I thought I would ask those questions here anyway as it might be useful for other users if they happen to come across the same problem.
A new heater and thermocouple came today, got it fitted in and sadly the same result.
I checked the fans again and wanted to ask about how they should work… I noticed that the lower one when turned on blows the air right at the nozzle area. However the upper one, when turned on does not seem to blow at the nozzle ? Is it sucking the air up instead ? I ordered a new filament and as soon as it comes, I will give it another go.
thank you for a detailed response. It seems you are already in contact with our support agent, I am sure my colleague will help you resolve the issues you are facing.
As for the upper (radial) fan - it is cooling the extruder block. Only two lower fans are cooling the print.
Yes that is true - I am already in contact with Zortrax support and am awaiting a reply.
PS - one (hopefully the only one) of the problems is definitely 1 of the 2 lower fans (left to the nozzle) not working.
My definitely turned out not to be that definitely… I jumped into the conclusion to early - both fans are working fine. I also checked the extruder cable and seems to be just fine. The only option for me now is to wait for the new filament to come and to test it.
I checked the 2 fans - they appear to be working fine. The only thing left really are either heater / thermocouple or the control board turning the heater on and off. When printing - I was monitoring the temperature displayed on the display and it was around 85 for the bed and around 240 for the nozzle - is that the correct / expected temperature for the Z-HIPS profile ? I will send an email to support - I thought I would ask those questions here anyway as it might be useful for other users if they happen to come across the same problem.