Well, my first 10mm or so is printing great. Very smooth. But then the stupid thing clogs after say 45 min of printing or so. This has happened on the last two prints back to back. I'm using grey PLA from MakerBot. I've done the auto tune PID tuning and everything was setup fine as far as I could tell. The clog is happening at the lower end of the connector between the heat block and the heat sink of the E3D. My Cura specs and a pic of my E3D install is attached. After the first clog, I was able to the plastic out only after disassembling the entire hotend and manually heating up the connector and pushing the clogged PLA out of it with a micro screwdriver. After I reassembled everything, I ran some hotend cleaner through it and it came out fine. Then I started printing again and the first layers were very nice. After about 45 min of printing, same crap again - the stupid thing clogged. Sorry, but the frustration level is getting high on this one. ANY feedback greatly appreciated.
I've been tweeking the retraction settings but even at 0.10mm distance 30mm/s speed, I get clogged. On the latest try, it started clogging barely into the print far earlier than the first two failed attempts. Ironically, I've had ZERO clogs with the stock ubis hotend. So far, not liking this "upgrade" very much.
Couple of things to suggest, and a few clarification requests. 1) The E3D in my experience needs the cooling fan for the cold end to be on continuously during printing. If you're controlling fan speed during printing, change your configuration so that the fan is on continuously. If the cold end doesn't remain cold, then heat will creep up the cold end and soften the filament too soon. 2) Is there some other behavior you see happening at the time it's clogging? For example, does the extruder stepper motor "click" repeatedly while trying to move filament? 3) Does the filament flow stop suddenly, or does it slowly dwindle away? 4) Does the problem seem worse when there is a need to do filament retraction? 5) What is the reported temperature of the printhead at the time the clog starts manifesting? 6) Did you clean out the nozzle itself, or just the stainless steel tube? 7) Have you tapered the end of the PTFE tubing that seats into the bottom of the hotend?
