Hello all, I had a problem with melted plastic collecting under the e3d sock and collecting in large globs that actually made the burnt plastic problem worse. Any idea how to prevent this? I'm attaching a picture showing the inside of the sock and one of the globs of plastic that was trapped under it.
Have you tightened the nozzle up when heating the extruder to around 285C? If you don't do this, it can ooze out around the nozzle or heat break and fill up your sock.
Unfortunately it happens even with the tightening and the sock only make it apparent. Lately I feel that there mist be some tolerance issue in some parts
It is possible that my nozzle was a bit loose. I've since disassembled and cleaned the hot end of all the melted plastic. I made sure it is tight this time and I'll try again with some short prints to see if the issue is still present with the socks.
I an binning the socks for all filaments except he abrasive ones like carbonXT. Before I used them and with tight nozzle all was fine. With them on I get huge blobs and dirty hate blocks. If their purpose was to help, hell no. They make a total mess. Especially with flex filaments like nGen Flex.
@John Pattillo I have no problems with the socks as I took special care to set the nozzle height then tighten the nozzle properly. The height is important to ensure the sock fits tightly and the nozzle tip protrudes as described.
For fails with ngen flex and works with other filaments. It might be a problem if silicon and flex. Not sure. I will use the sock only when I see they are needed.
I check the site and it looks than socks require the nozzle to come out somewhat of the heater block. I guess this is the reason of my problems.
NGen materials can become very liquid as you approach 230c. Possibly try dropping your temps a bit if you find leakage around the heat block (although obviously try tightening first)
I am pritngin without and get better results. I am now left wth 30-ish socks I will probably never use
So far with XT, nGen, PLA/PHA and Edge I have no issues for which I see a connection to the socks. My nozzle and my block stays nice and clean... If you wanna get rid of them I'll take 'em...
I have problems mostly with nGen flex, but I also do not see a real reason to use them. As long as I keep my nozzle clean, I see not real difference with and without
Definitely kept blobs down (or at least they are so small they get smushed into the parts as they come off earlier) and the cooling fan doesn't seem to cool the block as much
I had a small problem with eSun's PET-G sticking a little to the silicon socks, so sometimes a little piece of PET-G was being dragged around with the nozzle. I applied a product from www.BlasterCorp.com called Garage Door spray lubricant. It is a silicone based formula that dries tack free. After the solvent has evaporated and any excess wiped off, the thing it has been sprayed on (the silicon sock) does not feel oily to the touch, but it does feel a lot more slippery. So far, the PET-G is not sticking to the silicon socks at all, so no more globs or strings! The heat does not seem to bother it and it is not dripping any lubricant on my glass + cheap hairspray build plate.
Within 24 hours I installed the upgrade print on 1 printer at home (0.4mm nozzle, Printrbot Simple Metal) and 2 printers at work (0.8mm nozzles, Printrbot Simple Metal and Plus). At home I was able to immediately print a few models without issue, 10 hours at least. But at work both prints failed due to the silicone sock getting caught in the print and getting ripped partially or completely off the heater block. Is silicone sock more prone to failure with a larger nozzle size? Anyone else with similar failure modes? I also can't post without saying: this silicone sock is theoretically the greatest idea since the segway. It solves like 10 different issues at once. I just wish it wouldn't embarrass me at work.
