Printing with colorfabb copperfill
Did anyone succesfully managed to print with this filament? it refuses to stick to the bed. I tried almost everything glue no glue, acetone twice, alcohol a dozen of times ( from me and the printer), slower speeds, variations from 60 to 70 degrees on the bed and +-10 for the flmnt, changing the layer height to 25, changing the whole pei steel plate, using buildtak. PLA sticks with no problem and this is supposed to be similar. The brim prints ok but when it goes for the support lines this is were it gets f_d up. After a lot of tries it started to print once but after an hour there was a clog and the print was screwed. On the failures on the first layer i see the flmnt accumulating on the nozzle so at least at that point there is no clogging. I also re calibrated the bed a couple of times.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
Haven't worked with Colorfabb, but did some prints with Inland's copper and aluminum fills, ProtoPasta iron and others. With any of the filled materials, I found it helped to crank speeds way back. For a quick test, just dial the front knob back to 50% or slower and see if that helps. If so, try adjusting Filament Settings-Advanced->Max volumetric speed to something slow. Regular PETG is 8mm^3/s. I've had to turn it back to 5 for some filaments. The worst is Colorfabb XT-CF20 at 1mm^3/s.
Sounds like you're going ambitious with a print that uses support for your 1st. Maybe try some basic prints until you get a feel for it?
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
Thanks for your recommendations. I already reduced the volumetric speed to 5 from the default 8 and the speed to about 90%. But i think I'll try what you said and go up to 50% from the menu and work from there. I know i probably skipped a few steps by moving onto models with the need of support. Overexcited i guess.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
I am printing with Colorfabb's copper and woodfill filaments. Wiping the bed with windows cleaner works fine. However if you are printing models with small details it gets significantly harder. Are you using the 7x7 bed leveling? Also have you tried to play around with live z?
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
i was using the 7x7 but return back to 3x3 since it wasn't making any difference and it was taking longer to restart a print. I reduced the z level a bit more but not up to the point that it will show "bumps" while doing the first level calibration. Maybe i should reduce it during the actual print with CF to see if there is a difference or make the first level calibration again with ColorFabb and not prusament pla.
Actually i havent tried window cleaner yet.
Another point, that i don't think it makes a difference though, is i print it using MMU2S in single mode or preloading the filament to the nozzle and using MK3S gcode. At some point (probably in the far-far-far future) i was planning on using it with PVA or VBOH for soluble supports.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
I tried the speed recommendations and reducing to 50% speed it helped a bit. The other thing that also helped was increasing the flow. The strange thing, though, is event if i increase the extruder multiplier to 1.3 (was 1.2) and slice, on the lcd the flow is at 95%. I couldnt understand the reason for this. Anyway is printing something but i'm not there yet. Some flmnt still skips the first layer and accumulates to the nozzle. I dont know maybe its the filament. i open it a week ago an purchased it from prusa shop about 3 months ago. I also have a spool of brassfill. I'll open that and also give it a try. Im using the X-nozzle from e3d.
Also is the filament supposed to be more "soft" than normal pla? I understand being more brittle sometimes it looks squished/pressed when i take it out of the extruder. And for that i have the idler as loose as i keep it with flex filaments.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
The strange thing, though, is event if i increase the extruder multiplier to 1.3 (was 1.2)
If you are using stock Prusa Slicer settings for your Prusa printer and you have to increase the extruder multiplier by 20% or even 30% than there is something wrong with your printer.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
After playing around with settings more it seems that the problem is nozzle jams. The nozzle was a brand new e3d 0.4 "Nozzle X - V6" ( https://e3d-online.com/nozzlex-v6). Performing a cold pull before each new print attempt it got me through a few lines, even the first layer at some point but sooner or later it clogs. I gradually reduced the retractions to zero, and volumetric speed to 7 (keeping 1.2 the multiplier and all the other setting) but it made little to no difference. I managed to print a couple of small prints but thats all.
Today i changed the nozzle to a brass 0.6 and it works like a charm. The problem is that 0.6 for detailed prints looses "resolution" and 0.4 is supposed to be the default one. I dont know if that X nozzle is actually the problem but it supposed to retain heat almost as good as brass but be resistant to abrasive filaments.
I dont know if there is a problem with the printer but i got excellent result for petg and pla for up to 0.05 resolution.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
[...] I dont know if that X nozzle is actually the problem but it supposed to retain heat almost as good as brass but be resistant to abrasive filaments.
You have to read the "One to Rule Them All" info from E3D carefully. The real claim for Nozzle-X is that it is a hardened nozzle that can be used with extremely high heat. Normal hardened steel loses its hardness at such high temps. It is also coated, which is a nice thing. It it not, however, advertised as anything like brass in terms of thermal characteristics. I, and I suspect many others, got excited by the initial release and read a bit more into it than E3D actually wrote. It is not a super-hard nozzle the prints just like brass. It prints like any other hardened steel nozzle, but one that will remain hardened over an extended temperature range. With this in mind, I'd expect to need to up temperatures like any other hardened steel nozzle.
I've got 2 of them (0.60 & 0.80mm) and don't regret the purchase, but they're not the universal nozzle I was anticipating. If encountering problems with them, I'd try bumping nozzle temps 10-15C for a start.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
i guess you are right about the actually reading a lot into "one will rule them all" nozzle. As far as other flmnts go i don't regret it either (especially its non-sticking properties). I'll definitely try at higher temperatures but even at the default 215C, flmnt was oozing out. I'll probably change the extrusion multiplier to 0.95 or something. There are a lot of variables at play. I'm even thinking that maybe mmu2s ,even in single mode, adds additional friction due to the extra "bends", paths and gears.
Anyway one thing that really gives value to prusa printers (even get through my mmu2 frustration) is all the help you can get from support and forum.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
[...] I'm even thinking that maybe mmu2s ,even in single mode, adds additional friction due to the extra "bends", paths and gears.
Uff. Sorry, hadn't realized you were using a MMU2. I've still got my MMU2 and MMU2S boxes sitting here by my desk. Haven't even upgraded to the R3 parts yet. My Mk3 is printing quite well and I'm not overly motivated to upgrade it.
RE: Printing with colorfabb copperfill
Well i got my first end to end successful print with a 0.4 nozzle. All it took was "bypassing" all the mmu2s staff and feeding the filament directly to the extruder. No PFTE tubes no mmu gears. I dont know if this actually it, or is the 1% success in 99% failures but i got a print.