Common Problems In Ender 5 3D Printing And How To Resolve Them

The Ender-5 3D printer is an expensive 3D printing and thus, gives a unique 3D printing. The MK10 extruder, for example, reduces the risks of filament jamming.  It comes with a fan for printing with PLA-type materials. And so, it becomes easy to reduce warping, stringing and generally makes for higher quality prints. The Ender-5 3D prints with different kinds of filaments such as PLA, ABS, WOOD, COPPER, TPU and other luxurious materials.

There are many problems that could be encountered when using the Ender 5 3D printing but this article focuses on just five of them and how these five common can be resolved by any user when it is encountered.

Failure of the heated bed to work

Any user of the Ender 5 3D printer can encounter this problem. When the heated bed doesn’t work, it could be that the wires from the motherboard to the bed were not soldered well on the XT90 connector or they weren’t soldered at all.

The main solution is to re-solder the wires well to the bed. If you can do this by yourself, you can do it carefully. But if you can’t, it is recommended to outsource it to an expert

When the non-adjustable wheels on the Y-axis are too tight

When the non-adjustable wheels on the Y-axis are too tight, this means they can’t be turned by hands and therefore, already have remnants due to over-tension. Usually, these are un-adjustable. It is therefore advisable to seek the service of an expert or return to the manufacturer.

Slant Prints

Slant prints occur when the X-axis shift during printing. The X-axis shift because of the following: loose pulleys or drive, overheating shafts or belts on motherboard and when the cables cover the heat sink, causing no airflow for the parts that needed cooling.

The main solution is to tidy all cables and allow air from the cooling fan to circulate around the heat sinks. The user should also tighten the screws on the pulleys, shafts, coupling and motors.

Contact between the BL Touch and the end of the X-axis

This should be prevented as much as possible but when this eventually happens, one should make sure that there must be a stopper that hits the carriage.

Crashing of the nozzle into the bed

The user must also prevent this from happening especially with the BL touch installed. This may ruin the 3D printer.

1. First-layer adhesion problem

The first-layer adhesion problem is a condition where the first layer of the 3D print refuses to stick to the bed. As in all 3D printing, it is vital that the layer sticks to the bed for smooth printing.

This problem can be solved by a number of ways: checking the bed leveling, checking the bed temperature, setting the fan speed, using the bed adhesion tools appropriately and setting an optimum print speed.

The first two are the most important solutions. Checking the bed leveling is very pivotal before printing because if the bed is not appropriately levelled, the first layer may not stick to the plate.

Also, before any 3D printing process commences, the user must check the temperature of the bed. This is because some materials necessarily require a heated bed before print sticks to the bed, while some do not.

To control the temperature of the bed, you can use any of the slicing software available.

• Warping

Warping is usually caused when the deposited materials in the 3D printer cools too quickly. One very important thing in 3D temperature is the temperature of the bed. Therefore, the user has to be wary of the two extremes, that is, getting too hot or cooling too quickly.

When cooling, the material usually contracts and as a result, the ends of the materials are lifted up thereby causing warping. An adverse effect of warping is that there will be cracks in the print.

Warping can be solved by adjusting the bed temperature. Again, this spells out the high importance of the temperature of the bed. It is advisable to use a heated bed while printing with materials which undergo warping. These materials are called ABS. ABS’s resistance to temperature makes it very prone to warping. The central idea here is to keep the first layer heated and not to cool too quickly. This also helps the initial layers to remain in contact with the build plate, thus preventing warping.

Other ways to solve warping are to adjust the fan speed, use bed adhesion tools, set optimum ambient temperature, and try new build plates.

• Failure of Nozzle to extrude materials

Extrusion is a process where a material undergoes plastic deformation by the application of a force causing the material to flow through a die. Extrusion, sometimes described as “under-extrusion”, occurs as a result of accurate temperature setting. When the temperature is too low the material will not melt appropriately since cooler plastic is more violent and requires more pressure to push it through the nozzle. In a bid to increase the pressure, the pressure may become too high and causes under-extrusion.

There are few factors that explain why nozzle fail to extrude materials. One of them is clogging of the nozzle. A nozzle is clogged when its temperature is too low. As a result, the temperature will be high enough for the PLA or Resin but not enough for it to flow through the nozzle as it should. This is usually known as clogging. Consequently, the extruder will start making some dangerous sounds as a result of its struggle to push the PLA filament through. This is another reason why the nozzle temperature is very essential.

Clogging can be traced to factors such as blocking due to external dirt (accumulated dust or fine particles which cling to the filament). When these particles stay for a long time, they stick to the inside walls and too much of them can lead to the blockage of the nozzle outlet. Furthermore, when regular plastic material sit inside for a long time when the filament is not removed after the completion of the printing process, this may cause clogging.

When nozzle fails to extrude materials, the user should try any of these solutions. First, he should ensure that the nozzle is properly primed. Priming is an essential part of the 3D printing process because it should be carried out regularly at the commencement of any printing. This is because as the extruder is being heated, the material inside starts melting, causing a void in the nozzle. Consequently, when the actual printing process starts, the nozzle does not extrude the material. Thus, it becomes a delayed extrusion caused by an initial oozing of the material. Secondly, you can adjust the height of the nozzle. This is a proven solution. The nozzle height can affect the extrusion of material. If the nozzle is too close to the build plate, then the extruder may not be able to deposit the required amount of material on to the bed. It is therefore pivotal to set the nozzle height appropriately.

Lastly, you can also check the filament problems. Most often, users overlook the filament. Many times, users forget to store the filaments appropriately thereby exposing the material to ambient conditions which can damage the material

4. Stringing and Oozing

Although this is a common problem in 3D printing, it can be eliminated through retraction- the backward movement of the filament to prevent excess oozing of the melted material. If the user can carefully manage the parameter, oozing or stringing can be totally eliminated

5. Weak Infill

The infill is a vital parameter to pay attention to when printing. The infill density and pattern play an important role in the strength of the parts. It is also responsible for the stability and shape of the model. Therefore, if it is not properly managed, it can cause serious problems in printing.

Weak Infill problem can be solved by the following ways: setting optimum print speed and checking the extrusion width. The print speed should be adjusted with as much precision as possible and general prints should be at low speeds. On the other hand, printing the infill with larger extrusion width can make the infill substantially stronger and vice versa. Hence, this shows that there is no ideal figure for the extrusion width.

CONCLUSION

3D printing can give a wonderful experience but when contrary events happen, one may not be able to handle them appropriately. This is why this article has not only provided the solutions to general 3D printing problems but also specifically addressed Ender-5 printing issues. More specifically, Ender-5 provides a unique experience but if the user does not know how to handle its complications or problems, it can be very frustrating especially when one considers its expensive price. It is therefore very important to value the abovementioned solutions to any of the problems that are listed above.