Extruder having trouble reaching 230c

[PrintableStudios]

While I haven't done this to my Max V2 hotend yet, all of my other printers call for a ceramic tape type insulation on the heater block.

http://store.quintessentialuniversalbui ... product=10

It helps keep any draft off of the heating element and thermistor if wrapped well enough.

If I can ever dig myself out of the mountain of year end work going on, I'm going to snag the FLIR camera and do some testing on some various build platforms. While I'm at it I suppose it would be a good time to check out the hotend as well.

[BenTheRighteous]

I'm still waiting on the supplies I ordered to arrive, but at this point I'm almost convinced it's a power supply issue.

Tonight the problem is actually the worst it's been so far (set point 230, actual 197) so I took the opportunity to measure voltage again. RAMBo input is hovering between 11.1 and 11.2, and I saw it dip to 10.9 at one point!

According to this page, 11.4 is the lowest it can go and still be within tolerance: pcsupport.about.com/od/insidethepc/a/power-supply-voltage-tolerance.htm

[Eaglezsoar]

I'm still waiting on the supplies I ordered to arrive, but at this point I'm almost convinced it's a power supply issue.

Tonight the problem is actually the worst it's been so far (set point 230, actual 197) so I took the opportunity to measure voltage again. RAMBo input is hovering between 11.1 and 11.2, and I saw it dip to 10.9 at one point!

According to this page, 11.4 is the lowest it can go and still be within tolerance: pcsupport.about.com/od/insidethepc/a/power-supply-voltage-tolerance.htm

You would not be the first to need to replace the power supply. As I have indicated, that is a problem that has been reported many times on this forum.
A nice one would be the modular type that you can plug in the cables if you need them. A Corsair CS750M is a good choice, and it is here: http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Series-Mo ... air+CS750M

[nitewatchman]

You would not be the first to need to replace the power supply. As I have indicated, that is a problem that has been reported many times on this forum.
A nice one would be the modular type that you can plug in the cables if you need them. A Corsair CS750M is a good choice, and it is here: http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Series-Mo ... air+CS750M

This is what I use also.

[BenTheRighteous]

Can I get some opinions on the legitimacy of my thermocouple test? Particularly the placement of the probe/binderclip combo. Professional-grade work, I know.

If this is legit, then my target temp of 230 for PLA was actually printing at 215, which seems a lot more reasonable.

[geneb]

You want the tip of the thermocouple in the corner of the 90 degree angle formed by the nut on the nozzle and the bottom face of the heater block that it's screwed in to.

g.

[Captain Starfish]

Nice thinking, but you need to be checking the temperature of the nozzle, not the heater block.

Two good locating tricks:
1 - pull the bowden tube out, drop the thermistor right down to the tip. If it fits.
2 - Unscrew the nozzle enough to get the thermistor behind it, then tighten the nozzle until it just grabs the thermistor and holds it in place.

[BenTheRighteous]

Yup you guys were exactly right, thanks for not letting me be lazy.

I used the "unscrew the nozzle" method and as it turns out, the thermistor is bang-on accurate! I heated the extruder up to 200 and the thermocouple read 199 - I'm not going to sweat a 1 degree difference.

I swapped out power supplies, reset both PID components, and I'm doing a print now, which I'll keep on eye on. Fingers crossed that this solves the problem!

[Fiddler2070]

You can also insulate the hot end with high temp insulation like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QF ... UTF8&psc=1

heatshield product. My hot end heats up so fast it's crazy and holds temperature no problem.

You might also want to put a heat curtain around your Max.

[BenTheRighteous]

Yep I think something along those lines might be the next step. Either the insulation that Fiddler suggested or the ceramic type that Printable suggested, they both look like good options. Although I might just try wrapping in kapton first since I already have that, and teoman and bot both said it helped.

Might be too early to call it for sure but so far the printer's been holding at 220/230 throughout this latest job. Definitely an improvement, and the voltage at the RAMBo input is a steady 12v, RAMBo extruder output is 11.8v. Much better than before.

One thing I noticed when I fired up the machine with the new power supply, was that when I turned on the bed heat, at first I thought nothing happened. I was so used to the machine immediately starting to whine before... the new power supply does not do that.

[BenTheRighteous]

So I wrapped the hotend in kapton and that, along with swapping the power supply, seems to have done the trick. The printer now seems to be holding whatever temperature I ask, although I stopped asking it to go to 230 for PLA... now that it can actually maintain that temperature, it's obviously too hot.

I'm declaring victory, although I'll still keep an eye on it. Thanks for all the help, gentlemen!

[Captain Starfish]

Congrats, glad you found it.

My original supply does the job - just. But if I ever decide to go to the trouble of swapping the fan for something quieter I'll probably just swap the whole PSU instead for something with a little more oomph.

[Eaglezsoar]

Glad that you fixed it.