I’m beyond frustrated with this 3D printer and about to turn it into a permanent router. I have a friend that took a look at it who runs multiple printers and says he has never seen a printer clog like this one. We tried the Snapmaker 2.0 with Snapmaker brand PLA black and inLand brand PETG all different settings that are recommended for this plastic and every time we print a 3D model, it fails after a few hours because the tip clogs and then the gear grinds the plastic down from trying to push the filament through. I just don’t know what to do, I’ve replaced the tips and the heated end with the extra that came with the printer. His printers just work and I’m about to buy the brand he runs but wonder if if it’s just this brand of printer or something is wrong with mine? I don’t mind spending money at this point to fix it but it’s never worked properly.
Clogging in the Snapmaker is very often a retraction issue…what are the retraction settings, temp, and speed that you are using? Have you done the e-steps calibration? And do you know for sure that it is the nozzle tip that is clogging, or is it the hotend? The nozzle tip clogging is most often just the tip just being blocked by the z-height being too low, but this would be an issue on the first layer, not subsequent layers, unless the layer height is too small for the machine to use (machine minimum of 0.08mm); suggested minimum for the stock 0.4mm nozzle size is a layer height no less than 0.12mm.
I didn’t adjust it and use the default. What do you recommend for settings? I would even be interested in a few screenshots that you’ve had good luck printing and I can set everything up that way. The Z-height makes sense and I can adjust that higher to see if it helps. How high would you consider too high?
One to be said, every printer needs adjustments and tinkering. Belt driven systems even more.
Do you have a 2.0- because you wrote in this forum section? I am wondering because you wrote about a kickstarter machine, this means you have it for year(s)?
I suggest a retraction of 1mm for direct extruders like 2.0 depending on your filament a bit more or less.
First layer height as starting point should be 0.2mm, is there filament extruded? Maybe print a skirt to see if the z offset is pretty?
Yes, Snapmaker 2.0 from Kickstarter. No prints from it, usually shove it into a corner after being frustrated with it. Used a Photon Anycubic resin before this and those are really simple to use. Thinking about buying an Anycubic extruding printer to replace this if I can’t get it working.
Thank you I will try these settings over the weekend after putting a new tip on it and see if I can get it printing something.
Retraction and z-height are both dependent on the type of material you are printing with (PLA will have different settings than PETG, etc.). In addition, retraction settings can also depend on the temp used to print the filament, and will not be accurate if your e-steps has not been calibrated properly. Changes in z-height will also not be accurate if the bed level has not been calibrated properly. As such, another person’s settings may not work for you unless those calibrations have been done (and assuming both yours and theirs were done to equal accuracies), or they may at the very least require additional adjustment to dial-in. I strongly suggest you first learn about and work toward getting those calibrations as accurate as possible. With that in mind, these are the settings I use for basic PLA filament on my SM 2.0 A350…
Retraction distance: 1mm
Retraction speed: 10mm/s
Z-offset: 0.0mm (total of 0.1mm including the bed level calibration nozzle distance)
Direct drive extruders, like the Snapmaker uses, generally should have a retraction distance of no more than 3mm. And the total z-height for PLA should be between 0.1 to 0.2mm. All extruding 3D printers that are manually assembled require at least some user-calibration for best results due to variances in the individual components between different machines. I have heard that some brands of machines that come fully assembled from the manufacturer are already calibrated at the factory, which would be nice, but usually comes with a significantly increased purchase cost.
Thanks for all the help. Turned out the issues I was having had more to do with the software. I spoke with a 3D expert at Micro Center and he recommend I switch over to Prusa3D and I did that and got my first successful 3D print on Sunday.