The stock Snapmaker PLA seems to ooze out of my dual extruder’s inactive nozzle during printing. This means that it blobs onto the print when it traverses and ends up creating a giant blob on the nozzles themselves. I’m using a wipe tower and tried everything from 200C to 180C, with lower temps seeming to be slightly better but not resolving the problem. Even with an increased toolchain retraction, I’m not seeing any improvements. I see over in the Artisan forum that someone with a similar problem was suggested to remove the silicone socks - are those present on the Snapmaker 2 dual extruder too to be removed? Or are there other suggestions for fixing this?
Yes, the DX on Snapmaker is nearly identical to the Artisan version. There are socks.
Here are my 5 cents on suggestions, which are somewhat theoretical, as I do not have this problem that you describe.
- There is a standby temperature setting for the inactive nozzle - you may try to lower that one.
- I denied this for a long time, but most by now admit that humidity has an effect on PLA. So perhaps drying your PLA may improve things. For me it reduced stringing, and I think stringing and oozing are related problems.
- Retraction you said that you already played with it - perhaps go even more aggressive. If you go too far you risk clogging, but I had no problems with even 3-4 mm retraction.
- IMHO Snapmaker PLA is not stable in quality - at least it was not a few years ago. People had great results with Snapmaker PLA, but the spools I got (included with the printer or toolhead) were all crap. And judging from reports on Facebook I’m not the only one. Perhaps consider changing brand.
Also, here some reading material: Stringing or Oozing | Simplify3D Software
Thanks @Hauke - appreciate your inputs! I’ll give the standby temperature a try and maybe go a bit more aggressively with retraction (default was 16mm, I was trying 20mm, maybe 22mm?)
I’m using a Sunlu S4 for my filament drybox, so I don’t think it’s that, but it definitely did reduce stringing. I just tested this morning with some Hatchbox PLA, and it has the same issue as well (actually slightly worse than the Snapmaker ones).
Do the socks act as thermal sinks and should I remove them? Is there any downside to doing so? I imagine that lowering the standby temperature would help but I’m wondering if the socks are indeed trapping heat and preventing it from cooling down fast enough.
Are you sue it was 16mm and not 1.6mm? 16 mm retraction is a lot and I’d discourage that - you risk pulling molten filament into the cold zone, where it solidifies and you may end up with a clogged hotend.
I understand the socks as being an insulator, keeping the hotend more stable, insulationg it from the parts cooling fan and reducing radiated heat that might slow cooling of the print. Also as a non-stick layer to avoid filament sticking to the heaterblock, keeping it cleaner (not really important). So without the sock you may get a less stable temperature, lass good print cooling, but also the standby temp will be reached faster as you suggested. IMHO, with PLA, printing without the sock should not cause remarkable problems - worth a try, although I admit I do not see how it would help. But happy to be corrected!
I used 15mm toolchange retraction at 1500mm/min with ooze shield and prime tower in the past.
15mm means the tip is in the cold zone, more movement is not necessary from my point of view.
+1 for drying filament.
Yes, the default Nozzle Switch Retraction Distance is 16mm:
I think maybe you’re referring to normal retraction distance, not nozzle switch retraction?
I was just not aware that Luban has such aggressive settings - I’m not using Luban for slicing. 16 mm is a lot, and I’m honestly surprised that you still get a lot of oozing. Especially with Standby temp 150°C. I would not increase nozzle switch retract. Perhaps you can try with even lower standby temp, but otherwise I admit that I have no brilliant Ideas.
Do you have a chance to try a different filament brand?
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I did try with a new pack of Hatchbox filament, same issue. I ended up lowering standby temps by a lot and that seems to have mildly improved it. Not perfectly, but much better than before.
May be the point where you reach out to Snapmaker support. I’ m not aware of many reports on this, so it may be some defect of your unit.
Perhaps one more question: Is it both nozzles? Did you try swapping them?