haldir VS 3d printing!!

[haldir]

Figure with me getting my printer back up & running I'd start my own thread in regards to this hobby. (Thank you @Jasper_the_2nd @Clearman for time in regards to your topics!!)

 

So last week I had what was referred to in the 3d printing field as a "Glob of Death" or something along those lines. I ended up a solid blob of filament that engulfed my entire nozzle, the heatsink & everything but the fans. I think if I wasn't still new to the entire hobby I could have just heated up the blob & let gravity take over. To be safe I ordered a complete new hot end, which is the entire black box that is positioned on the middle bar you see if look at pictures of the Creality Ender 3, ie the business end of your printer.

 

Bottom (where the nozzle should be. You see a nozzle?? Ha ha)

Spoiler

 

Back (It's not a nice texture at least!)

Spoiler

 

Front (again the bits on the tile are cut off parts of the shroud that is usually over all of this. It's on the right side of the hotend in this picture.)

Spoiler

 

 

 

& these are what was behind the shroud. I finally got my screw off today. I was all set to cut a slot into the hex screw as it wouldn't turn with with the factory supplied hex wrench but as I was wrenching the shroud off I noticed it was actually turning the screw! I ended up cutting off the shroud (what you see on the tile in one of the pics) & then it was a matter of getting a set of pliers around the screw to give it a few starter turns. I ended up using my thumb & finger to get it fully out. Oh well, I have some new Dremel EZ lock mandrel & reinforced cutting disks!! 

 

Currently I'm in the process of trying to get the hot glue off the control board. Creality decided to glue down the connectors to the board....ugh why? I do need to figure out what wire goes where but I've got diagrams. I'm more worried about the heater wires (the larger red ones). I'm not sure if they have to go to the right connector or not. Once I get the glue off, I should be able to swap the wires out & re-hook everything back up!

[Clearman]

Two questions.

 

1) Do you know what failed to cause the Glob of Death in the first place?

 

2) How do you plan to remove the hot glue off the contol board?

[kristof65]

10 minutes ago, haldir said:

Creality decided to glue down the connectors to the board....ugh why?

This is not uncommon in the industries I've been in (music, car wash and amusement).  It helps keep components and connectors in place, especially when the unit will be subjected to lots of vibration (such as a 3d printer would create) or possible sharp shocks (such as during shipping). 
 

[haldir]

The Blob was formed due to the part I was printing. Fat Dragon Keep wall/floor tile didn't stick to the bed. The hot end just shoved the pieces off the bed. With the filament not sticking to the bed, it went one other way & that was up. This was during a 8 hr unattended print job. 

 

Yah I figured it had to do with the printer & according to the Ender 3 group on Facebooker, needle nose plies & carefully pry it off. 

[Jasper_the_2nd]

FYI, I'm unable to see your pictures.  Not sure why....

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Jasper_the_2nd

[haldir]

13 minutes ago, Jasper_the_2nd said:

FYI, I'm unable to see your pictures.  Not sure why....

 

 

Probably goggle pics & linking. I'll fix em. 

[haldir]

Glue is off the board! Pretty easy, just a good grip & carefully pull it off. It's only on the plugs but still pulling off the motherboard, a tad bit 'ancy. Well appears my re-build will have to wait until Amazon ships some screws to me. I changed out a few of the external screws for black ones (aesthetics) & I have a big box of all kinda of metric screws but the ones that put the shroud back onto the Z -Axis...sigh. Gotta love a big A order for just screws. I'll have to add something to it..

 

Screws I need are M3*10 size.

 

In the meantime, I'll be pulling off plugs & getting the new plugs in. Nozzle heater cords have been disconnected so far.BTW @kristof65 is the glue they use just hot glue. I've thought about re-gluing the plugs when I'm all done.

[kristof65]

2 minutes ago, haldir said:

is the glue they use just hot glue. I've thought about re-gluing the plugs when I'm all done.

Depends on the application, but if it looks like hot glue and feels like hot glue, it's probably hot glue. It's pretty common to use because it's inexpensive, doesn't usually damage the boards, mostly removable and sets really quickly. 

My current company uses hot glue and silicone.  Epoxy is generally used when the manufacturer doesn't want anyone else to be able to repair the board, and super glue is generally avoided on circuit boards because it vaporizes into harmful fumes if a soldering iron touches it. 

[haldir]

While I await my screws (tomorrow!!) I've been perusing the net for all 3d print stuff. I came across this that may be of interest:

 

3D printed tabletop (print profiles)

 

Also decided that when I get the printer back up & running I'm gonna reprint some of my mods using Hatchbox green:

 

 

Hopefully the net picture is what color I will get. I'm not happy with MakerGeeks (BAN!!!) Nuclear green. It's more of a GW goblin green. Note this ABS but PLA is the same shade.

[Jasper_the_2nd]

The orange I've been printing with is Hatchbox and matched the picture well.

 

[haldir]

More sites that might be helpful:

 

https://www.aniwaa.com/best-sites-download-free-stl-files-3d-models-and-3d-printable-files-3d-printing/

 

Some I've heard of, most I haven't. This one is gonna be fun to go through.

 

Well it appears Big A only had the ABS  & a questionable roll of that green. The questionable one had reviews of "fake hatchbox. poor quality kinda reviews so I'm gonna hold off a bit. Thou it's roughly the same price & free shipping if I order direct from Hatchbox. I may end up just going with them.

[haldir]

Screws acquired!! I ended up going with M3x6s. They are a tad bit shorter then the existing screw but they'll work. Hopefully I'll get this darn machine back up & running later today!

 

[haldir]

Finally decided to get back to this damn thing. I say damn thing cause I'm ready to just toss it in the trash. The full hot assembly I bought had a plug on one set of wires & on the motherboard, you need to plug each wire into a screw terminal. OMG! Either the Chinese have 3 arms or I'm have no idea how to plug a wire into a hole & twist a screw down............

 

There is absolutely no room to work inside the motherboard case when you have all the other wires plugged in. Wires I don't need to take off yet, I can't get this wire in!!!

 

Cools off a bit, comes back.......

 

I do believe the wires I had to cut was the fan wires that attach to the nozzle shroud. So if I need to replace it at least I won't need to replace the entire hotend assembly (again). Looking at Ender 3 motherboard pictures I see mine must be outdated or something as I'm seeing 2 fan plugs vs the one on my board (manfc date was in 2018). I also see there is a upgraded official Creality3d motherboard as well. I may just get that. I put in way to much investment into this just to have it just sit on the shelf & gather dust. So frustrated right now!! Every time I need this printer for something in a game, I have problems with it. Why I bought it in the first place!!! 

[KruleBear]

That sucks. Best wishes on getting it worked out as this is a fun aspect of our hobby.

[Corsair]

Sorry to hear that, hope you can get it ironed out.