Maintenance
To achieve the best results and lifetime, maintaince of your Builder 3D printer is very important.
Lubricate
Lubrication of the rotating and sliding parts is important for a nice print surface. Lubricate the axis (X-Y) 2 and 3 with oil when the printed objects shows some signs of vibrations. Lubricate the Z axis when those feel dry.
Feeder wheels
After a lot of printing, the filament material feeding wheel can contain small plastic parts. For cleaning, use a tooth brush or compressed air. Please go to the chapter Dual-Feed or Mono
Extruder for further instructions.
Nozzle
During printing, print material can stick to the nozzle. This stuck material can pollute the object while printing. Clean the nozzle before printing.
Warning: the nozzle is hot, 210 degrees Celsius. Cleaning the nozzle can be done by using a thick towel. Do not use any sharp objects to clean the nozzle, this can damage the nozzle
Troubleshooting
The first layer does not stick to the print bed
This problem is well known in the 3D printing world. The color substances added to the
filament may influence the melting point of the filament. To optimize the adhesion of first layer make sure that:
• The space between the nozzle and print bed is not correct. This should be 0.2 - 0.3 mm.
• Clean the print bed, replace the tape or use Pritt or wood workers glue.
• Increase the ”first layer thickness” for a better adhesion.
• Place a “skirt” around the object. The skirt is a line drawn around the object at the first
layer. This helps prime your extruder.
• Extrude material before printing.
Under extrusion
• Make sure the extruder wheels are clean. After a lot of printing these wheels can be full of dust and/or filament. Clean them with a brush or compressed air.
• There is not enough pressure on the filament. Increase the pressure by tightening the lever screws
• The extrusion speed is too high. Decrease the print speed.
• The nozzle got jammed. Clean the nozzle with the tools provided by Builder 3D Printers.
• Increase the temperature (250C) for a short time (max 5 min). The Builder will melt the old material and extrude this through the nozzle.
• The filament specs are different from the filament delivered by Builder 3D Printers. Every filament has its own specs. Contact the filament supplier for more info.
• The thermal protection is activated as the extuder head got to hot. Cool down the extruder head. After cooling down the Builder is ready to print again.
• Value E steps/mm are incorrect. Check the G-code and/or reset the Builder to the fabric settings with LCD menu (restore failsafe).
No connection with the Builder:
• Is the driver installed correctly? Use administrator rights.
• Check to which COM port the Builder is connected. Use “device management”.
Difficulty with inserting the filament
• Bend the filament straight and cut the filament at an angle. This makes it easier to insert the filament in the extruder head.
• Broken filament in the extruder head. Preheat to 210 and remove the broken filament. If the filament is too short, use the pressure plug.
• Extruder screws are too tight. Turn them a bit looser.
The 3D printed object doesn’t look good.
• Not enough cooling. Increase the “minimum layer height”
• Check the tension on the timing belts. Increase the tension if needed. Check our official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/builder3dprinters
• The filament specs are different from the filament delivered by Builder 3D Printers. Every filament has its own specs. Contact the filament supplier for more info.
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3D Printers User Guide
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