ABS Clogging my extruder

Flagship K Series Creality Flagship K2 Plus & CFS
1

I’ve had my K2 Plus since April, and for the most part, it works great. I’ve had a couple odd problems, but I fairly quickly find the problem and fix it. Now, I’ve reached the end of my ability.

Using PLA and PETG, I have no problems. I finally decided to try ABS, and because I have had very good results with eSun filaments so far, I chose that brand. It is their ABS+ filament. It says its temperature range is 230-270, and the generic ABS filament setting runs at 260, so I thought it would be fine. I went to print, and my first print was small, but it came out fine. I then tried to print a larger print, and it stopped with the printing without extruding error. I assumed it was a clog in the extruder, so I pulled it apart to find no clog there. I then tried to resume the print. It started making the movement as if it were printing, but come to find out, it was extruding no filament. I tried to retract the filament and it wouldn’t retract. It got caught in the five way on the CFS, and I had to force it through. Once I got it through, I tried to put the filament in a different slot, and I ended up with the same issue.

Needless to say, after trying everything I could think of, I decided that I would just start changing parts. I changed the nozzle, extruder front cover, five way, and even the bowden tubing. Testing after each item was replaced. Until I changed the five way, I kept getting the same issue. I thought it was working fine after changing the five way, but all that seems to have done is make it so I can print a little longer between failures, and now, instead of finding no clog in the extruder, it’s clogging the extruder really good. Worse than I have ever experienced, with filament coming out the side.

I have thought about the heat creep issue, so I tried printing at a lower temperature. I went as low as 230 on the extruder, with no apparent difference. Then I thought maybe it wasn’t hot enough, so I went up as high as 280, with the same issue. Right now I’m wondering if it is just the filament, but unfortunately I don’t have other ABS filament to try at the moment.

Are there any other suggestions I can try? Does anyone have any experience printing with this eSun ABS+ filament? Are there special settings I need to try?

Thanks

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Hello !

Just by curiosity but since all these changes, have you tried to print with a filament that worked before like PLA ?

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Yes, PLA and PETG were working fine, but now I have another issue that is keeping me from doing anything with the printer at all. It threw TE2564, saying the nozzle is not heating as expected, and shut down. I cycled the power, and it then gave me 2561 Unknown exception. I cycled the power again, and since then it constantly gives BM0111 nozzle connection abnormal.
From the research I’ve done, and the things I’ve tested, I think I’ve got it boiled down to one of three things. It could be the board for the toolhead, the harness to the toolhead, or the heating element. I think the heating element shouldn’t be the issue, because I don’t see the fan being tied to heating element continuity, and it goes off when this error occurs.

Anyway, I’m waiting on Creality to get back to me with this one, because I can’t use the machine at all, and I’ve tried everything I can come up with on Google, and it’s not working at all. I remember a few years back, I was able to get technical support from Creality over the phone, but now customer service just tells me I have to do it through email, and that it takes 24-48 hours for them to reply after I send them the problem I’m having. I’m not okay with that slow of technical support.

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You should still be able to use Whatsapp if needed (they’re pretty fast in UTC+8 working time)

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And yep you most likely have an issue between the hotend and/or the board of the toolhead. A damaged wire I guess ?

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I had similar problems with ASA where it produced an ordinary first layer and then several layers layer it stopped extruding. I fixed that by playing around with the Z-axis off set - I ended up having to use +0.5

I got BM10011 and TE2564 errors after taking apart the extruder several times and eventually traced it to a shorted harness. that I had pinched between the stepped and extruder back board. Creality sent me a replacement harness but in the interim I used HT silicone and shrink fit to repair the harness, see

This is the second “pinching” harness damage I have experienced with the K2, the other being in the CFS.

It seems like Creailty should be looking at these as a design issue for future upgrades.

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Sweet, that’s good info to have. Thanks.

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I’ll look at that. I never took it down to the servos until I started getting these errors. I can’t find the damage, even when messing with the wires with the power on.

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2 things I would suggest, just because you didn’t mention it.

Perform PID nozzle calibration, this makes sure the nozzle is heating and staying hot enough during the prints..

Second, print ABS from external spool directly into the extruder (no CFS, no buffer ), print a y splitter and attach that between the 4-1 buffer & PTFE connecting the extruder .

This will rule out any tension filament issues causing excess tension, kinks in tubing etc .

Are you using 0.4 nozzles using .20 layer height profiles ? I print ABS using 0.4 / .2 layers upwards without problems, only 0.2 nozzles clogs..

Z-offset as mentioned is usually the biggest cause of first layer printing failures, second is PTFE kinks/worn out tubing.

Edit, a good way to test cables hotends is just heat soak the machine at bed temp 100c for 20 minutes, then try to home or mesh, if you have hardware issues they usually show up “quicker” under high heat temperatures.

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I have not performed a PID calibration. I have not tried the external spool holder. I replaced all bowden tubing, and t here are no kinks. I am using a 0.4 nozzle and .20 layer height. I have not messed with z-offset.

Right now, I can’t test anything I haven’t yet, because of the errors I later mentioned I am getting. I’ve contacted Creality, and they are thinking that it is either the board or the harness, but I’m not sure what other troubleshooting steps they want me to take, as they asked for an image of my receipt to ensure it was still under warranty. LOL. They haven’t been out for a year yet. How could it not be under warranty.

Anyway, I’m kind of at a standstill on the ABS printing issues until I get this other problem sorted out, unfortunately.

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As a FYI they ask for proof of purchase, every ticket . I’ve raised a few…

I would suggest try doing a 1st layer z-offset calibration, it is the cause of many issues maybe not all, but likely a few, and it will rule out wrong error message associated error reporting…

I had many “random” errors being reported that all went away after tuning z-offset..

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