I just bought this last week and have maybe got 2 full prints off of it. One of them being the test print!
I was so impressed with the test print and its speed! Then the next print went the same speed as my old printer. I figured I needed to slice the file to the new printer… no problem right? HA!
First problem arised! This printer wasn’t on my preferred slicer (Cura) , I tried the one that came with it (hated it) and others… couldn’t figure them out… so onwards on my search. Finally found a video that helped me with getting cura set up for this printer!!
I print a model with GREAT success! Wonderful news right? Well, maybe not.
I slice a new file by a creator that I use very often with wonderful success. Set it going and leave the shop for the night. I come in the next day to find the screen saying “print complete” and the is only the base of the print done.
Now when I try to print no filament is coming out, I can’t get it to extrude or to retract. I can’t even manually pull the filament out.
What can I do… I am ready to cut the filament and return this brick!
Could be that the filament is stuck in the extruder. Might take a bit of disassembly of the printhead to get it free. I take it the printer powers up and you can set the temperature on the extruder? Can’t comment on Cura, I don’t use it. And you say an Ender Brick, which model printer exactly? If you can heat the nozzle we should be able to get this back up and running.
Does the printer power on? Can you set the nozzle temperature to about 220°C? With the filament lever pressed left can you push filament through the hot nozzle? As for the extrude/retract button on the keypad, if it is like mine it can take a few presses to get it move filament. My guess is you had a nozzle clog which is easy to shift. If the extruder is too tight it can wear through filament and stop it feeding, will need to adjust it, it should only just grip the filament not gouge right in.
I can move the temp up and down, for the extrude and retract it is set at 255… Pushing the tab to the left, I am not able to push the filament through or pull the filament out.
I really did love the clean print it gave, just wish it was more consistent.
Disassembling the print head seems to be next. Remove the main cover, 3 screws. Snip the filament where it goes into the extruder. Remove the extruder screws on the RH side. The extruder should pull off, there is a little bit of PTFE tube in between to take off next. Snip the remaining filament. Heat the nozzle and push the filament through the nozzle, there is a long metal tool with a hoop on the end for this. Reverse to reassemble and reload the filament. Worse comes to worse you might need a new nozzle, but shouldn’t be the case (always keep spare nozzles). Its a dead easy printer to DIY and I print with mine almost daily with no problems as bad as yours, my usual grief is just setting the Z-offset properly. I run my filament from a drier to keep it always dry, damp filament can snap/clog/boil which all affect prints. (pretty sure there is a youtube vid on this whole procedure)
I have only had it put together for a week, and I use Creality filament.
At this point I will be returning it… I shouldn’t have to get new parts, do surgery… etc on a printer that isn’t even 8 days old and has less than 5 successful prints on it.
I appreciate all of the help that was provided.
Haha, Probably a smart move. I have had mine for about a month and I got about a dozen prints out of it, got warranty parts from China, still got damaged wire leads and waiting on parts from digikey.
See the thing I learned quickly, these are bottom end hobby printers and they are made with the most extreme cost cutting manufacturing strategies. For me I got this as a refurb and have already hacked the firmware and upgraded the hot end assembly and it still has yet to print anything new due to about a $0.25 wire connector I had to pay $12 shipping!
But hey, it’s a hobby so you play and learn. I come from the school of hard knocks so I rarely learn until it’s nearly too late, so good for you for returning your bricked KE, because if you couldn’t figure this issue out you were in for a world of frustration going forward.
So my advice to you is, if you want a perfect 3d printer that works fantastic right out of the box without any issues and will print perfect prints then you probably want to step right up to a Prusa or Bambu Labs printer and be ready to empty $900+ dollars right out of your bank account.
Even the Bambu, Qidi, Prusa etc will at some point need nozzle changes and other DIY work, all FDM machines do. If you can’t do that then perhaps FDM is going to be an expensive and frustrating experience, possibly would be cheaper to get someone else to print it.
Well I cannot see that if you was using Cura and the Print was ok? Why Change a system that works and use or manipulate a system that may not be compatible with the previous one, the old saying if ain’t broke don’t mend it, I have been using Creality printers for over 20 years and I just cannot understand why people think that the more it costs the better it gets, I will not touch anything printer until I read about the good and bad!!! I know this doesn’t sort out your problem, it’s just a small piece of advice!!!?
As for the filament not extruding try heating up the extruder to 130 and then use a probe down the top to see if it seeps through, good luck and I hope it helps, And if what I have learned is that there are to many people on here that don’t know what they are doing but think they are Right, So it is up to you???
I can do that, and I have done that with my other printers… but that isn’t the point. The point is that this printer wasn’t even a week old when it started having problems. I shouldn’t have to start changing parts this early, and if I do… that’s just setting the stage of what’s going to happen in the future.
The first print (test print) would have been whatever they sliced with, then I couldn’t find a slicer to work.
I didn’t change Cura until I had to…
Finally I get Cura to work by changing the specs of one of the Creality printers that is close to the KE over.…(KE isn’t in Cura’s listing of printers)
The next print worked like a charm, and I was thrilled.
But then it was like it decided that it didn’t want to work, filament isn’t extruding or retracting……
If trying to clean out the nozzle doesn’t work, it will go back.
I wasn’t thrilled with my last printer, but its printing right now while this one isn’t
Really? I never use Creality filament (price), for PLA its Sunlu or Jayo, PETG will be Pinuoto and Overture for TPU. I do have Creality ABS, but I use that on a Qidi machine…FMMV.
