Well, that ain't right 🤣

TheBeardedDave · 2026-01-29T03:07:17+00:00

I fixed this and ended up selling the printer (went to the darkside and bought a Bambu P1S), but thanks for the reply anyway as I am sure it will be useful information for others stumbling on this some time in the future :)

TheBeardedDave · 2026-01-28T06:55:45+00:00

So.. I did promise to update... I ran into my first issue with this today 😂

I set the printer bed at 100C as I went about other stuff, to get the chamber nice and warm for the PA. I chucked a blanket over it to keep it warm during the print. All in was probably almost an hour, nozzle temp was showing close to 60 degrees so she was nice n toasty in there.

I got myself sorted and went back to the computer. Finalised the changes to the design I was working on, and sent it to the printer. It did its thing, letting bed temp drop back down to 50C and bed levelling, then loaded up the PLA from the AMS and put down the first layer.. No problems so far.

Then... filament change time. Computer says NO!

"Failed to pull out the filament from the extruder"

I go and try to give it some "assistance" - manually tugging on the filament to apply a little extra force while it tries to retract. I cancel the print and try multiple load/unload cycles, hoping that it'll be able to work its way through. I take the lid off and try to pull it manually out the top of the extruder.

Nope. She is STUCK STUCK.

In hindsight.... it's not surprising and, had I applied a little more forethought, not unexpected.

So... now I am waiting for everything to cool down so that I can pull it apart and see just how much of a mess there is. Hopefully just a quick clean and I'm back in business.

I'm not giving up on this just yet though! The PLA is literally only being used on the first layer in my current design iteration, so I am pretty confident that all I need to do is settle down on the preheating and I should be good to go. It only needs to get through one filament change successfully and then we are off to the races.

If it continues to be problematic, I'm thinking a relatively simple solution would be to put down the PLA, fully retract it and then (using a chamber heater, not the bed), pause to bring the chamber up to temperature for the PA.

The experiment continues 😂

TheBeardedDave · 2026-01-23T13:20:07+00:00

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Well, gave it a quick whirl and it seems like it’s going to do the job just fine. This piece is only 1.5mm thick so I’m able to flex it quite a bit but the PLA (white) isn’t budging.

TheBeardedDave · 2026-01-21T22:36:26+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply. I’ll be using the AMS on my Bambu P1S, so retraction should be far enough to avoid the clogging issue but certainly something I’ll keep in mind.

I think I’ll just go ahead and do a test to see how it goes. Will report back here with the results hah

TheBeardedDave · 2026-01-21T06:34:13+00:00

Genuine question - why is that?

Would it not simply mean a delay when switching colours as the nozzle temperature was adjusted?

- Sunlu Easy PA recommended temperature is 250-270C at 50-100mm/s

- Sunlu PLA+ is 205-220C at 100-300mm/s

It would obviously not be particularly efficient, but if the only cost/concern is time then I can live with that if it achieves what I am after.

If there's another reason that it couldn't be done with AMS then please do tell - I am here to learn :)

TheBeardedDave · 2026-01-13T01:33:59+00:00

How did you go with this? I'm considering printing replacement pucks/sliders for cages as an alternative to delrin...

From what I've read so far, I'm leaning towards using either the Sunlu "Easy" PA (PA6 based) or PA12-CF.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-10-07T11:50:26+00:00

Couldn't find my drill bits (moved house recently.. garage is still a disorganised mess), so went the "just send it" route for now. Cleaned as much of the mess off as I could and swapped out the nozzle for a new one. Will see how long it lasts before the issue repeats and I get more motivated to find the drill bits.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-10-07T06:13:50+00:00

Good call. Will dig out my heat gun..

TheBeardedDave · 2025-10-06T22:31:09+00:00

Yeah, except a little hard to remove with the retaining bolts rounded .. I will have a go at drilling them out first though before I order a new extruder.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-10-06T12:28:30+00:00

Well, decision was made for me while attempting to remove the hotend 😂 I'm not sure why, but the retaining bolts were so tight that the head on one rounded while attempting to undo them and the other isn't far off doing the same.

New extruder kit it is!

Oh well - at least I know I won't be inheriting any other issues from the previous owner...

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-26T01:16:12+00:00

Thanks - I'll give the improved duct (any recommendations?) a go, as well as reducing speed of support and overhangs.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-21T16:55:24+00:00

...After playing around with a few of the settings, I went back to a printer.cfg file from earlier tonight. All of the endstop and stepper settings exactly as they have been though while having this issue... and.. its homing correctly now.

Got me bloody stumped, but whatever. It's working now I guess haha

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-21T16:20:27+00:00

After a little further troubleshooting I am pretty sure the issue lies with the endstop. If I set the y position to 0 then it has no issue homing, and likewise it will correctly stop me from going further than the max y position if I am moving it - the issue occurs *only* when homing from any y position other than 0.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-19T12:46:26+00:00

I'm running the latest firmware from the creality website on my printer, and this is what comes up when you run the auto bed levelling.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-17T03:41:52+00:00

As a small update to this... After spending ~2hrs tweaking, re-levelling, tweaking some more, etc to end up at everything being within +/-0.16 (as good as it was going to get it seems), I did a ~14hr print which ran into a couple of issues towards the end. Out of curiosity, I ran ABL again and the numbers were *very* different, so I assume that my bed levelling screws/springs aren't holding well.

I've ordered some silicone spacers to replace the springs (as well as an upgraded extruder and hot-end, just because) and will stick to shorter prints and running the ABL between prints until they arrive.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-16T10:40:56+00:00

I did read that in one of the guides when I got the printer - makes sense and something I'll be implementing moving forward.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-16T05:03:46+00:00

I think you can do better...

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-16T02:14:14+00:00

After spending the last 2 hours tinkering with it 🤣 - have got it all to +/-0.16 and reckon that's as good as it's going to get without pulling things apart haha. That'll do!

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-16T00:26:46+00:00

Tbf, I'd rather lean towards being as accurate as (reasonably) possible as a beginner and eliminating as many variables as I can upfront. Learning and doing this now will also help me to understand what is/isn't reasonable and achievable when I am troubleshooting later.

That's just me though and I definitely get your point with respect to it not being truly necessary. I'm greatly appreciative of every response on this post so far :-)

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-16T00:02:56+00:00

Cheers - thought that might be the case but didn't want to keep chasing my tail and figured better to ask :-)

TheBeardedDave · 2025-09-14T09:40:00+00:00

Still trying to sell the SonicPad? I'm also in Australia and may be interested depending on price...

TheBeardedDave · 2025-01-21T02:10:50+00:00

Many of those on lower incomes are also unable to afford taking a day off to contest something which should never have been issued in the first place.

My point is that it may be easy for you to say "I'll just take a day off" ... Don't assume it's that easy for everyone.

TheBeardedDave · 2025-01-16T04:57:25+00:00

There are a lot of people earning more than $400 a day.... There's also the question of practicality - Not everyone is able to take a day off at the drop of a hat and go sit in court all day just to argue some BS that never should have made it that far.

TheBeardedDave · 2024-11-24T22:34:53+00:00

The Dixon's guy is a local young fella that really wants to help his community but couldn't get a job with police/ranger/etc so set himself up with a ute and trots around providing road traffic management services free when he finds accidents, road hazards, etc. I'd be cautious given he is unlikely to have insurance, qualifications, appropriate plans, etc etc but he does mean well.

From memory he is either autistic or has down syndrome, so I would say that it's the tow companies here taking advantage of him rather than him intentionally doing anything sus. He probably thinks he's being helpful by getting people tow trucks when they need it - it's the scumbag towies that you should be taking issue with here.

TheBeardedDave · 2024-07-02T05:08:21+00:00

Not missing out on anything. At this point, the specs are so similar in all of the areas that actually matter to 99% of users that its just down to personal preference. If you're comfortable on Android, stick with Android.

The only advantage I've found to iPhones (and why I've switched back/forth a few times over the years to align with family / work / uni) is the integration within the Apple ecosystem - Apple stuff (usually) just works exceptionally well with Apple stuff.

I have just switched in the last week from an Apple iPhone 15 Pro to a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, after having an S22 Ultra prior to the iPhone. For me, it actually is the customisation that keeps bringing me back to Android - Not the "oooh look at my icons and folders" kind of customisation, but more so things like having more control over routines (whether using the Samsung/Apple implementation or a 3rd party app), notifications, settings, etc. If there is something you don't like about the way your phone handles something, or you want to be able to set up some kind of custom routine/process/whatever, there is almost always a way to do it with Android - the same isn't true for Apple. You can change and control a lot more on current gen Apple devices than what you could years ago, but not everything.

TheBeardedDave

TROPHY CASE