Chameleon Dual Silk Grinding

[hearty anchor]

I'm having the hardest time getting successful prints with this spool of Chameleon. I print MatterHackers Quantum without issue and at my normal PLA speeds, 60mmps.

Sorry for so many screenshots, but I grabbed the settings in S3D I thought might be relevant.

The Rose was run in Vase Mode and printed beautifully at 60mmps. The failure was run at 30mmps with 'Reduce print speed for excessively high flow rates' set to 3.0 mm^3/s. No matter what settings I use, after about half an hour the extruder gears start grinding the filament, causing build-up on the gears. The filament stops extruding, but I can easily push it through the hot-end. I used as little tension on the extruder as possible, but that doesn't help.

Custom CR-10S
Antclabs BLTouch
E3DOnline Revo Six
BigTreeTech SKR MINI E3 V3+TFT35 V3
MicroSwissLLC Dual Gear Bowden Extuder
WhamBamSystems Magnet with FYSETC Double-Sided Textured PEI Spring Steel Platform

[faint kraken]

what nozzle diameter?

[hearty anchor]

0.4

[faint kraken]

all prints are failing?

@hearty anchor is it also failing in vase mode?

[hearty anchor]

Vase Mode worked, but I only tried it once

[hearty anchor]

I was also able to print two xyz calibration cubes, but they don't take all that long

[faint kraken]

Try printing a bit hotter and slower. Try reducing your retractions also.

[molten beacon]

Thinner the better with silks so they can be hot during extrusion and be cooled instantly being so thin. It helps make sure the elastomers are stretched in the direction of travel helping bring the shine and luster we all admire.

To one of you earlier comments, I would agree Matter Hackers has better layer adhesion at lower temps, but if you get Polymaker temp dialed in it has way better surface quality and overhangs. I am very torn between the two, luckily most color combinations are unique to both companies so in order to have all the options you need to get both. 👍

[hearty anchor]

Thank you @faint kraken and @molten beacon for all the info! I'll run some more test; I'm determined to get some nice prints with it 🤘🤘

[winter geyser]

Maybe heat creep?

All Polymaker PLA filaments except the silk have Jam-Free technology, I have found Polymaker silk and dual silk will grind on printers that have heat creep issues

Usually printing with low or no retraction can help, as you reduce pulling molten plastic further back into the cold end of the hot end where it can expand and form a plug, or pulling molten plastic back where the extruder gear is where the gear will grind the soft plastic. May be why vase mode worked for you? Since vase mode doesn't use retractions.

For fun I think test number one should be print the model that jams, but completely turn off ALL retraction. If it works, you know it's connected to that, if it doesn't and still jams than you know changing retraction settings won't necessarily help.

The recommendation for hotter temps, will make heat creep happen sooner, assuming heat creep is the cause.

I would also maybe put your printer outside of the enclosure as well, that sometimes also helps reduce how quickly heat creep occurs.

[hearty anchor]

Thanks @winter geyser 🤘🤘

I started the print that this has been happening on last night after doing a couple Temp Towers. I ran it overnight at 245° and was impressed that it was still extruding plastic this morning. Then I heard the dreaded clicking... and I can see where filament was barely coming out. I bumped it up to 255° and so far it seems to be good again

[faint kraken]

We actually discussed this on a previous post but weirdly enough, users reported using higher temps and lower speeds solved their issue (which sounds counter intuitive, lol) hence why the above mentioned was suggested first.

[hearty anchor]

Because I can't help myself, I am still trying to print at 60mmps. If I can do 60mmps at 255, then I'm fine with that!

[hearty anchor]

Started clicking again... Could be speed, but it was fine hours so I'm confused

[molten beacon]

Na… 60mm should be working, at the right temp I regularly get it to work at 100mmps. I do bump up flow so the geared extrusion can keep up. Sometimes 108% flow. Small layer line height though.

[winter geyser]

Have you cleaned out the extruder gear? Everytime it clicks it will grind the filament, filament powder in the teeth can cause future slipages

[molten beacon]

Clicking means your could go hotter or smaller layer lines assuming you have good maintenance and checked for clogs already.

[hearty anchor]

I've got quite a few hours in now using Chameleon 🤘🤘

Printing via USB from Windows appears to be the cause of the issues. It's intermittent pausing of prints was causing the dual silk to bind and it couldn't recover. I'm back to using Octiprint, I did some tuning, and I've had zero issues since!

[molten beacon]

260… that might be cooking the PTFE tube you should be able to stay under 250, either way any clogging at that temp is not any silk anything, I would check your heatbrake for deterioration. Only clogging with silk I have had had been the PTFE tube burning and grabbing onto the silk filament.