Adventurer 3 upgrades?

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pandsrowe
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Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by pandsrowe » Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:46 am

As part of my research into the most suitable 3d printer to purchase, I have come to the conclusion that the Flashforge Adventurer 3 is going to offer me the best option to suit my needs. However I have come across a number of online videos that indicate that the filament feeder mechanism leaves something to be desired, occasionally it emits loud clicking noises where the filament fails to feed causing problems with the filament laying down correctly on the model. There seems to be two fixes for this, one to fit a stronger spring to the feeder clutch and the other is to replace the feed gear both of which presumably give a tighter grip on the filament and prevent misdeeds.
I am aware that there are at least three members on this forum with the Adventurer 3 and was wondering if any of you had experienced this problem and what your thoughts may be on this potential upgrade.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Phil

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by SimonWood » Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:05 am

All I can say is it's not an issue I've had. That may indicate it's rarer than you think, or it maybe a problem yet to come...but I can't offer anything on how to fix it.

I do know the clicking noise is one of the symptoms reported when you switch back to PLA from ABS. This is why I have taken advantage of the Adventurer 3's quick change nozzle, and bought one for each material. But doubtless there are other causes of the noise related to the feeder gear.

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by philipy » Mon Jan 04, 2021 12:20 pm

Clicking is a fairly common problem I think, not just with the Flashforge.
It is caused when the knurled feed wheel slips because it can't force the filament through the nozzle fast enough.i.e when you go from a high temp material like ABS to a lower temp like PLA and the PLA temps aren't high enough to expel the last remaining solid ABS.
There are two ways of dealing with it that I am aware of. 1) I have a filament called "Floss" which is weird because when it extrudes it forms a wiggly worm output and acts to clear out the remains of the previous material like a sort of scouring pad. Trouble is I got it from a company no longer in business and I don't know of another source.
2) The pragmatic way of doing it is to heat the nozzle to ABS temps and then put about 6" of PLA through at the higher temp before allowing it to cool to PLA temps. That should rinse out the old material. You just need to be careful not to overdo it because the PLA will burn inside the over hot nozzle and then you have got a problem!

Going back to the clicking noise, once you hear that noise it indicates that the knurled drive wheel is shaving off bits of filament which then get stuck in it's teeth and eventually it stops gripping at all and doesn't feed. The only way to deal with it is to dismantle the head and using a pin or similar, scrape out the debris in the teeth. Put it back together again and it should all be OK. I know that sounds pretty drastic, but once you've done it the first time it's Ok for subsequent times!

It's something I had to do several times in my early days with the printer, but haven't needed to do for probably a year or 18 months.
Philip

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jan 04, 2021 12:57 pm

I get the clicking and filament slippage if the printhead is too close to the bed. I can usually spot where the problem is because the first layer is either squidged or there's no filament at all on the bed. I solve it by lowering the bed on the fly by tightening the relevant bed levelling knob(s).

When I described the bed levelling process to a non 3D printing mate his immediate response was "Why don't they just have three bed levelling screws?" Which actually makes a lot more sense than trying to get the level spot on with four.

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by philipy » Mon Jan 04, 2021 1:04 pm

Mine has three, one centre back and two in front corners, but its a still a 'mare. If I get, say, a high or low area in the back corners it's a major fiddle to use the front corner and centre back to try to correct it and the chances are that it has then thrown the other one out as well, and you go round in circles!
Philip

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:04 pm

Ok the clicking with this Adventurer 3 in particular.

The clicking is (as described above) caused by the knurled wheel slipping on the filament. The only potential problem with increasing the spring tension is the danger of stalling the drive mechanism and burning out the drive motor. So I will not increase the spring pressure on my printer.

It does do this occasionally, usually when laying down the first layer. It does indicate that the nozzle is perhaps too close to the bed. This can easily be reset using a bit of paper. It is a standard routine in the printers software, and part of the initial setup process. I haven't bothered to lift the nozzle setting although perhaps I should - perhaps by 0.1mm.

If you have a blocked jet then you will get lots of clicking.

So to summarise - yes it does click when it starts to print - but only for a few seconds. I know i can correct it but haven't bothered. It isn't an issue as far as I am concerned - and I would still buy the same printer again.

If I were looking for another printer I would be very tempted by the next model up which has twin nozzles and a 300 x 150 x 150 build volume.

Of course the biggest negative is political - it was made in China - and we are becoming too dependant on China.

Trevor

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by philipy » Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:43 pm

Trevor Thompson wrote: โ†‘Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:04 pm
If I were looking for another printer I would be very tempted by the next model up which has twin nozzles and a 300 x 150 x 150 build volume.

Of course the biggest negative is political - it was made in China - and we are becoming too dependant on China.
When I got my Qidi there were single and twin nozzle versions available and I went for the bigger one even though it was significantly more expensive, partly because the build volume was slightly bigger and partly because I thought the 2 nozzles would be advantageous.
The build volume was extremely valuable and I'm glad I got it for that alone, but in fact the twin nozzles I found to be useless. I tried using the 2nd nozzle for disolvable support materials to start with but found problems with the second nozzzle conflicting with the print nozzle and all sorts of faffing about with wipe towers etc. Since then I just use the print filament for supports and clean it up afterwards. If I got another machine I would definitely go for the biggest sensible volume but wouldn't bother with a twin nozzle machine.

As for China, I agree but are any 3d printers made anywhere else these days?
Philip

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by pandsrowe » Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:48 pm

My thanks to you all for the very informative replies, I now believe that I am concerning myself unnecessarily and that these issues are just part of the learning process which l have got to go through. I think I will be ordering one in the next few days as the longer I spend thinking about it the less time is available for printing and making stuff for the railway.
Phil

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Re: Adventurer 3 upgrades?

Post by FWLR » Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:27 am

Bit late sorry,

I just powered up my Flashforge and went through the loading of the spool that came with the machine and off I went. I haven't done anything else, like levelling or moving the printer head :dontknow: Has for the clicking, yes I did get some clicking and still do when I load the reel, I now have the bigger reels, but it doesn't bother me.

I am still learning and will be for some time, do we ever know everything about something.. :roll: I am so glad I got mine even with the struggle I have with the programming, which if you have a better mind than I have :lol :lol :lol you will really have some excellent results and the money you can potentially save will be huge...

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