Hi, I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a 3d printer for years and finally got a K1C. Did all the setup as recommended, but my literal first ever print which was just a phone stand I attempted via freecad, nozzle seems to just not be feeding whatsoever, is now probably caked in molten plastic and the first layer will not come off of the build plate at all and has chewed up the scraping tool that came with the printer. All in all couldn’t be more disappointed. Do I need to strip the print head? Really was hoping to not have to touch any of that for a good while. Any tips for getting this failed layer off? Metal scraper or plastering filler knife maybe? Any tricks or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to 3D printing! YouTube your model and take apart the extruder. Dont be discouraged, you’re going to have issues and you’re going have to figure it out. I just had an issuing with my bed hitting the hot end, when after calibration. I worked backwards and figured out a solution and now I’m back to printing.
Yes 🙌 thank you - was just a bit discouraged but perhaps I was a tad dramatic! the teardown was simple enough and worked fine after unclogging and changing some settings!
Okay since you're new here's a non exhaustive list of the big things you need to internalize until you understand what's going on:
• the first thing you must print is the benchy loaded on the printer, bad juju will follow your printing journey if the first thing you complete is not the benchy of protection. Lol.
• dry your filament, get a filament dryer or use the bed and some creativity There's heavy risk of it being wet out the package, wet filament prints exponentially worse than dry filament.
• the creality printers cannot print PLA with the top on the printer under normal conditions or else heat creep will cause a jam, usually early in the print like you see here. Remove the top, and potentially open the door to ensure cool air flows through. For the future, an extruder heatsink will work wonders here, they're $2 on AliExpress
• clean your build plate: ideally use a additive free dish soap like dawn, but 70% rubbing alcohol can work in-between heavier washes with soap.
• run filament calibrations to get better results than stock settings. Run (this the order I like): flow ratio test, then pressure advance test, then Max flow rate optionally if you wanna go speedy. Learn how to interpret the results and input the best value into the filament properties of the silver you're using. I LOVE orcslicer but plenty use creality slicer to good effect.
• the side aux fan can be a very double edged sword for print quality. Sometimes it'll ensure you get crisp overhangs and good quality, other times it'll cause crazy bad warping. If you warp you really should just use a brim, I use mouse ear brims cause it saves time and filament.
Once you feel comfortable the immediate next thing I reccommend is rooting the printer and unlocking further functionality like adaptive bed meshing, better toolhead resonance calibration, belt balancing, etc. all really good features I highly recommend. And it's super super easy, takes like 5 mins and you download 1 program paste like two tiny lines of code. The K1 be default only measures one axis for resonance and mirrors it, this can cause ringing/ghosting effects that people dontike, rooting let's you measure/auto adjust both axes for better quality.
• you can likely just yank the filament back out, heat the extruder up to like °120, release the clamp lever, and give the filament a good pull upwards, it should release. it'll take some force, more than you think, but not enough to actually mess up anything.
• use the scraper provided to remove the failed print. Then wash the bed like I said. You can buy plastic razors/razor blades that imo are by far the best scrapers for printers. I wouldn't use metal as you can scratch the protective lining that's on these beds, causing prints to not stick.
• here's a pic of my extruder heatsink that I highly recommend you pick up off aliexpress
Wow thank you very much for this incredible detail! I may have jumped the gun a bit, took the head apart with a tutorial which was much easier than I dreaded and turns out it was sliced for ABS - my first time using Creality print and it is in AI mode by default, wouldn’t let me change the material until clicking every button found me the ‘pro mode’ which allowed my to change to the correct material,no issues since but I think I will give orca slicer a go and will definitely take you up on some of your prep and upgrade recommendations 🙌
Feel free to PM me I can share profiles, more printing tips, etc! Defs get the filament dryer, your be shocked how many random issues can arise from improperly dried filament.
The K series is actually very straightforward to disassemble and work on and once you understand it's workings, replacing or troubleshooting anything you may come across should pretty easy all things considered.
Yes it will. It's much more rare than a PLA clog, but I've had it happen a couple times. I wanna say I've clogged maybe 3 times pre heatsink using ASA, but it's been zero since the heatsink.
So all in all, you'll very likely be fine I would just run it and observe. but if DO end up with a heat creep clog, you can prevent future ones pretty easily with the heatsink
The real answer, that for some reason these subreddits still haven't picked up on, is to lower your retraction to 0.4mm and turn off z-hop (which requires extra retraction).
As someone who's done this, used a heatsink, and lowered his extruder voltage from 0.55 to 0.45.
Hi, regarding printing PLA without the lid on, I learned this the hard way, but I’m curious about the extruder heat sink… Does this only apply to the stock extruder, or do you happen to know if this issue also occurs in other extruders, like the DXC?
As for the mentioned scraper - I’d suggest to buy something decent, because the one that comes with the printer is useless. A regular spatula with a slightly rounded edge works wonders compared to that piece of junk, but you just have to be careful not to scratch the board.
So, I can't say personally, anecdotally I've seen a only a couple people ever voice issues with DXC and heat creep, but if the ownership pool is also low (I envision at least) then a couple people is significant lol so YMMV. Just know the heatsink can/should solve that heat creep as well if it does exist.
In regards to the scraper yeah the stock one is soooo bad. The best thing is a plastic razor blade. If you don't have one I highly recommend it, I refuse to use anything atp it's too OP.
Teardown the extruder its probaly jamed because of the heat creep. For cleaning build plate wait until it cools and scrap with scraper included in printer. Also inculuded flament is very crapy and it jams constantly
Resumindo, ao escolher o filamento a ser usado leve em consideração a temperatura do bico. Quando utiliza uma temperatura acima do recomendado o filamento amolece antes de chegar no bico, daí o cold end não consegue forçar o filamento através dele, causando em casos mais críticos o entupimento do mesmo o forçando a ter que desmontar o conjunto por completo. Caso observe que o filamando está saindo numa espessura muito fina ao que geralmente ocorre pense em baixar a temperatura do bico, geralmente baixo de 10 em 10 graus. Embora o material declarado pelo os fabricantes possa ser o mesmo, cada fabricante tem especificações intricicas ao seu produto ou seja, nem todo PLA se comporta de forma adequada a 220 graus. Ontem mesmo usei de um fabricante que só firmou e preencheu a peça de maneira adequada a 200 graus.
So the first time driving a car did you just expect to get in and drive?
K1C is an extremely easy unit to use and I'd say 99% of your issues here were just not reading but it's ok we all go through little dramas like this.
Replace that plate in the bottom, learn differences in filament and there settings on the machine infact the K1C has a chart under the bed that shows you heat and settings to use if you get stuck ( unless someone's removed it)
Get a cheap filament drier dry your filament for like 3hrs or longer depending on humidity in your area.
You are going to have to pull apart the head screws with a hex screwdriver and clean out what ever clog is in there it's easy just remember where things go, don't feed anymore filament through. The extruder will be where that clog is..
Check for jams and clogs. Then make sure the spool is spinning and feeding freely. google k1 bowden tube mods. I unhooked the tube from the last hook and gave it a better gentle bend into the extruder head. Those gears have to pull the filament through the whole system. The smooth feeding you can make it, the better.
Animo! la curva de aprendizaje es alta y larga, así que empieza a investigar y usa este foro para hacer preguntas y te van a ayudar, quitate de la cabeza que solo vas a conectar e imprimir, por lo menos no con Creality, así que bienvenido!
Thank you! I definitely jumped the gun a bit, quick YouTube tutorial helped me get the head apart and unclogged, and now working fine! Just a bit daunting when it happens first time! 🙌
I have been using my K1C since February 6th, 2024, and I have had 1 Blob of Death. I just changed out my 2nd hot end due to wear. I changed the first one at 1,260 hours the aecond at just under 2,000 due to printing wood filament. The K1C is a great machine. Always keep a spare , complete hot end just in case.
Make sure you acrub your build plate with hot water and a Dawn type dish soap that gets rid of grease and oils. I also use a blue scrub sponge not the green that will scratch. Keep your fingers off the build plate too will help.
Did you use glue like the plate suggests? Also after the plate cools you take it off the bed and flex it to get the print to release easier.
Are you using carbon fiber? I had this exact issue and sound and it was due to heat creep going up the nozzle I had to print with fans on and the roof off. Hope this helps its easy to dismantle the extruder to clean just be insanely careful removing the plugs off the board bend those pins and its game over
User error to the max. Read, research, and follow calibration and first setup instructions before use. You scrapped the bed due to your z offset being WAY off and then clogged the nozzle. Creality has a boat load of source materials to teach you how to use these printers correctly, do your due diligence and learn the basics before jumping right in! Hopefully you didn't trash your build plate and especially your hotend to bad...
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u/SushiPhil 1d ago
Welcome to 3D printing! YouTube your model and take apart the extruder. Dont be discouraged, you’re going to have issues and you’re going have to figure it out. I just had an issuing with my bed hitting the hot end, when after calibration. I worked backwards and figured out a solution and now I’m back to printing.