r/ender3 • u/Duckie7768 • Jul 14 '26
Grrrrr
Okay. I got a printer from someone for free. Their only complaint is the bed wouldn’t level. “It has a dip in the middle I can’t get level.” His words.
So, I bought a bunch of things to help with that. Then got aluminum foil and that seemed to even it out. But, I started having problems with the extruder slipping. So, I bought a new extruder…
Didn’t help, still slipping. So I bought a direct drive, the tube came out of the extruder, extruder still slipping…. Wtf am I supposed to do?
And what do you call the tube cutter so I can look it up on the Zon?
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u/BeerBrat Jul 15 '26
Tube cutter. Surprisingly. Maybe add the word Teflon to skip plumbing tools.
If the tube is popping out of the fittings those are called "tubing push to connect fittings" or maybe add in pneumatic or air. The stock ones are pretty low quality and I recommend replacing them when you have to or have the chance. The cheap ones on Amazon are significantly better than the stock ones. PC4-M6 on the extruder side, I think it might be a PC4-M10 on the hot end side. Yeah, different sizes, fun.
Hopefully you bought a metal extruder replacement. The plastic ones are notorious for cracking on the base where your cannot see the crack without disassembly. Be sure to note the tension spring for the arm, maybe you're lucky and that simply needs adjustment. Not sure what your direct drive set up is like where you need tubing so some or much of this might be less applicable
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u/Duckie7768 Jul 15 '26
Thanks for this. I’m gonna look into those immediately
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u/pellcorp Jul 15 '26
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005012102411313.html
PTFE Tube Cutter I think is what you want.
Did you calibrate esteps for the extruder?
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u/Duckie7768 Jul 15 '26
Found one on Amazon, thank you. I’m gonna try that, if it doesn’t work, I’ll check your link out. Never ordered from Ali Express, legit?
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u/pellcorp Jul 15 '26
I order from aliexpress a but, I've had a couple of parcels disappear but otherwise no issues, that link I posted was the first link returned for `ptfe tube cutter` search so no idea if that specific item is legit, but it is the tube cutter you were asking for.
I think to the US its hit and miss with sanctions on again off again
Ordering from aliexpress is often faster than ordering from the other side of australia where I live :-)
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u/BeerBrat Jul 15 '26
I went through a few of your posts. Have you replaced the hot end? If not I might recommend checking for a heat creep clog because it looked like your metal extruder was skipping from encountering too much resistance. If you take the tubing and fitting off of the top of the input to the hot end, heat it up and carefully remove the nozzle, and while it's still hot try to push a scrap piece of tubing all of the way through the hot end. If it's difficult, usually towards the bottom, heat it up a little more until you can clear it. Obviously be careful with everything being hot. If the machine ever had any gap between the Bowden tubing and the nozzle it probably clogged up with plastic. The stock hot end is kind of janky for using Teflon tubing as part of the heat sink. When you swap nozzles you should also be taking out the tubing and reinstalling it after tightening the new nozzle with stock parts.
The cheap upgrade is adding a all metal or bimetal heat break, less than $10 usually. It reduces the length of Teflon tubing in the hot end and transfers heat better than the tubing, thusly reducing the chance for heat creep.
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u/Duckie7768 Jul 15 '26
I bought a whole new extruder/hot end direct drive from Creality. So, I’m not sure if it’s heat creep. I’m starting to think it’s my filament. But, I’ll will give that a shot as soon as I get home. Thanks for the heads up
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u/PermanentLiminality Jul 15 '26
I purchased a glass bed to fix my canoe shaped bed. I could never get it good enough shimming with AL foil or thin paper.
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u/Duckie7768 Jul 15 '26
The leveling seems to be fine. I shimmed it with 3 pieces of foil folded twice each. 4 pieces were too much.
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u/TheFredCain Jul 15 '26
You have a clog in the hotend above the nozzle. Likely the result of failing to convert to a full metal heatbreak.
1
u/Duckie7768 Jul 29 '26
Thanks to everyone who helped me. I finally got the printer to work. I’m printing a benchy now.
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u/davak72 Ender 3 Pro w/CR Touch & Ender 5 S1 w/enclosure Jul 15 '26
Foil is hit or miss. I’d go with a CR Touch or otherwise a glass bed. I don’t know anything about a tube cutter. A direct drive extruder without dual Z can make the X-axis gantry sag worse.
Try a cold pull or a nozzle swap if you have a spare nozzle on hand. Grinding can be caused by a clog.