Don't let the vacuum cleaner spin the fan, it can induce a back EMF that could fry your main board. Hold it still with a couple of fingers like Michael did at 2:30.
I am new to 3d printing so I am not sure, but isn't the "back EMF" also a problem when spinning the stepper motors? I thought I read that the stepper motors should never be manually turned unless they are unplugged first for this reason, but it was not something mentioned in the video even with all of the manual movements. Maybe drivers today have some type of back current protection today and it is no longer required.
@@not_my_fn_real_name2689 stepper drivers already have to deal with high back EMF everytime the stepper motor accelerates, so they are designed to cope with it
Lol, did my maintenance today, before i saw this video.. Result was the best test print i've ever made. All the little tweaks can only now show their effect. Just absolutely perfect in all way. New tube, new nozzle, cleaning. Going to tighten x axis belt and lube z axis with lithium grease tomorrow. Bed cleaned with IPA and re-leveled. Then towel and IPA, clean as many nooks and crannies, i've kept it clean so not a lot to do. Quite a bit of greasy, sticky residue was found in the old bowden tube and between the tube and the heatsink. Smelled like PLA but concentrated. I had some underextrusion, should be fully gone now, based on the marvelous test print. I would consider filament cleaner as essential auxiliary. It helps with filaments that have collected dust, which is all of them once you open the bag and use them. I've seen the amount on my fairly clean room that was collected and how everything looked the last time i cleaned everything.. I had it twice as long with much less problems. I have a melamin sponge wiping the filament clean before the extruder.
Two other things I would add: One is to actually check your Bowden Tube end that butts up against the hot end. The cheap tubes that come with most of the cheaper printers is going to break down and cause issues MUCH quicker than say Capricorn PTFE tubing. I actually immediately replace these cheaper tubes before even the first print. Just not worth the hassle; however, I still check this end of the tubing whenever I am doing maintenance. Even on the Capricorn tubing, there can be breakdown after extended use. Two, check to make sure that all of the areas where strain on wires can happen are still protected with some type of strain relief, and the wires are still safe. This really applies to the wires on a heated bed more than anything, but can still be germane with any wires near moving parts. Make sure to verify the strain relief is still doing its job and that the wires haven't slipped. I know you showed looking over the wire covers, but checking the connection points looking for strained, frayed, and/or melted wires is also important. Thank you for the great content! Keep it up!
Thank you for this video, Michael. I recently had a fire in my apartment and my Ender 3 was covered with a lot of smoke. I put it away for a while as I sort out more pressing issues caused by the fire, but when I return to it it will need MASSIVE maintenance.
Sorry to hear about the fire. Smoke residue can be conductive, especially if the humidity is high. Might try flux remover spray. AND check that the power supply output is correct, with it disconnected from the electronics. Voltage might be on the high side with no load.
@@scottwillis5434 Thank you Scott. I'll definitely need the flux remover spray - for the printer and for every other piece of electronics that was covered in smoke.
If you have a removable PEI sheet on your printer like the Wham Bam and you decide to scrub it with steel wool, consider taking the sheet off of the printer, scrubbing it, cleaning it with acetone to get the steel wool residue off, then bringing the sheet back to the printer. Steel wool has a tendency to shed tiny pieces everywhere, and the pieces conduct electricity. If the pieces get sucked into your fans and into your power supply or your controller board, things could end badly. :) I made this mistake myself recently. Luckily I realized what I had done while the printer was still off with the electronics covered. I cleaned up the mess by putting a magnet inside a small plastic bag and passing it over the printer and the table to pick up the steel wool pieces. The bag keeps the steel wool from sticking to the magnet. You can hold the bag over a trash can and take the magnet out, and the steel wool pieces will fall into the can.
Just a small warning on the wires, creality (and some others) love to tin their wire ends, i suggest stripping that off and letting the bare wires twisted together (ferrules are even better) be inserted into the terminals. The tinned wire ends will seperate inside the screw terminal when you tighten it down and cause the resistance to skyrocket and it will burn up the terminals.
This is very true and one of my biggest issues with some of the printers on the market today! (Especially the cheaper 'China' printers and kits.). An inexpensive ferrule kit from Amazon is the best practice and should be the ONLY way these wires are terminated. Tinned wires will actually move and remould as the solder that is used is an extremely soft metal. This means that even if you tighten it perfectly today, there is a 99.999% chance that those wires will loosen with time. While bare copper is better, it is still stranded wire (not solid copper). This means that there is still a high likelihood that the same issue can develop. Crimping a ferrule onto the wire gives a safe and permanent termination that shouldn't allow this to happen. Well, as long as you aren't using a breaker bar attached to your screwdriver to tighten it. Seriously... firmly hand tight is fine... you shouldn't strain something tightening these screws! ;-) I'm sure we can ALL agree that 110/120/220/240v current (depending on where you live) is not something you want to wiggle out of place; but 12/24v heater bed / hot end wires can still cause fires if they work free as well! (Or as @Look ItsRain stated, the resistance increases and causes extreme heat). A little care and maintenance goes a long way to keeping you and your family safe!
Unfortunately I saw this tip too late, I'd upgraded to an SKR 1.4 Turbo, ran fine for several weeks until I noticed a burning smell.... behold by hotbed wires had melted together as well as the terminal on the board. Indeed, the hotbed wires are tinned and didn't know I had to strip it. Anyway, I've since replaced the board and used ferrule kit to replace all the terminals.
Outstanding! I recently replaced the hotend and bowden tube on my Ender3 V2 and noticed my print quality had gone downhill. After watching your maintenance video, I checked the print head and rollers and found the Y axis rollers absolutely caked in dust and the print head was a bit wobbly. I spent maybe 30 minutes cleaning and tightening.....print quality is better than the day I unpacked it! Thanks for the tips!!!!
I realize that almost EVERYONE uses PTFE lube on ball bearings, but you SHOULD NOT do that. PTFE lube contains small particles of PTFE that can cause the balls to "skate" and get flat spots on them. If you don't believe me, check with manufacture's of high quality ball bearings and linear rails. They will tell you the same thing. Use light weight white lithium grease.
Lithium grease gets my vote too. It is the right stuff for this purpose. Z axis enjoys the same, allthou i did add naptha+PTFE just a few drops (naphta cleaned it better when taken from the box, i used lithium much, much more). It has kept itself very clean and seems to last, once lubricated about exactly a year ago. And since we are at z axis, loosening the stepper motor screws and moving the carriage all the way up, then re-tighten them will realign the z axis lead screw with the frame. Decreases banding with tall objects, almost unnoticeable with flat or small print.
@@GuapogiboyIt's not as important but I would use lithium grease on the z rod as well. Lubes containing particles such as PTFE, Molybdenum, graphite etc. should only be used on things like bushings...things that slide...not roll.
In addition to the toothbrush, you can now get really small bottle brushes intended to clean reusable drinking straws. They can get in-between the teeth on the gears and clean them up a treat. Also, I have an electric toothbrush with interchangeable heads. I keep the old heads, clean them (HOT water and baby shampoo) and use them on cleaning tasks with the electric base. It's a lot easier to scrub when you can have a motor prevent repetitive stress disorder!
One thing I'd like to add, is to periodically check the bolts on your frame extrusions on printers that use the openbuilds V slot ones. Print vibrations loosen them over time. I use blue loctite to keep them from backing out like that. One time my ender 3 had a straight wobble because the screws that held the upright extrusions had worked their way out quite a bit.
Check the Bowden tube touching the hot end. After a while this end shrinks even if you have a Capricorn tube. Snip off the bad piece and reinsert into the coupler all the way down to nozzle and tighten couplers.
The "dust" on the wheels are not dust, its wear from these cheap POM V-Slot wheels. this increases if the wheels are too tight. i recommend buy Polycarbonate wheels (the transparent ones). Or ehm... dont tighten them too much, i always tight them until i can barely rotate them with hand. (i hold the carriage and rotate all wheels one by one by hand and if they grip well its good enough and don't wear much. For the the motion systems that goes "fast" (linear rails or rods) of parts that move fast use sew machine oil or a AOI oil, if you grease it it gets hot over time decreases it's lifespan. don't grease delrin leadscrew nuts (delrin is a sort of self lubricant" use grease for brass nuts in combination of the leadscrews.
Great guide - I've saved it to my favorites to refer to again. You also just saved me >$20; I was shopping for a dust cover but I love the idea of just using a heavy duty garbage bag. Thanks!
Great video as always but really think using Microfiber cloths is a better way to clean. They don't leave any papery residue or lint and can be washed clean saving money and helping save on waste.
One of the things I do is I use thermal compound between the heater and the heaterblock to improve thermal transfer. I also use thermal compound on the threads of the nozzle as well to improve thermal transfer to it as well.
I think this is a good guide. Like computers 3D printers are also in need of maintaining. Dust and debris are not that bad. Just clean it every 3 months or so that is what i would recommend
I do like the idea of putting bag over. I have two printers dedicated to flexible and ABS that i do not use as much but keeping them clean is a good idea
Great tips! I recently had my filament drive gear work it's way down the shaft until the gears were not contacting the filament, it at first was inconsistent line width and feeding and I thought it was the nozzles fault, ooops. Something to check, after adjustment I kept the two gear locking screws in place with loctite blue for good measure.
Micheal with CoreXY machines you need to check for gantry skew over time, and enable skew correction if and when it occurs The way to check this is to print a Calibration square with the corners finished so you can use calipers to measure the diagonals if they match your square is not printed skewed, if they don't match first check the printer is printing accurately in X then Y, then check diagonals, distance in X needs to match Y, and the diagonals to match to ensure the printer is printing square. As coreXY printers can go out of calibration over time and need to have the steps adjusted but also the gantry starts to get play in it over time causing the belts to pull unevenly on the gantry and Skew the X axis.
Thank you for this video. I do some maintenance on regular bases but thanks to your video o checked my xt60 connector on my Ender 3 and found out it is burned. I could have easily miss that if not for your video.
i tried to use cleaner filament. It did remove stuff. But when I removed it, it remained in the head and clogged it, and couldn't get the PLA through. I had to force a needle in there to get it going again. Not sure what I did wrong. Other than I loaded it like normal filament. Next time i'll try to just do it by hand.
Thanks for the tips. Just purchased an Ender 3 V3 KE and am enjoying it. It's printing very well so I'm resisting the urge to mess around with anything yet but these tips are good to know.. One Note: You may want to clarify IPA is Isopropyl alcohol and not Indian Pale Ale (which first popped into my head). You'd be surprised...!
what about for a new 3d printer? ive built it and it runs smoothly but i just wonder if there is a initial maintenance you should do to make sure stuff hasn't loosened up in the initial prints?
Or hot glue on a piece of cardboard scoop, printing it seems overkill, but either way that was a poor design choice where they put that, I mean, really? Right next to the bed? Design nightmare!
Using PTFE on Linear Bearings is not recommended. Like on the Prusa, besides the small particles in the grease, the linear bearings have seals on both ends. Those seals prevent dust, and grease from getting inside. The best maintenance is to remove them, clean with IPA, dry, then repack with the correct lithium grease and replace the seals. Or just replace the bearings all together. If you live in a dusty area that grease attracts dirt from the air and ruins the seals.
You and @John Smith must be internet comment trolls employed by lithium grease industrial complex and I have just uncovered your conspiracy against PTFE lubricants! J/K, this is good to know.
I have my printers in the garage, in an enclosure. I find the aircompressor is the best way of cleaning the dust off. Takes seconds for the entire printer.
Better make sure that your compressor filters water, otherwise you might hear a zap as the last thing of your printer. Or just cover up the electronic box, that should do it too. I almost fried my pc by cleaning it with a compressor that had condensation in the hose, thats also potentially a thing. Gotta admit though, its just so easy to use a compressor.
Great vid! Liked, subscribed and commented to keep you high in seo. Keep the great vids coming, Im using this to maintain my fleet which is how I run my business. So thanks for the incredibly valuable insight!!
There are a lot lot lot of comments, so perhaps I missed this: Would not IPA start to dry out the roller wheels and belts? I tend not to use it for other rubber and soft plastic coatings for that reason. Thoughts?
I bet you already know about this issue, and I would love to see a video of Teaching Tech about solving it: There are bugs for users that use S3D with the Creality 1.1.5 "silent board", making the extruder step motor stop mid print for no apparent reason. The very same stl, when sliced with Cura, complete the print normally, while the S3D gcode print fails more or less at the same point every time.... I use S3D since I first started printing, so this issue is a huge deal for me. I've tried updating the firmware to Marlin 1.1.9 bugfix, but contraire to the tutorial I've followed, the bug still occurs...
My ender 3 fans seem to be working against one another at the head… one is at the front and another is at the side, with 1 or no outlets?? It’s like they’re pushing air in instead of pulling hot air out and being familiar with aerodynamic principals I do not understand why they were designed like this. Unless they were assembled backwards??
hey men, im looking for a piece that you design to level X axis parallel to top frame, it's something like a hook , but I can't find the video where you uploaded it, could you give me the link?, thanks so much.
With this video I discovered a error on my 3D printer, it stucks in the middle of the X axis because the nut was too tightened and that stops the motor of my Biqu B1, thanks
I think it can cause some damaage in the extruder, because if the head hit the bed (from above), there will be nothing to absorb the power, which give extra tension, and may lead to deformation or fracture something in the mechanic.
Hi teachingtech, first of all, thank you very much for this video. I was searching for a way to get rid of the dust on the heated bed, IPA is the deal :) And second of all, I would like to ask you, if you can provide a link to the said rollers (3:53), this would be super helpful, as I don't know, what these rollers are called, for example, at aliexpress or ebay. And lastly, have a nice day / week :)
Don't grease threaded rods on Prusa printers, trapezoidal nuts are made of Delrin which has low friction in and of itself. Lubricants can make it soft or dissolve it. Wipe rods clean of dust and debris and keep them dry.
CLP (typically used for cleaning guns) is also fantastic for both cleaning and lubricating. If you let it soak for a little bit, it breaks up all the grease and makes it a lot easier to clean off.
If you print on bare glass, dont use IPA to clean it, well you can use it to clean it but then rinse it with water wipe it dry with a clean cloth, IPA leaves a residue that is not ideal when printing on bare glass. I still love plain old glass beds and sometimes glue stick, i just throw them in the dishwasher from time to time personally
@@jasonm2477 do you have something to prove that? I can't find any list of additives for 70 or 99% 2-propanol other than water, only that if you use ethanol (95%) has methyl isobutyl ketone, acetone and bittering compounds
So you're saying that my somewhat crappy Tevo Tarantula, which is about to do it's duty, in printing some bits for the new Creality Ender 5 that's on its way, needs all that malarkey before I use it? Oohhhh heck, you're probably right. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Do NOT use IPA on the coated glass bed that comes with the Ender 3 v2! The best way to clean that bed is in the kitchen sink, with standard dish soap and a scouring sponge.
Hi, how often do linear rails need lubrication/cleaning? I'm want to reduce the need for maintenance on my prusa. Should I go for polymer bearings or linear rails? Thanks!
Maybe I can help? Are you using the stock creality mainboard with a bootloader of some type? What version of marlin? How did you get said bootloader onto it? Genuine BLtouch or clone? I'm positive I could help you but there's a lot of info you would need to give me in order to do so, so just let me know. I might even be able to compile you a version of marlin 2.0.1 for your exact setup if you let me know the stuff I need.
@@WrexShepard Motherboard is creality v 1.1.3 For the boatload it's what came with the bl touch, usb ips 2.0. If that helps, I don't know what version of marlin.
I have been using WD-40 Specialist Dirt and Dust Resistant Dry Lube PTFE Spray. It is a great, long lasting lubricant and its fantastic because it does not attract dust. So far I am not seeing where it impacts plastics or rubber, so far as I can tell its safe for 3D printers. Unless someone has used it and found something bad happening? Also another great lubricant are ones that contain Teflon. It seems to not only not attract dust, it seems it repels it but have not found any I am willing to use on my printers yet so the vote for one is still out.
@@kevinm3751 ptfe works well with sliding parts. It just doesn't do anything good when rolling is present, some manufacturers report even faster wear and flat spots
I went out to my garage, grabbed some Mobil 1 and put a drop on all my wheel bearings. Tried PTFE dry lubricant for the leadscrews, but it gets everywhere since its a spray.
I'm not a fan of "making sure the wire blocks are nice and tight". What you showed in tightening the set screws on the main board is just crushing the wires more. This will make them fray and likely break individual strands of wire. If anything remove the wires and use crimp on wire ferrules and then tighten the set screws. Wire ferrules are so darn cheap...
Perhaps you’d consider using the full name of any acronyms and the acronym the first time you say it. IPA for an example. Didn’t realize what it was until reading a comment posted down lower here. Thanks.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Don't let the vacuum cleaner spin the fan, it can induce a back EMF that could fry your main board. Hold it still with a couple of fingers like Michael did at 2:30.
Or unplug the fan
AND plug it back in again after...
I am new to 3d printing so I am not sure, but isn't the "back EMF" also a problem when spinning the stepper motors? I thought I read that the stepper motors should never be manually turned unless they are unplugged first for this reason, but it was not something mentioned in the video even with all of the manual movements. Maybe drivers today have some type of back current protection today and it is no longer required.
@@not_my_fn_real_name2689 stepper drivers already have to deal with high back EMF everytime the stepper motor accelerates, so they are designed to cope with it
unplug machine entirely
Lol, did my maintenance today, before i saw this video.. Result was the best test print i've ever made. All the little tweaks can only now show their effect. Just absolutely perfect in all way. New tube, new nozzle, cleaning. Going to tighten x axis belt and lube z axis with lithium grease tomorrow. Bed cleaned with IPA and re-leveled. Then towel and IPA, clean as many nooks and crannies, i've kept it clean so not a lot to do. Quite a bit of greasy, sticky residue was found in the old bowden tube and between the tube and the heatsink. Smelled like PLA but concentrated. I had some underextrusion, should be fully gone now, based on the marvelous test print.
I would consider filament cleaner as essential auxiliary. It helps with filaments that have collected dust, which is all of them once you open the bag and use them. I've seen the amount on my fairly clean room that was collected and how everything looked the last time i cleaned everything.. I had it twice as long with much less problems. I have a melamin sponge wiping the filament clean before the extruder.
You seem to have the uncanny ability to put out the specific video I need right when I need it.
I literally did maintenance on my ender 3 2 days ago, so it's barely late lol
i know, right ?
@@HorizonMakes Does the 3D printing community have it's periods in sync? I just cleaned my Ender 3 yesterday.
I know right? My sidewinder x1 was sitting for weeks and was about to get it running again
This^
Two other things I would add:
One is to actually check your Bowden Tube end that butts up against the hot end. The cheap tubes that come with most of the cheaper printers is going to break down and cause issues MUCH quicker than say Capricorn PTFE tubing. I actually immediately replace these cheaper tubes before even the first print. Just not worth the hassle; however, I still check this end of the tubing whenever I am doing maintenance. Even on the Capricorn tubing, there can be breakdown after extended use.
Two, check to make sure that all of the areas where strain on wires can happen are still protected with some type of strain relief, and the wires are still safe. This really applies to the wires on a heated bed more than anything, but can still be germane with any wires near moving parts. Make sure to verify the strain relief is still doing its job and that the wires haven't slipped. I know you showed looking over the wire covers, but checking the connection points looking for strained, frayed, and/or melted wires is also important.
Thank you for the great content! Keep it up!
Thank you for this video, Michael. I recently had a fire in my apartment and my Ender 3 was covered with a lot of smoke. I put it away for a while as I sort out more pressing issues caused by the fire, but when I return to it it will need MASSIVE maintenance.
Sorry to hear about the fire.
Smoke residue can be conductive, especially if the humidity is high. Might try flux remover spray. AND check that the power supply output is correct, with it disconnected from the electronics. Voltage might be on the high side with no load.
@@scottwillis5434 Thank you Scott. I'll definitely need the flux remover spray - for the printer and for every other piece of electronics that was covered in smoke.
If you have a removable PEI sheet on your printer like the Wham Bam and you decide to scrub it with steel wool, consider taking the sheet off of the printer, scrubbing it, cleaning it with acetone to get the steel wool residue off, then bringing the sheet back to the printer. Steel wool has a tendency to shed tiny pieces everywhere, and the pieces conduct electricity. If the pieces get sucked into your fans and into your power supply or your controller board, things could end badly. :)
I made this mistake myself recently. Luckily I realized what I had done while the printer was still off with the electronics covered. I cleaned up the mess by putting a magnet inside a small plastic bag and passing it over the printer and the table to pick up the steel wool pieces. The bag keeps the steel wool from sticking to the magnet. You can hold the bag over a trash can and take the magnet out, and the steel wool pieces will fall into the can.
Just a small warning on the wires, creality (and some others) love to tin their wire ends, i suggest stripping that off and letting the bare wires twisted together (ferrules are even better) be inserted into the terminals. The tinned wire ends will seperate inside the screw terminal when you tighten it down and cause the resistance to skyrocket and it will burn up the terminals.
This is very true and one of my biggest issues with some of the printers on the market today! (Especially the cheaper 'China' printers and kits.).
An inexpensive ferrule kit from Amazon is the best practice and should be the ONLY way these wires are terminated. Tinned wires will actually move and remould as the solder that is used is an extremely soft metal. This means that even if you tighten it perfectly today, there is a 99.999% chance that those wires will loosen with time. While bare copper is better, it is still stranded wire (not solid copper). This means that there is still a high likelihood that the same issue can develop. Crimping a ferrule onto the wire gives a safe and permanent termination that shouldn't allow this to happen. Well, as long as you aren't using a breaker bar attached to your screwdriver to tighten it. Seriously... firmly hand tight is fine... you shouldn't strain something tightening these screws! ;-)
I'm sure we can ALL agree that 110/120/220/240v current (depending on where you live) is not something you want to wiggle out of place; but 12/24v heater bed / hot end wires can still cause fires if they work free as well! (Or as @Look ItsRain stated, the resistance increases and causes extreme heat). A little care and maintenance goes a long way to keeping you and your family safe!
Unfortunately I saw this tip too late, I'd upgraded to an SKR 1.4 Turbo, ran fine for several weeks until I noticed a burning smell.... behold by hotbed wires had melted together as well as the terminal on the board. Indeed, the hotbed wires are tinned and didn't know I had to strip it.
Anyway, I've since replaced the board and used ferrule kit to replace all the terminals.
@@k1sfd1974 I have one of the cheapest Chinese printers out there (Longer LK4), and thankfully they don't seem to have tinned their wires.
what size ferrules? I just got an Ender 3 V2.
Outstanding! I recently replaced the hotend and bowden tube on my Ender3 V2 and noticed my print quality had gone downhill. After watching your maintenance video, I checked the print head and rollers and found the Y axis rollers absolutely caked in dust and the print head was a bit wobbly. I spent maybe 30 minutes cleaning and tightening.....print quality is better than the day I unpacked it! Thanks for the tips!!!!
I realize that almost EVERYONE uses PTFE lube on ball bearings, but you SHOULD NOT do that. PTFE lube contains small particles of PTFE that can cause the balls to "skate" and get flat spots on them. If you don't believe me, check with manufacture's of high quality ball bearings and linear rails. They will tell you the same thing. Use light weight white lithium grease.
Lithium grease gets my vote too. It is the right stuff for this purpose. Z axis enjoys the same, allthou i did add naptha+PTFE just a few drops (naphta cleaned it better when taken from the box, i used lithium much, much more). It has kept itself very clean and seems to last, once lubricated about exactly a year ago. And since we are at z axis, loosening the stepper motor screws and moving the carriage all the way up, then re-tighten them will realign the z axis lead screw with the frame. Decreases banding with tall objects, almost unnoticeable with flat or small print.
Lithium is the grease to use for sure. 3 years only 2 applications of grease and my bearings are nice n smooth.
What about the z rod?
@@GuapogiboyIt's not as important but I would use lithium grease on the z rod as well. Lubes containing particles such as PTFE, Molybdenum, graphite etc. should only be used on things like bushings...things that slide...not roll.
I agree I use lithium on my 3D printer I even it on my rc heli it's the best grease to use for bearings
Really a well thought out list. Not just made by doing a google search and not going past the second result.
In addition to the toothbrush, you can now get really small bottle brushes intended to clean reusable drinking straws. They can get in-between the teeth on the gears and clean them up a treat. Also, I have an electric toothbrush with interchangeable heads. I keep the old heads, clean them (HOT water and baby shampoo) and use them on cleaning tasks with the electric base. It's a lot easier to scrub when you can have a motor prevent repetitive stress disorder!
You really have some of the highest quality informative video's. Here's a comment to feed the algorithm as thanks.
One thing I'd like to add, is to periodically check the bolts on your frame extrusions on printers that use the openbuilds V slot ones. Print vibrations loosen them over time. I use blue loctite to keep them from backing out like that. One time my ender 3 had a straight wobble because the screws that held the upright extrusions had worked their way out quite a bit.
Thx I view this every time my 48hr service buzzes on my ender 3.
Check the Bowden tube touching the hot end. After a while this end shrinks even if you have a Capricorn tube. Snip off the bad piece and reinsert into the coupler all the way down to nozzle and tighten couplers.
The "dust" on the wheels are not dust, its wear from these cheap POM V-Slot wheels. this increases if the wheels are too tight. i recommend buy Polycarbonate wheels (the transparent ones).
Or ehm... dont tighten them too much, i always tight them until i can barely rotate them with hand. (i hold the carriage and rotate all wheels one by one by hand and if they grip well its good enough and don't wear much.
For the the motion systems that goes "fast" (linear rails or rods) of parts that move fast use sew machine oil or a AOI oil, if you grease it it gets hot over time decreases it's lifespan. don't grease delrin leadscrew nuts (delrin is a sort of self lubricant" use grease for brass nuts in combination of the leadscrews.
Great guide - I've saved it to my favorites to refer to again.
You also just saved me >$20; I was shopping for a dust cover but I love the idea of just using a heavy duty garbage bag. Thanks!
Great video as always but really think using Microfiber cloths is a better way to clean. They don't leave any papery residue or lint and can be washed clean saving money and helping save on waste.
Also never print anything that you don't absolutely have to have for life and death to prevent waste.
One of the things I do is I use thermal compound between the heater and the heaterblock to improve thermal transfer. I also use thermal compound on the threads of the nozzle as well to improve thermal transfer to it as well.
very very helpful and informative video for us noobs with 3d printers. they don't tell you this stuff in the box!
You have the clearest explanations for 3D printers i've seen. Thank you
I think this is a good guide. Like computers 3D printers are also in need of maintaining. Dust and debris are not that bad. Just clean it every 3 months or so that is what i would recommend
I do like the idea of putting bag over. I have two printers dedicated to flexible and ABS that i do not use as much but keeping them clean is a good idea
It's also useful to check the end of the ptfe tube in case of being burned and needs replacement.
Great tips! I recently had my filament drive gear work it's way down the shaft until the gears were not contacting the filament, it at first was inconsistent line width and feeding and I thought it was the nozzles fault, ooops. Something to check, after adjustment I kept the two gear locking screws in place with loctite blue for good measure.
Micheal with CoreXY machines you need to check for gantry skew over time, and enable skew correction if and when it occurs
The way to check this is to print a Calibration square with the corners finished so you can use calipers to measure the diagonals if they match your square is not printed skewed, if they don't match first check the printer is printing accurately in X then Y, then check diagonals, distance in X needs to match Y, and the diagonals to match to ensure the printer is printing square.
As coreXY printers can go out of calibration over time and need to have the steps adjusted but also the gantry starts to get play in it over time causing the belts to pull unevenly on the gantry and Skew the X axis.
Thank you for this video. I do some maintenance on regular bases but thanks to your video o checked my xt60 connector on my Ender 3 and found out it is burned. I could have easily miss that if not for your video.
i tried to use cleaner filament. It did remove stuff. But when I removed it, it remained in the head and clogged it, and couldn't get the PLA through. I had to force a needle in there to get it going again. Not sure what I did wrong. Other than I loaded it like normal filament. Next time i'll try to just do it by hand.
Thanks for the tips. Just purchased an Ender 3 V3 KE and am enjoying it. It's printing very well so I'm resisting the urge to mess around with anything yet but these tips are good to know.. One Note: You may want to clarify IPA is Isopropyl alcohol and not Indian Pale Ale (which first popped into my head). You'd be surprised...!
Try paper coffee filters for places like your v-rollers. The filter paper is vaguely abrasive, and rarely leaves lint.
what about for a new 3d printer? ive built it and it runs smoothly but i just wonder if there is a initial maintenance you should do to make sure stuff hasn't loosened up in the initial prints?
I was just only listening and wondering why you would waste beer, until i realized it was IsoPropyl Alcohol...
Right!!! That would be alcohol abuse!
IPA beer sucks! Better off drinking isopropyl alcohol
@@tmelvin9728
Riiiiiight, 'cause drinking IPA can be thought of as "evolution in action"
For the upward facing cooling fan. At least for the Ender 3, there are ducts to route the air to the side
Or hot glue on a piece of cardboard scoop, printing it seems overkill, but either way that was a poor design choice where they put that, I mean, really? Right next to the bed? Design nightmare!
Using PTFE on Linear Bearings is not recommended. Like on the Prusa, besides the small particles in the grease, the linear bearings have seals on both ends. Those seals prevent dust, and grease from getting inside. The best maintenance is to remove them, clean with IPA, dry, then repack with the correct lithium grease and replace the seals. Or just replace the bearings all together. If you live in a dusty area that grease attracts dirt from the air and ruins the seals.
You and @John Smith must be internet comment trolls employed by lithium grease industrial complex and I have just uncovered your conspiracy against PTFE lubricants!
J/K, this is good to know.
If you print high temperature materials with a bowden system you may want to check if your PTFE tube has deteriorated.
I have my printers in the garage, in an enclosure. I find the aircompressor is the best way of cleaning the dust off. Takes seconds for the entire printer.
Better make sure that your compressor filters water, otherwise you might hear a zap as the last thing of your printer. Or just cover up the electronic box, that should do it too. I almost fried my pc by cleaning it with a compressor that had condensation in the hose, thats also potentially a thing. Gotta admit though, its just so easy to use a compressor.
Great vid! Liked, subscribed and commented to keep you high in seo. Keep the great vids coming, Im using this to maintain my fleet which is how I run my business. So thanks for the incredibly valuable insight!!
This gut single handidly gave me hope in making my ender 3 lasting a long time.
There are a lot lot lot of comments, so perhaps I missed this: Would not IPA start to dry out the roller wheels and belts? I tend not to use it for other rubber and soft plastic coatings for that reason. Thoughts?
where do i get those rollers 3:53?
How often should we be doing this and do the rods come pre lubed?
Proffessional and to the point
Any way to clean drive gear when there's a damn KNOB on top? Without taking it apart? Worse the shaft is circular so I had to epoxy that knob on.
I bet you already know about this issue, and I would love to see a video of Teaching Tech about solving it: There are bugs for users that use S3D with the Creality 1.1.5 "silent board", making the extruder step motor stop mid print for no apparent reason. The very same stl, when sliced with Cura, complete the print normally, while the S3D gcode print fails more or less at the same point every time....
I use S3D since I first started printing, so this issue is a huge deal for me. I've tried updating the firmware to Marlin 1.1.9 bugfix, but contraire to the tutorial I've followed, the bug still occurs...
My ender 3 fans seem to be working against one another at the head… one is at the front and another is at the side, with 1 or no outlets?? It’s like they’re pushing air in instead of pulling hot air out and being familiar with aerodynamic principals I do not understand why they were designed like this. Unless they were assembled backwards??
If you don't do your maintenance you'll have a hot fire so do your maintenance
How come no-one mentions using Loctite when assembling your machine? I don't have one yet but I can just imagine all the vibration.
Always great and helpful videos! Thank you!
hey men, im looking for a piece that you design to level X axis parallel to top frame, it's something like a hook , but I can't find the video where you uploaded it, could you give me the link?, thanks so much.
1:32 IPA like beer?! Sweeet
Great video, very informative - thanks man! Keep up the good work
With this video I discovered a error on my 3D printer, it stucks in the middle of the X axis because the nut was too tightened and that stops the motor of my Biqu B1, thanks
my first ever printer just had hardened rods and plastic bushings (works fine though)
Is it a bad idea to blow dust away with pressurized air?
The easiest source of super lube I've found here (Orlando, Florida area) is at swimming pool supply stores.
Can I modified my ender 3pro at the lever ?
super video like always Michael!
I'm curious what your position is on replacing the bed springs with solid inserts if you have auto bed leveling. Good idea or bad idea?
I think it can cause some damaage in the extruder, because if the head hit the bed (from above), there will be nothing to absorb the power, which give extra tension, and may lead to deformation or fracture something in the mechanic.
Hi teachingtech, first of all, thank you very much for this video. I was searching for a way to get rid of the dust on the heated bed, IPA is the deal :)
And second of all, I would like to ask you, if you can provide a link to the said rollers (3:53), this would be super helpful, as I don't know, what these rollers are called, for example, at aliexpress or ebay.
And lastly, have a nice day / week :)
I found them in aliexpress "3D Printer Pom V Slot Wheel"
@@R_Forde Thanks a lot, will check it out.
Check the filament drive bolt
Tools to have and sizes to have.
Is IPA supposed to be rubbing alcohol?
Safety tip, if you're working on the control box be sure it's disconnected from the mains first!
Don't grease threaded rods on Prusa printers, trapezoidal nuts are made of Delrin which has low friction in and of itself. Lubricants can make it soft or dissolve it. Wipe rods clean of dust and debris and keep them dry.
If you seemycnc extruder is skipping steps, when the plastic reaches the extruder. What should I do?
CLP (typically used for cleaning guns) is also fantastic for both cleaning and lubricating. If you let it soak for a little bit, it breaks up all the grease and makes it a lot easier to clean off.
What about changing the Bowden tube ?
What about thermal grease?
If you print on bare glass, dont use IPA to clean it, well you can use it to clean it but then rinse it with water wipe it dry with a clean cloth, IPA leaves a residue that is not ideal when printing on bare glass. I still love plain old glass beds and sometimes glue stick, i just throw them in the dishwasher from time to time personally
Doesn't it just evaporate if it's 99.9% IPA?
@@UNVIRUSLETALE no.
@@jasonm2477 do you have something to prove that? I can't find any list of additives for 70 or 99% 2-propanol other than water, only that if you use ethanol (95%) has methyl isobutyl ketone, acetone and bittering compounds
@@UNVIRUSLETALE then wash yours with IPA and enjoy your prints popping off i honestly dont care.
So you're saying that my somewhat crappy Tevo Tarantula, which is about to do it's duty, in printing some bits for the new Creality Ender 5 that's on its way, needs all that malarkey before I use it? Oohhhh heck, you're probably right. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Do NOT use IPA on the coated glass bed that comes with the Ender 3 v2!
The best way to clean that bed is in the kitchen sink, with standard dish soap and a scouring sponge.
I noticed you had a geeetech I'm curious what your opinion is of it ?
What is IPA? Are you referring to India Pale Ale?
super useful overview
Where did you find the only the plastic part of the rollers? I can only find rollers with bearings included online.
A year late, but I've seen them on AliExpress.
Hi, how often do linear rails need lubrication/cleaning? I'm want to reduce the need for maintenance on my prusa. Should I go for polymer bearings or linear rails? Thanks!
For my fellow Yanks- IPA is isopropyl alcohol - I think.
And here I thought he was putting beer on everything!
i wish you would have told something about where to use thermal paste in the hotend/heatblock. Not much good information there.
Did you ever work on a solution for the heated chamber?
Never use grease on open parts that aren’t exposed to water. That goes for almost anything in life. Used dry lube.
Great video, what's your opinion on the silent boards, I just put one in and it made a difference, do you like them? Are there any issues with them?
IPA= rubbing alcohol/isopropanol/isopropyl alcohol
Danger Noodle thank you. I was trying to figure it out lol
Excellent and thourough.
I've done my maintenance for my ender 3. Now i just need to know why i can't flash the firmware for the bl touch.
Vernon Leeper I had to disable a few things to get it to fit. Bootscreen, arc support, M503. Slim menu.
Maybe I can help? Are you using the stock creality mainboard with a bootloader of some type? What version of marlin? How did you get said bootloader onto it? Genuine BLtouch or clone? I'm positive I could help you but there's a lot of info you would need to give me in order to do so, so just let me know. I might even be able to compile you a version of marlin 2.0.1 for your exact setup if you let me know the stuff I need.
@@WrexShepard
Motherboard is creality v 1.1.3
For the boatload it's what came with the bl touch, usb ips 2.0. If that helps, I don't know what version of marlin.
Oh yeah ender3 pro...if that makes any difference.
@@WrexShepard
Also forgot to mention, its a bl touch , not a clone.
I have also a spool of glow in the dark filament (Very abrasive) and run 20 - 30 mm thru nozzle every once in while to help scrub the inside.
thanks for this video ☺️✌️
This helps. Thank you.
Thanks a lot for the nice help.
It's like you read my mind :)
I have been using WD-40 Specialist Dirt and Dust Resistant Dry Lube PTFE Spray. It is a great, long lasting lubricant and its fantastic because it does not attract dust. So far I am not seeing where it impacts plastics or rubber, so far as I can tell its safe for 3D printers. Unless someone has used it and found something bad happening?
Also another great lubricant are ones that contain Teflon. It seems to not only not attract dust, it seems it repels it but have not found any I am willing to use on my printers yet so the vote for one is still out.
ptfe and teflon are the same thing. just don't use any ptfe lubricant on ball bearings and you are good.
@@delirio1987 Well crap, did not know that. Thanks for the heads up about bearings, what does it make them sticky?
@@kevinm3751 ptfe works well with sliding parts. It just doesn't do anything good when rolling is present, some manufacturers report even faster wear and flat spots
@@delirio1987 For my bearings I have been using my airbrush lubricant and it has been working fantastic to say the least!
I went out to my garage, grabbed some Mobil 1 and put a drop on all my wheel bearings. Tried PTFE dry lubricant for the leadscrews, but it gets everywhere since its a spray.
teaching tech is cool
Thank you 🍻
so concise
I'm not a fan of "making sure the wire blocks are nice and tight". What you showed in tightening the set screws on the main board is just crushing the wires more. This will make them fray and likely break individual strands of wire. If anything remove the wires and use crimp on wire ferrules and then tighten the set screws. Wire ferrules are so darn cheap...
at 2:10 6 nuts instead of a spacer? really Micheal? :)
Not my design but it does the job.
2:47 - heatsink is detached
what is IPA ?
never mind i figured it out ISO ALC
Thanks so much
Perhaps you’d consider using the full name of any acronyms and the acronym the first time you say it. IPA for an example. Didn’t realize what it was until reading a comment posted down lower here. Thanks.
India Pale Ale duh! j/k
Can't believe you would dare suggest that the stock ender 3 extruder arm could have problems!! Hopefully the ender 3 purest don't see this.
Thanks for sharing
Interesting as ever :-)