C.I've been 3D-printing for around five and a half years. So I'm not a rookie, but I just made a #rookie #mistake.
I've spent the last couple of weeks making compartments and dividers and such for the toolboxes I take to the Repair Cafe. Lots of test #prints to check fits and footprints, full prints, changes to design based on lessons learned during use at the last cafe, etc. I've put around three kilograms of #filament through my printer in that time.
Then, in the last couple days, I started having various problems. At first they only showed up on big prints - #adhesion and #curling, which I've had before when pushing the limits of my bed size. But prints seemed to be getting #sloppier, and I had a couple of spaghetti explosions.
Tonight, I finally took the #hotend apart and looked at it closely - it's very difficult to do when the printer is fully assembled, because it's a #delta printer.
Lo and behold, the nozzle appeared worn. And that can account for all the problems.
I should have checked this sooner - but I've only been printing plain #PLA, nothing abrasive, so I didn't think of it. Lesson learned.
Pardon the shitty photo from a cheap digital magnifier. The old #nozzle #orifice is about 1.5x the diameter of the new one - so 2.25x the area. No wonder plastic was going everywhere but where it should go!
Seems to be printing *much* better with a new nozzle.
