I haven’t used our Lulzbot Taz 6 in a while. On the printer I pressed Change Filament, and swapped in some new Matter Hackers lime green PLA. I then pressed Load and it started loading and then the PLA cracked off a piece in the extruder. I then press Purge More and it produce a very liquidy black (PLA tat was last used and still loaded in the extruder). I kept pressing Purge More but it never purged the line green piece broken off in the extruder. I used a large paper clip to try ot push that new green PLA throug the nozzle but it never extruded. I then pressed Change Filament > Unload which did nothing. How do I get that lime green piece out of the toolhead and/or extruder? I notice now the “grabber” doesn’t grab the PLA to feed it in. Thank you.
There may be some scorched filament in there along the sides, but if you are still running the original toolhead it disassembles pretty easily, or you can just get it up to like 230c, and try pushing with a 2.5mm hex wrench. If you can’t get it to move with the wrench, you are probably going to need to disassemble, or at least remove the nozzle. If there’s scorched filament in the nozzle, it’s up to you whether it’s worth spending time trying to clean it out, or money to just get a new nozzle.
Hi Wrath… I’ve never done this and it’s just me in a small, public library so I’ll be responsible for it all. I flowed your suggestion and heated the nozzle to 230 and used a larger paperclip to try to shove the filament stuck through the nozzle but only a tiny bit came out. Are there any step-by-step screenshot directions as to how to now start to remove parts to reach the stuck material? I see that shiny nut which holds in place whatever that part is called. Will removing that nut alone allow me to reach the stuck material do you think? Thank so much for your really appreciated help.
These instructions are assuming you’re using the standard 2.85mm Taz 6 Toolhead:
If you have a different toolhead, instructions will definitely differ, and it’ll be best if you can give a picture of your toolhead so it can be identified.
The assembly instructions are here: OHAI: Open Hardware Assembly Instructions
You’ll have to do a little reversal to use it for disassembly, but it’s not too complicated.
The pictures should help, but the general idea is that you’ll want to have an open-ended wrench that can hold the block above the nozzle without hitting any of the wires, and a socket (or another box-end wrench) that can loosen the nozzle. You’ll heat the hot end to about 100c, then turn off the power. Now grip the metal block above the nozzle with the wrench and then the nozzle with the other and simply unscrew it. If it takes any significant force to try and loosen, remove the tools, heat up to 120c, power down, and try again. If you need to go all the way to 220c to get it loose, that’s fine, it’s just less chance for mess the lower the temp.
Once the nozzle is off, let it cool down for a bit. You should be able to push the blockage down through the toolhead, or back up and out.
If the nozzle is plugged, it’ll be easier to replace than clean.
Hi Wrath… Really appreciate your help. I’ve attached (hopefully) photos of the Lulzbot Taz 6 with the standard 0.5 mm tool-head. I was never given any manual nor any training nor did I assemble this printer so I’ve been trying to
figure it all out on the fly. Thanks again.
That is not a stock Taz 6 toolhead there. It’s been modified and assembled wrong.
The part cooling duct that is on the left side should be on the right. That limit switch (which no longer used in current firmware) would be on the right:
The way that wire is now, it’s in danger of contacting the heater block and causing some damage.
The part cooling fan that I can see is installed backward, so it’s trying to suck air instead of blowing. The fan’s ID label is on the output side, so what you should see is the plain black input side of the fan.
The green mount part holding the bolt and idler is a modified version. Found here: TAZ 6 Strengthened Extruder by wilson5710 - Thingiverse - but it’s missing the small spacer block and longer bolt to mount it.
Based on all this visible in just a quick look, it’s not crazy to assume that there’s other things that need to be addressed.
Hi Wrath… Thank you for noticing all that. I work in a public library so this Lulzbot was assembled and printing when I arrived. I was able to push all the old filament trough by elevating the nozzle from 200 degrees to 230. It then printed several items very well.
It uses the older 2.85 mm PLA and I was contemplating buying a new nozzle (and extruder?) which prints 1.75 mm PLA which has more vibrant colors.
Have you found good instructional videos to guide one step by step of how to uninstall your current tool-head and install a 1.75mm toolhead?
Thank you again for al your kind help
Going to 1.75mm depends on your budget. At the bottom end of the budget, you can pick up a 1.75mm 24v e3d v6-style hot end, make a small spacer out of ABS/PETG to take up the slack around the throat of the v6-style hot end and run some 1.75mm inner diameter PTFE tubing in the filament guide tube under the hobbed bolt into the top of the V6 hot end. The hobbed bolt/idler combo can push 1.75mm. It’s not optimal, but the whole swap will run you under $20. You’ll tell the slicer that you’re running 1.75mm instead of 2.85 so it increases the linear amount of filament appropriately, and double-check your e-steps/mm.
For about $100, you can do a swap to the Biqu H2 (details here), but if you do that, consider spending another $10 on a BLTouch clone and doing the modified toolhead for the H2. Well worth the $10 for saved filament from print failures and frustration.
Past that, you can spend $400 on an official Lulzbot 1.75mm toolhead (M175v2 or Meteor 175) but at that amount, I’d recommend purchasing a much more modern printer from Bambu, Qidi, or Sovol.
One of the board regulars - @WhereNerdyIsCool did an upgrade to 1.75mm, along with the BLtouch update and posted a video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLkOT6lUnwc
Thanks for the mention!
Yes - if you’re leaning towards a couple hundred bucks, I’d look to a new machine.
The Bambu Lab machines have been on sale for a bit. I picked up two A1’s with AMS Lite systems to give them a go. They are pretty darn solid and fast. And they’ve really done a good job making it very new/consumer friendly. Parts are inexpensive and plenty of communities (Reddit, Facebook, forums, etc) to find answers. Their technical support is also very good.
Lulzbot and many of us here would dig seeing that old machine come back to life! But you need to get the most bang for your buck too
That pretty much sums it up.
These legacy lulzbot machines are like old muscle cars. Some of just like to tinker, so they’re easy to do that with, even if their price to performance is never going to match any modern car.
The new machines are rapidly becoming very proprietary, which has great performance and cost savings, but it means you’re stuck with the original manufacturer for spares and replacements. I hope Bambu keeps supporting the X1E, or my job is going to get a lot harder (or I need to fight for funding for whatever their new machine is). An old lulzbot? I can tear apart electronics waste and salvage a stepper motor, some wire and I can keep it running by tweaking the firmware or printing an adapter.
Good comparison.
I learned most of what I know re:cars in high school fixing an old straight Pontiac I got for $175 with an “L” crack in the windshield on the drive side.
Got a Chliton’s manual out of the library and taught myself how to replace the starter motor, entire exhaust system, etc.
We got a Prusa MK4 donated to the library and we’ve been happy with that. Fast, quiet and easy to pop the print off the bed.
Given a choice among Prusa, Qidi, or Sovol which would you choose and why?
Honestly, I never heard of Qidi or Sovoluntil you shared them.
We deliberated a lot between Prusa -vs- Bambu and got the impression Bambu had proprietary software whereas Prusa ran open source.
In what your situation appears to be? Prusa by a mile. Prusa still supports the Mk3, and I expect the Mk4 will be viable for a very long time, especially with the way they’ve appealed to expert users and modders.
If you want to learn to maintain printers, honestly, it’s hard to go wrong with Taz 6, Taz Mini2 or even Taz 5 machines with how cheap they’re going on the used market. Putting a “wanted” ad on facebook marketplace (or even the doors into the library) letting them know it’s for a library might get you several donations. If you learn to maintain them, they’ll be viable for as long as somebody with knowledge is around.
Bambu run great on OrcaSlicer (how I use mine). It’s the proprietary hardware - particularly toolhead boards and such - that give me reservation for what using one will be like in 3-5 years. There is a critical mass of them though, so aftermarket may keep them viable printers for a decade.
When I first took my job at the research lab, managing the small scale 3D print lab, they had many Prusa Mk3’s. Like most research labs with lot’s of engineering student workers, those machines racked up a ton of time. What was disappointing was the quality of the PETG parts, how long it took to get replacement parts from the Czech republic and the costs to upgrade. We had a multiple material system that cost a lot and never worked reliably. If I wanted to upgrade the machines to their latest standard, the price was crazy high - toss in a tiny bit more and it would have been wiser to buy a new machine. I also observed they were quick to promise new models that were plagued with issues. It took several firmware upgrades to finally keep the original promise! You see that with their bug-plagued XL.
So when Bambu came out, priced at the same price point Prusa had dominated, but offering a better customer experience, I was impressed. I opted not to purchase one right away - I wanted to see if this Oh Wow Wee thing would last. (Two years ago, the complex Voron kits were all the rage, with their 9 minute benchies. They looked awful but no one cared…it printed so fast!)
I say that not to throw shade at the Prusa fans but just an observation at how brands can rise and fall. I’m not too worried about open source if parts are plentiful - take for example the MakerBots, Ultimaker and Raise3D printers.
The Bambu Lab machines, especially the A1 Mini and A1 have some weaknesses - their extruders are all metal/Bondtech like things. But for 99% of the folks out there only printing PLA and maybe PETG someday, they are very capable. Push into the enclosed models like the P1S and X1C - well then you are getting a really solid machine. Their version of Orca Slicer is really good too. For those of us that have tinkered for years to get good prints, seeing how the new hardware and software work together so well is amazing.
I’m very curious to see what their next version will be - everyone is wanting 350 x 350 x 350 or bigger. Creality dropped their K2 Plus recently and while the hardware is really good, the software seems to be a work in progress. Of course, the problem with Creality is they introduce a new printer every 6 months. Thankfully there are many 3rd parties that make nice upgrades for them (Bondtech, Wham Bam, Slice Engineering and so on).
Sorry for the short novel!
No worries.
We debated Prusa -vs- Bambu and what stopped us at the Prusa MK4 was Prusa was open source. My questions is still - how important its for the end use just printing 3D prints to have open source? Lulzbot support is practically non-existent so unless you’ve built then from scratch or are an engineer they’re not in the running in my experience. I learned a lot with the Taz 6 and it still works but there’s no comparison with the Prusa MK4. We haven’t had to replace any parts so far so that could be the game changer as you’ve aptly pointed out.
Thank you.
Open source is nice but again, I have a lab full of Ultimaker S5’s at work and those machines are pretty proprietary. But, no issues with parts and support - they’ve been around for a long time.
I agree on the Lulzbot support. Very frustrating.
Hello,
Lulzbot support is practically non-existent
It looks like we have had nearly 30 support tickets and roughly the same number of support calls from you and it looks like we have almost always been responsive. We are always looking at improving, so if you had and feedback, we would be more than happy to look further into it.
I guess it comes down to a few factors. Can you learn to do the maintenance and repairs? If so, there’s almost nothing that will compare to a cheap used Taz 6. Putting out feelers in the community might get you them for free, and replacement parts are all off-the-shelf components.
If you can’t learn to do the maintenance, it won’t help you much to get a Prusa over a Lulzbot. Their value is in being maintainable and work good out of the box, but if you can’t do the work on them, they’re just going to be paperweights the first time somebody screws up the first layer and cocoons your hot end in PLA. If you can learn to do the maintenance, these are a good option for something more modern than the older Lulzbots.
If you won’t have somebody who will learn to maintain the machine, get a budget for several Bambu A1s, and their good error handling and walkthroughs can get you to ordering/replacing broken parts. If you are running bambu machines for the general public, I cannot stress enough that you SHOULD NOT run with an AMS. People will run a single 6" tall four-color print with four colors in almost all layers and clog your purge chute, burn through 4x as much filament in purges and priming than in the print, or they’ll bring in some random filament (TPU, brittle PLA, CF-PLA etc…) that doesn’t play well with the AMS and ruin it.
In what way are the 4 colors a problem for the Bambu’s AMS? Ex. We just got 5 color rainbow colored PLA we were planning on printing in our MK4. Is that rainbow PLA a problem for Bambu? Or are you talking about swapping 4-5 colors by pausing the print job? The challenge most small libraries is that a full time maintenance person for the 3D printer is not an option. I wish Lulzbot was more supportive of their products so they provided hands-on instruction when something breaks or goes wrong. We don’t have engineers on staff so we fix with the kind support of forums like this. I’m still not clear on why it’s better to have a 3D printer running on open source software? Open source in Da Vincil Resolve Free, Libre have fared us well.
Open source software and hardware allows end users to view/modify their products and be able to source parts needed for repair if they are no longer produced
Resources such as our OHAI page, which does include hands-on instruction for maintaining and repairing printer. These types of resources are generally not available through many companies as they want to keep their products behind closed doors.
If users wished to modify their printers firmware, we have our source code available for anyone to use and tweak as well. However, when it comes to actually doing these modifications, we are pretty limited in what we can officially provide as those modifications would be fairly experimental.
Thank you for explaining that.