have you heard of seasoning the hot end. I have a ROBO R1 and I just picked up a TAZ 4. The Robo came with the hexagon hot end, and on there forum there is a lot of info about problems with the hexagon hot end. You may want to check it out. Look for seasoning the hexagon hot end or hexagon hot end problems.
I don’t know what exactly the Robo has, but it definitely isn’t the same as our hot end.
The Robo uses an older variant of the E3d hot end. I think it’s the V4, but i’m not certain.
I couldn’t get a full 1+ hour print out of PLA with the new TAZ 5 using PLA (from 2 different manufactuerers). After 3 weeks, I swapped out the .35 w/ 2 new ones (both jammed constantly), a .4 (jammed) and a .5 (sorry taz 
i know playing with the hotend is frowned upon/voids warranty? ) and seasoned the new .5. Have yet to have a jam in 10+ hours so I’m a bit hopeful. Do you guys do extensive testing with PLA on the Hex end? It doesn’t seem to like the material since theres so many people having issues.
I have print about 10lbs of PLA in both 1.75mm and 3mm in the stock TAZ 5 without any jams, my printer runs 24/7. I switch back and forth between PLA, HIPS, ABS, Colorfabb XT, and T-Glass, no jams. So far this Hex hotend has been the best hotend on any of my printers.
For all the people having PLA jams, what are your retraction speeds? Have you confirmed the filament path is all aligned through the hotend?
Thanks!
Steven
Kvar14
Are you saying you seasoned the .5 nozzle and now it is working on, have you tried seasoning the others nozzle sizes. The hexagon on the Robo is not the E3D v4.
Take all of this with a grain of salt, this is my first printer so I’m very inexperienced…this is just what worked for me.
@wantmys2000 - I wish I could be so lucky hah ;_; as for settings, I’ve been using Lulz’s PLA Slic3r settings for medium resolution. I’ve got about 2 lbs of failed PLA prints at default and every combination known to man settings. It seems to get an ever so slight clog (not enough to full block) and the filament just starts grinding while sparsely pushing material through (both manufacturers- Gizmodorks + IC3D, I don’t want to believe Lulz’s filament is so pure that only it will work)
@Choban - I have not, yet, but will try on one of my .35’s today simply as a test. I got through a 3+ hour print last night at .15 layer height and it went flawlessly/looks almost perfect doing a trinket test (http://i.imgur.com/hDd4VMG.jpg , http://i.imgur.com/qzpwJDZ.jpg , http://i.imgur.com/ngwfJGV.jpg , http://i.imgur.com/ngwfJGV.jpg) so i might just stick with .5 for my purposes.
Some things I’ve noticed-
The Hex likes about +10 degrees higher than what the manufacturer recommends
It doesn’t like having PLA sit in it at temp and before starting, extrude a few mm
Sticks better to around 75 degrees on the heated plate
For me the Esteps/mm were off by 25 steps per mm
Level the damn bed >.<
Check your skirt thickness, it should be the same as your first layer height setting (in my case .35, w normal layer height .15)
I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff, but I’ll try out that owl test that everybody loves at .14 (or whatever slic3rs “fine” setting is) in a bit w/ the .35 back in it, seasoned. I may do a back to back test w/ same settings on a seasoned and unseasoned at some point.
kvar14-
Does your Hex small blower fan run continuously when the printer is powered on?
@orias - Why yes it does, in one of my trial solutions (that didn’t work xD) I added a small aquarium blower to aid in cooling on the fins as well
Small update, 4 hours in no failure yet w/ old .35 cleaned out real well and seasoned, printing that top hat owl w/ 30% infill(overkill) at .1mm and its looking damn good 
.
On a side note, is there a reason against seasoning the tips? doesn’t seem to have had any bad effects other than the room smelling a little like french fries.
edit update http://i.imgur.com/0xkD1JO.jpg
Either somthin funny was going on, or that has completly fixed my jamming issue !
Hello all,
I’m having the exact same trouble as muggs. I upgraded my taz 4 with the hexagon and when I begin my first layer in pla or abs it will lay thick and thin/sputtering areas in the exact same place on multiple prints even when moving the part around the bed. I’m using cura and slic3r.
Hi everyone.
I had the very same problem. I found two things. First, my retraction speed was too high. Every time there was a retraction I noticed there was no filament extruding after it resumed printing. I had it set at 40mm/sec (I think it’s mm/sec). When I changed it to 30mm/sec it seemed to fix all my first layer problems. The way I noticed it was because everything seemed to be fine when it was printing long lengths like the skirt and the first outer perimeter. Then when it reached part of the first layer where it had to retract, that’s it, nothing came out and my first layer was all messed up.
The second thing I noticed was trouble with feeding the filament to the extruder. This caused thin layer problems as the filament was getting stuck. Then to make it worse, that also caused the hobbed bolt to get filled with filament which made the problem even more pronounced. So, things might start out fine and then you get thin layers as described in posts above. Combine that with the issue with the retraction speed and I just couldn’t print anything. I could see that the filament was getting twisted in the feeder tube and it was getting tight. Also noticed that the filament could get jammed on the roll which I think can happen if you let the filament uncoil and don’t pay attention when you tighten it back on. To solve this set of problems I did the three things:
- I printed this spool holder: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:488300 and I don’t use a feeder tube. This holder is pretty nice. It fits nicely on the top rails and it lets the Filament go straight and directly into the hot end.
- On a regular basis, I make sure the hobbed bolt is clean and free of any filament shavings. You can use the metal brush that came in your toolkit with the Taz5 or I find that compressed air also works well - the duster cans for electronics.
- When speaking to Lulzbot support, I found that I didn’t have the Idler screws tight enough. This could also have caused some issues. They recommend tightening the screws so the distance between the two washers at each end of the spring to be 4mm. I use my digital calipers to get it as close to that as possible.
- Ok I lied. There are 4 things. I also double check the spindle to make sure the filament is wound cleanly so that it won’t bind mid print.
I hope this helps
Eric
I did a 125 hour print in PLA on a TAZ 5. 
We’ve done lots of PLA printing. Try our esun PLA with our standard hot end with our configs as a starter.
-Jeff
I did a 125 hour print in PLA on a TAZ 5. >
-Jeff
I would, but it’s printing like a freaking dream right now I dont want to change anything xD! (what was the 125 hour print i must know :O!! also your 3mm PLA on amazon is out of stock ;_
OK, so once again last night I made a 2 and 3/4 hour print that is perfect. This morning I made a print 2 hours into a 3+ hour print i get this:
This is what the filament looked like coming out after the mishap:
Also, when removing the part from the bed it separated:
So I’m obviously losing adhesion between layer at some point.
Just more of my tales of woe; same problems different day!
OK, I am at the end of my rope. I have ZERO confidence in this machine.
That’s not to say that it’s not a great machine, I just have come to expect failure! 
Two different parts same result; CRAP!!!
First layer, perfect, following layers, great, and then #@%#%#@&#@%$.
I have listened and done everything that I was asked to do. I just don’t know what else I can try.
Why on earth would it go great and then crap-out and then be OK again?
How do you remove the filament after a jam like that? Cold pull? Or can you unlatch the idler and remove the filament?
When you insert fresh filament into the extruder, past the hobbed bolt… do you feel any resistance? I’m noticing it more and more on my TAZ printing ABS.
The aluminum plates that come with the normal hexagon hotend has slots for the screws. I have a theory that maybe the aluminum j-plate is shifting and the hotend is becoming mis-aligned with the extruder. The filament could be catching on the lip or somewhere within the hotend. Then when you retract, it pulls out a bit and gets caught again… eventually the swelled molten end could jam in the hotend.
Kc,
I just stop the printer, unlatch the arm and pull out the filament, cut off the offending portion, clean the hobbed bolt and go on to my next failed print. After reinstalling the filament I always do two or three 10mm priming extrusions.
After the first problem today or maybe it was the second problem today I really don’t remember, I had taken the extruder apart and straightened a piece of PLA and then made sure that everything was all lined up and running fairly smoothly.
It does seem to “catch” in there slightly, but I can’t figure out what it’s catching on.
At this point I would ask for an exchange. Thats why we bought the TAZ for the customer support. Your printer is not behaving correctly. Something is going wrong, you have invested a fair amount of time trying to fix it with help from this forum and customer support. Its time for Lulzbot to get you an exchange.
Thanks!
Steven
Wantmys2000,
The thing is that at times (like last night) the thing works to perfection. To my standards anyway.
So I think I have narrowed it down to the filament “catching” on something in the hotend. Whether it’s a jam or the “groved” part the filament made from the hobbed bolt is getting caught on an edge. I’ve come to this conclusion because I can print something perfect or junk from the same slicer with the same settings, sometimes one right after the other.
Maybe I’ll ask for a replacment extruder and hotend; I don’t know.
@muggs
Lets run down the list (mine was doing this for 3 weeks - see previous posts )
*Level the damn bed xD- I do it extruder cold w/ nothing sticking out of nozzle but bed warmed up for at least a few minutes @ 70 to let it settle. do your paper leveling in all the corners, get a bit of drag on the paper and try to make it the same amount at all the points you check. We’ll fine tune this later but it should at least get the bed “level”
Clean the tip if the extrusion doesn’t fall out straight or at least close (mine would immediately grab the side and ball up- heat it up to around +5-10 of what the filament manufacturer recommends, brace the head with 1 hand and manually push some clean filament through. Let the head cool to about 60 or so and start heating it again while pulling back through the top. It should stretch armstrong it’s way out, do that a few times until filament extrudes strait.
Clean the hobbed bolt with that little pick and brush and clean it well.
Caliper up and check that filament, get an average on the X plane and Y plane on a few different distances and use the average in the slicer your using.
Set the tension on the pulley - mines about 8mm from the plastic to the metal thumbscrew (inside measurement with filament inside)
*Also, with the filament installed and alllll the way to the hotend, loosen the two allen heads on the bottom (that sandwich that aluminum plate between the plastic above and below) and re-tighten to let the slop sort of center the filament. This made lining up the filament when I had to re-insert it much easier w/ less resistance.
Now let’s extrude something. Software raise your Z-axis until its 40 or so mm high to give you some space. set your calipers to 100mm and mark on the filament from a known position to 100mm (I use that little plastic flat above the hobbed bolt). Now extrude 100mm at 40 or 50mm/m and the mark should line up w/ the thing you measured from. If not, on the TAZ go into CLICK control CLICK motion CLICK and all the way 2nd from the bottom (not E1) Esteps/mm. I think less will bring the line up and more will bring it down (when you go to try extruding again)…or the opposite I don’t remember. Goal being line lining up w/ point from where you measured.
Use the medium config files from lulzbot for the tests in whatever slicer you like, it gives good speed parameters, or fine if you are daring, *and I’m using the upper end of what the recommended temperature is from the manufacturer (slic3r is better imho until cura gets some more options, also for some reason cura does some weird stuff with my first layer height so I try to avoid it).
Start a print with skirt enabled, do a few loops and stop the print. I kind of blow on the loop to harden it a bit and pull it up. Grab those calipers again and check if the layer height is what you set first layer height to, if not,(knowing that the bed is level) adjust that Z- axis screw bit by bit accordingly and repeat until it matches.
That’s a good place to start and give whoever is reading you posts a good understanding of what you have and haven’t tried or I am horribly mistaken and should remove this post but mines been working like a champion the last few days.
Then there’s seasoning of the tip, but I don’t want to recommend that if there’s some terrible reason not to do it/voiding any warranties (it was my last ditch effort, but something might have changed when I was switching nozzles around[also apparently frowned upon lol]) but I will if everything else in this post fails to help. This will involve a more thorough cleaning tutorial, but also involve removing that tip >.<, probably re-taping the stainless throat as well (i bodged my sealant up and started having PLA leak out the top)
PS- What is your extrusion width and/or %/ layer height set to it looks super thick to me…
*PSS- I’m going to keep remembering things and editing this post xD