First time poster. I tried searching archives for similar question, but couldn’t find an answer. Perhaps I am using incorrect terms.
On most of my prints, occasionally the print head will just stop moving for 10 sec, 30 sec, or perhaps longer. During this time, I can’t see that it is doing anything. The head temp will be at target goal. Then, suddenly the print will continue. Does anyone know what causes this?
The reason it is a problem is because filament will continue to ooze out of the hot end. And when the print head eventually moves on, it leaves behind a blob of extra filament. And the next many millimeters “downstream” are under-extruded, because that amount of filament already leaked out. See photo showing how the blob ruins a gear (unless I can successfully trim the excess off)
I am printing from a Mac via USB. Could this be that the communication stream from the Mac was interrupted for some reason? It would seem odd to me that there would be such a long delay. How would I go about tracking this down? Has anyone else experienced this?
Yes, I use an old laptop running Ubuntu to control my 'Mini, and I get these as well. I can cause the pauses by slicing a model when my 'Mini is printing.
The problem in my case is that the laptop is too busy doing other things to send more gcode to the 'Mini, so the 'Mini just sits there waiting for new instructions. I can make the problem go away by not running any other programs but Cura 2 while the 'Mini is printing.
Since you have a Taz 6, you can print via SD card. Try disconnecting your laptop, slicing your model, save it to SD, and then print without your laptop. This should get rid of the pauses.
If you want to stay tethered, are handy with Linux and have a spare computer, you can install Ubuntu and Cura 2. An issue with free software like Cura is that the developers usually work in Linux and wonky things can happen when they translate the code over to Windows or Mac. The Linux versions are typically much more stable.
Another option if you don’t have a spare machine is OctoPi and OctoPrint (or just OctoPrint on an existing machine). OctoPi runs on a Raspberry Pi (V3B is best, V3B+ support is almost ready for prime time). For around $60 you can get the RPi, power supply, SD card, and maybe a case (or you can print a case). OctoPi connects via wireless or wired to your LAN and you communicate with the printer using a web browser. You can add a camera (RPi version or USB) and there are plugins that let you control things with a phone or tablet.
I was having a similar problem with my TAZ 6 and I think I fixed it by printing from a SD card. I have only done 1 print test to see but I had no issues with it at all.
