I spent two straight weeks trying everything in my 3D Printing toolbox. None of it worked. This took me maybe fifteen minutes to do and it finally works. Thank you and oof.
If I understand correctly, the fix you did is twofold. 1) moving the heat break more into the heatsink, hereby reducing the temperature in the lower part of the heat break, where the filament goes from a PTFE channel to a metal channel, which is a point where you want to have low temps to avoid the filament from going between the PTFE and metal, and 2) getting the inner PTFE liner snug against the heat break, which apparently isn't always done in the factory. Just received my mini yesterday and I also have filament grinding, underextrusion, and a heatbreak that looks like it sticks too far out. I'll have to do some more reading because if this is a mistake during manufacturing, I don't understand why it's still happening 4 months later.
1) The melt-zone is shorter. The only issue I can foresee is if you wanted to print with a high throughput. 2)This is the main fix. Warm filament was bulging in between the PTFE tube and heatbreak causing flow issues.
I feel like THIS should be something done to a new Prusa Mini the moment one unboxes it before anyone wastes time trying to print out of the box. Completed this tweak yesterday and my Prusa Mini is printing like a champ with everything I've thrown at it so far
Only thing I'd add for all watching: Do not set the MINDA probe too high. It should be very close to the surface of the print, like in the video. Before this video was made, I fixed my printer using forum postings but set my MINDA too high, about 1 1/2 cm or so above the surface. The printer didn't detect the surface during calibration (because it was so high) and quickly made a circular dent in my steel sheet, caused by the extruder slamming into the sheet. Just be aware!
Thanx, after waiting for a new bed because mine was skewed. I still had the under extrusion issue, your info helped me solve this problem! I don't wanna bash Prusa or anything, but the mini is rushed. We're sort of beta testers at this point, but i keep faith that Prusa resolve most of the problems.
You are a life saver. I was going crazy, my mini was doing fine with Prusament but other brand PLA was causing clicking and under-extrusion, then straight up frequent jams. Performing your suggested adjustment fixed the issue instantly. Its amazing Prusa sent out these machines with the wrong height on the hotend, did they not test the printer with different PLA brands?
Thanks for the video! I'm a little bit disappointed that this so called beginner-friendly 3D printer has many issues that require experience and knowledge to fix them. I'll wait 2-3 weeks and see, if I cancel my order or not.
It was a beginner-friendly design, but there are some first-run issues at the start of production. By the time you get your printer, many of these problems should be resolved.
Thank you for this video, I was having under extrusion problems with my Mini even using Prusament. It has never printed properly since I had to disassemble the hot end to clean out the gummed up junk PETG that I used once. I think this is a much better approach to seating the hot end then described in the manual.
Thanks, this fixed the under extrusion for my mini too. It printed flawlessly for about 2 weeks and then just stopped. My 3 set screws were very tight and there was no filament under / around the PTFE, so I presume jams were happening between the nozzle and the PTFE because there was too much space there? Maybe changing filaments exacerbated the issue (I swap between PLA and PETG) Anyway, thanks for making this video!
God bless! So far, so good! This is very similar to what is in the manual, but enough different that this worked. I did the Prusa way 4 times, still had extrusion\clogging issues. Your way is still working!
that was it, uff, perfect, thanks for this video. the only part that made trouble was the pre-assembled one. probably a monday. now its printing again!
Brilliant mate, many thanks for this instructional video. Just received my Mini and was initially impressed with ease of assembly and testing. Test printing however was not good compared with even the oldest of my 3 x MK3Ss. Out of three test prints (Prusa Nut gcode on supplied USB stick) only one was completed and that wasn't pretty. I followed your instructions to the letter. Also removed nozzle and heat break tube. Spot on, just as you'd indicated, way out of adjustment, plastic lodged above the extruder and heat break tube partially blocked. Just added some heat compound when reassembling the heart break tube. All printing perfectly and my faith is now restored in Prusa again. I agree with other below, this should be in the assembly manual as a standard practice for all Mini assembly out of the box. Still puzzles me that Prusa don't assemble their own product correctly in production.........
What really makes me a bit sad with the Prusa Mini - why didn't prusa continue the partnership with E3D here and instead created something which feels a bit like a bad chinese hermera clone - the heatbreak simply does not heat-break and looks to be optimized for production costs and not for function or quality. With the volume Prusa can provide I am sure they would have been able to get a good deal or even a product developed especially for them by E3D ...
It definitely looks like it was designed to save costs, reduce BOM, and possibly weight. If it is assembled properly it works. There will always be weak points with budget printers.
Can't wait to do this to mine but I'm waiting for a replacement nozzle (broke surprisingly easy when first attempting this). People are upset that Prusa didn't catch this or think the mini was rushed. Remember, at the factory they are using Prusament which has some of the best tolerances in the business, that's why when you are printing with "their" sample filament, the printer works great, but when you use anything else the issues start to arise
orly? I can throw just any filament on my Anet A8 (E3D Hemera) or my CR10 (Bondtech all metal E3D Direct Drive) ....... but mini can only handle Prusament because of it's tolerances?
New Mini+ owner here, having this issue only a few days in. Hope your solution works and Prusa really should look into this. *sees video date* never mind I think they never did...
It's not about you, but every time when I see such "working great" comments I wonder what are the standards of "great" is. For me an old Ender 3 + SKR Mini E3 does way better than the Mini OOB. Yea sure there must be someone's machine out there working great, I can see such lucky guys under literally every thread on Prusa Mini's official forum and for some strange reason you can see the same names on each thread. Such kind of comments are usually extra irritating since that helps nothing and (for some of them) implying it's just the user's problem. I've been printing for 5 years, owned 5 to 6 machines and now running a small business selling 3D printed stuff, can't say I am some kind of guru but not an amateur. In this very first week my Mini had this hotend issue (leading to extruder jams too) + MINDA randomly crashed onto the bed during ABL leaving a dent (and the MINDA is not broken but some kind of firmware glitch) + skewed X axis + faulty USB drive fried all my files, too much of these I think sooner or later Prusa Knowledge Base and all the forums can't be any help.
For the hotend issue: I've tried your trick, it works for around 20 hours of printing then there the jam comes back. Gave the trick another try and changed the filament into some fresh quality stuff. Fingers crossed.
My PTFE tube was over a mm too short for what prusa said it should be. They told me my hot end was too low and needed to be moved up too. Told me to use the 1.5mm allen key that was sent with the printer... Except I didn't get one. When I purchased the allen key I discovered all 3 of those screws are stripped! Ugh. So now prusa is sending me a new heat sink and hotend to replace the whole thing.
@@SteamLabs I'm sure they will but it's not what I'd expect from a beginner-friendly printer. I went from 0 knowledge of any of this to having to learn all about the printer just to get it to function as expected. lol
What is the difference between MINDA and PINDA? I see them mixed up all the time. And the Prusa Mini itself advertises it uses a MINDA probe yet comes with "PINDA inside" stickers which only makes it more confusing.
Seriously, for the price paid, this should not be an issue, and it is really BS that anything like this needs to be done to a new printer. With that, thanks for the video, I will see if this is what is causing my issues. I am assuming that what you said "10cm" that you meant 10mm.
Hello did that spare kit come with your prusa mini or did you buy that separate? Also have you had any problems with it since this video? I plan on buying one but I want to make sure to have spares of everything. Thank you so much!
really good explanation! just one question I have: if the Mini got one PTFE tube inside and one in the spare part kit. why doesn't it come with the right one from the factory?
Tom Bellucco Its working great, i feel like it may have been me using to low temps previously more than the heatbreak itself. I also purchased a newer mini and its been great since day one, no adjustments needed.
Having the same problems, and my center grub screw was on so tight from the factory that it rounded off rather than coming free. There's not enough of the screw exposed to grab with another tool. I'm at a loss how to remove it now.
There are a few tricks. Always use the flat end, not the ball end. Heat the hot end, that may loosen it. Try super gluing the wrench in the grub screw. If you do get it out replace it with a socket head cap screw. Good luck.
No video, but it's straight forward. Lower than z axis until the nozzle is touching the bed. Raise the minda the thickness of a credit card. Then recalibrate.
If I push the heat break so high, the inliner has to be shortened, otherwise the connection cannot be screwed in as far as it will go. Is that correct? My inliner is 43mm long?
This video solved the jam issue I was having that is identical to the one you were having, but now I am having excessive stringing. I think I may have raised it too high and now the fan is doing something to the filament. Any suggestions on how high the nozzle should be? Can you measure it?
@@SteamLabs temperature and retraction barely helped, the only thing that completely worked was setting the print fan to 0. Using a different filament helped a little.
Humidity can be absorbed by flame and change it's properties. Try drying it out or use a new filament. I use the stock pla profile in prusa slicer and have good results.
I just did this fix and now my hotend is extruding a ton of excess filament, its like a constant flow of filament, it wont stop until the machine cools down. Is that how the printer is supposed to be? This is my first 3d printer, I'm not really sure how much excess filament should come out after printing.
Didn't help my printer at all. Prusa is sending me a whole new hotend assembly. Sucks. My mk3 works amazing. This is not so far. Haven't got one print out of it.
