Anet A8 with Cura. First time use. The extruder temp is set at 190 °C for PLA but the temp never quite gets that hot, e.g. 189.2 °C. So the printer never prints.
The bed temperature is fine.
Any suggestions on how to fix?
3D Printing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for 3D printing enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityAnet A8 with Cura. First time use. The extruder temp is set at 190 °C for PLA but the temp never quite gets that hot, e.g. 189.2 °C. So the printer never prints.
The bed temperature is fine.
Any suggestions on how to fix?
Two common problems to look out for in this situation:
otherwise the most common, universal and low-cost solution are cotton pads:
It could be as Carl Witthoft said, that the thermistor is broken. But it looks like the PID is not calibrated correctly. It probably can reach higher T's but stops, because the P portion is not high enough. Anyways, before printing use a software of your choice (Repetier, Pronterface...) and perform a PID tuning specified here:
http://reprap.org/wiki/PID_Tuning
After that everything should work out fine.
Take a careful look at the thermistor in the hotend. If it's defective it might well not be providing correct temperature information back to the control board. As a very quick check, try swapping the thermistor from the bed (if possible), or buy a replacement thermistor and drop it in.
I'm not familiar with the Anet controller but possibly there's a calibration pot on the board; if so it may be causing the digital hardware to mis-read the actual sensed temperature.
Please check that the power supply's (SMPS) output voltage is 12 V (while loaded).
Note: Be careful while measuring, as there is a hazard of shock.
In my case, the voltage was 10 V with one supply and 8 V with another supply. I bought a new one with 12 V and the printer is now running fine.
My printer Tronoxy i3 (Prusa i3 Mk-II).
Hope it helps you too.