I got my Kywoo Slim printer last week, and it’s done well for its price of £200, although it was slightly bad at detail as it would drag the filament along with it, rather than the filament adhering properly to the build plate.

Today I tried to fix that issue by increasing the nozzle temperature from 200° to 210°, which is in the recommended range for PLA filament (190 to 220). My hotbed temperature has stayed constant at 60°. Quite to my surprise, instead of printing normally or even at all, my nozzle instead dove down straight into my build plate, through the hotbed underneath it, and started melting the plastic and vibrating, drilling through the hotbed.

I stopped it printing immediately and inspected the damage. There was a hemispherical dip in my build plate, with a hole all the way through it in the center. In the hotbed directly underneath it, there was an indentation probably about 1mm deep in the exact size and shape of the nozzle.

Can you help me understand why changing the nozzle temperature would have caused it to do this, or if my printer is safe to use now? Also, can I fix it, and if so how?

Edit: terms

  • @[email protected]English
    3•1 year ago

    The vibrating that you saw was probably the X or Y axis trying to move, but the head was locked in place by the hole it was now sitting it. As you’ve just witnessed, the stepper motors have quite a lot of power and will normally drag the head right through any obstruction (even if it’s your 27-hour print job that was nearly complete). This is why you see a lot of pictures with deep scratches in print beds.

    • JackGreenEarthOPEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      Thanks, that makes sense. In the pictures with deep scratches in print beds, did the people have to replace the beds, or did they continue to print onto an uneven surface?

      • @[email protected]English
        2•1 year ago

        Everyone works around their first mistakes until they feel comfortable enough with their printer that they can justify replacing the bed. You actually want to get in the habit of making prints outside the center of the bed anyway, if you always print in the same spot you’ll basically wear out the ‘adhesive’ properties of the bed until it starts requiring hairspray or glue sticks to make prints stick there.