I’m having trouble running pva on my dreamer. When l feed it into either of the heads the drive just keeps clicking and nothing much comes out of the excluders. I have try running from temperature from 190 To 240, at 240 the pva did start to come out of the excluder, but the clicking did as well. Anyone have any ideas? Can you get faulty PVA. I am using Excelvan Professional 3D PVA Dissolvable Filament 1.75mm.

If you can’t feed even regular PLA/ABS filament and are hearing clicking that sounds like it’s jammed. Mine does that from time to time - I have to take the extruder apart and clean it up (some say that even a small particle can cause a jam). Another thing I’ve seen is that filament claiming to be 1.75mm is not actually that size if you measure it with a caliper.

You might need to raise the temperature above the 240 C range. You might need to clear out something in the nozzle. This might be a clogg/jam. Also try to clean the hobbled bolt and the extruder assembly. If the 1.75 mm filament is not within from ±0.10 mm do not use it because it is bad. In addition, is the filament chewed, if you can post some picutres of the removed filament?

The machine is only 1 week old and has no troubles feeding ABS or PLA. But that a good point about the size of the filament, l will get some calipers and give it a check. Will let you know how l get on. Thanks

The machine is only 1 week old and has no troubles feeding ABS or PLA. But that a good point about the size of the filament, l will get some calipers and give it a check. Will let you know how l get on. Thanks

I have tried raising the temp above 240, but when l put it up to 245 the machine gets to 242 and stops. The label on the reel says running temperature is 190 -210. Also the reEl is chewed where it is pushing it in.

If you live near Lockport you can always swing by my office in downtown Lockport - I have a caliper and all the tools to take apart the Dreamer. We can also try running it through my Dreamer and see if it jams mine as well (I have a Flashforge Creator Pro and a Flashforge Dreamer in my office).

Thank you for your very kind offer, but if it lockport in the USA then l a few thousand mile away in the UK. :slight_smile:

Eh it is only a small pond between us right? :wink:

Do you run any cleaning filament through before you switch to a different filament? Sounds like a clog to me.

hello,

I use PVA on my flash forge cretor pro. with 200° 1800mm/s and retract 3mm

before loading PVA, i load a PLA at 230° to clean nozzle, after, down temperture to 200° and load PVA

if you use printer with PVA more than 200-210°, PVA will burn into nozzle

sorry for my English, i’m french

Have you tried drying the PVA? it asborbs water really fast, I usually dry it even if it is just out of the bag…

Hi @Andrewmarshall1!

What is your feed rate set at? Do you get consistent extrusion with other plastics?

This sounds like the classic symptoms of a clog in the extruder/hotend. The Dreamer does not have an all metal hotend, so it has a thermal break point where plastic being extruded goes from hot to cold then hot again. It is in the cool zone where nasty clogs/blockages form and the only way to remove them is by taking apart the hotend and pulling out the plastic inside of it. PVA is much more flexible than PLA/ABS, so those plastics may be able to push through the blockage whereas the PVA won’t be able to.

small correction, speed 1200mm / min and 3mm of withdrawal, temperature 190 ° C
PVA is more flexible, which is why after using ABS in the extruder, I made a first change with the PLA.
often I use ninjaflex in an extruder and PVA in the other.
Attention after the end of the play with PVA, if not use the PVA to another play, remove the PVA and make a load of the extruder with the PLA, otherwise the nozzle mouth because the PVA burns
The room where I store and print is measured with a humidity of 31.5%. I have not met a moisture problem.
I use e-sun filaments

I already had clogged nozzle, once or twice, just remove the PVA and pass a cleaning filament.
Do not try to lead with a rod Forante I broke the nozzle and I had to change it

in your situation, I would suggest you use a cleaning filament with loading the PVA.
After if the problem persists, test with another PVA different brand and newly unwrapped.

The problem is it the same on both extruders?
Check and clean the wire drive roller.

Thanks for the info. Some interesting things to try. Yes it is the same on both excluders, but they feed PLA and ABS just fine

I haven’t how’s the best way to dry it out?

To dry the product, the only solution I use is a convection oven at 50 ° C
But I do not know if it is compatible with the PVA. We should try by winding wire 1 meter on a small coil to ensure it does not stick to itself.