Do you need to speak to support?

If you’ve just got your first printer and are having some teething issues, try these first.

Prints not sticking?

•         Is your bed level, here’s a video guide on our approved method of levelling, even if you’ve got a machine with CR/BLtouch, if the bed is adjustable, then it’s best to level it manually the first time you set it up.
•         Are your nozzle and bed temperatures correct? With Copymaster PLA we recommend printing at 210 and 60 degrees Celsius on the nozzle and bed respectively.
•         The Y axis carriage, X axis, and the hotend carriage all have adjustable wheels using an eccentric nut. On most machines these will be shipped loose in order to avoid damage in transit. If the bed or hotend carriage wobble try tightening these nuts using the included wrench. The eccentric nuts can usually be found by looking for the hexagonal bar holding the wheel in place. They are located on one or both sides of the bed axis and on the bottom wheel on the hotend carriage.

What sort of build surface do you have?

•         If you’ve got a textured print surface and you’ve done quite a lot of prints on it you may find it doesn’t stick as well, this is due to the surface slowly being worn flat. To make it last longer we recommend printing on different areas of the bed, not just the centre. You can also give it a gentle sand with some sandpaper to renew the texture, we use 80 grit at the office.
•         If you’ve got PEI you’ll sometimes need a larger surface area to help your prints stick. You can add a skirt of about 5 or 6 layers to increase the surface area.
•         If you’re printing onto glass and you notice the textured side losing its grip you can again move the print to different areas of the bed. Alternatively, you can flip it over to the smooth side and use adhesives such as a thin layer of glue stick, or even better, you can use specialist 3D printing adhesives such as 3Dlac or Primafix.

Machine not homing correctly?

•         Please check for any loose connections on your motors, endstops and mainboard.
•         Is the endstop at the correct height? If the nozzle is hitting the bed before the endstop activates it may be worth raising it up a bit. If it’s activating too high you may want to move it down. This part only really applies to the Z endstop (doesn’t apply to machines with CR/BLtouch)
•         Test the endstops by pressing them manually before the machine can activate them. If it’s plugged in properly and doesn’t register please be sure to let us know.

Screen not working?

•         Please check the connections, make sure the screen is firmly plugged in on both ends (the LCD and the mainboard)
•         If it’s a touch screen please bear in mind that they aren’t as sensitive as your phone screen, they sometimes need a firm press and to hold your finger in place for a second.

Not Extruding properly?

•         Is your extruder motor turning? If not please check the cable to the stepper motor to make sure it is plugged in correctly and there is no damage to the cable.
•         Is it trying to turn, but is making a clicking or grinding noise? This is normally caused by a blocked nozzle, or on a PTFE lined hotend, it can be caused by the PTFE tube not being fully inserted into the hotend. To resolve this, see our hotend assembly guide below.

•         Can you push filament through manually? If not, please see the above steps
•         If you have a blockage on your machine please check that your temperatures aren’t too high, with PLA It's best to avoid going above 210 on most machines, or 220 on high speed machines when printing faster than 60mm/s. Please also make sure that the fans on the hotend are coming on and working correctly and that your nozzle is seated properly to avoid filament leakage.
•         Have you changed the nozzle recently? If so, did you make sure to push the bowden tube down as you tightened the nozzle, did you do this whilst it was hot? Here’s a more detailed guide on how to change the nozzle. You can also refer back to our hotend assembly guide above, or view it here.
•         Can you feed filament through manually without pushing down the lever, or is the extruder motor turning but the filament is not moving enough? If so, you will need to use the extruder screw to adjust the tension, if filament is being squashed you will need to reduce the tension. You can see our extruder assembly guide below, or view it here.

Are you having another issue or has the above troubleshooting not solved your issue? Then you would be best to contact support.

2)      Contact support

If you get this far and you still need to contact support, please include your order number, email address, phone number, full delivery address, a description of your issue, your machines make and model, and any pictures or videos that may help us identify the problem. Videos can be sent as a link on we-transfer, you can see how to do this in this guide. Please send this to support@technologyoutlet.co.uk. Try to avoid simply replying to your order confirmation email, as this will go to our sales email and a technician won’t see this until sales get the chance to forward it on to support.

Very few issues can be resolved over the phone as we will often need to provide you with instructions and documents and for you to send in pictures or videos so we can see how the machine is responding. So, for technical support, emails are a much more effective way of communicating with us and getting your problem solved as quickly and effectively as possible.

Keep in mind that our email system works by feeding us the oldest emails first and we work our way upwards, unfortunately this means that sending a second email will put you back up to the top. So, to be seen as quickly as possible, please include as much essential information in your email as possible and avoid sending multiple emails if possible. Spamming emails will not get your issue looked at quicker, it will only slow down the process and put your email back at the back of the queue, please be patient with us. We will do our best to resolve your issue as quickly as possible.

We understand that these problems can be frustrating and you would like your issues resolved as quickly as possible. We always try our best to ensure we get back to you within 24 hours.