Hey guys one of my last forums on here was about how I snapped

Hey guys one of my last forums on here was about how I snapped the wires for the heater cartridge on my hotend. This time not only did the wires snap on the heater cartridge the the wires snapped on the thermistor and the heater cartridge came out. I thought if I reduced the tension between the hotend and the wires it wouldn’t be an issue but apparently that was not an issue. Can someone please help me reduce the tension to zero or tell me what I am doing wrong because something weird is going on with these hotends I keep having to buy? Thanks!!!

PS: For those of you who asked for a video I think this is the right video. Good luck!!!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3bnhvJaCd-mNTZuN1dhcFpJVTg

Does the photo show how it’s usually wired, with the heater and thermistor wires just dangling out the side? That will definitely fatigue the wires. Most people route them upwards in a U-loop with some sort of strain relief.

Also, you normally print with the heatsink and fan installed on the extruder, right?

sweet jesus noah you calibrated the esteps, should’nt be grinding filament like that never mind the heater block !!! you need to get that cleaned off
you oozing filament just above the heater block?.

cabling disconnect from ramps move the carriage all the way over to to the right, loosen the heater grub screw rotate the heater till the cable pointing upright,
grab some 8 to 12 mm cable sleeving, couple of cable ties then throw the cable over the top of the frame run that down the back of the frame to the ramps .

Can you show a video with your printer in motion? I assume it’s breaking during a print?

https://www.sub-design.co.uk/i3build/ scroll quater way down see how he makes use of cable tidy

Wow! I didn’t notice that. That is a VERY MESSY looking setup btw.

You realise that it’s not safe to be using a printer in that condition…
Think fire hazard…

Cable management and safety first…

The grind, the hotend leak, the cables :smiley:

@Ryan_Carlyle Yes I would normally use a heat sink and fan but for some reason the heat sink doesn’t stay on for reasons most likely the mk8 extruder place where the bolts hold them in place are dethreaded. It would be nice to get a new extruder but it seems to work fine but that is not in my budget. Thank you though. What is a u loop and strain relief? Thanks!!!

@jinx_OI Thanks!!! I was wondering how that could be solved.

@Greg_Nutt The printer is moving fine it is just the hotend that is an issue. I could show you a video of it moving but that would take some time. Why do you want to see a video?

@jinx_OI Thanks for the link!!!

@Greg_Nutt Yeah…

@jinx_OI What’s with the image there?

@Panayiotis_Savva Okay thank you.

@Markus_Granberg Okay thank you.

@Noah_Schreiber which images? there just an example of tidying up the cables,
the hotend needs cleaning off , once it cleaned a refit in order… never used that extruder/HE kind of hoping someone will jump in with a link.

@Noah_Schreiber please take this the right way, we’re trying to help you – but I feel like I need to be blunt. Your printer looks like a serious safety hazard and you’re lucky you haven’t burned your house down yet. Fatiguing heater and thermistor wires due to bad routing/management is insanely dangerous. There are MULTIPLE ways that can start a fire. And your printer is made out of flammable plastic and wood. This is a very serious issue, there is at least one known case of a 3D printer burning down someone’s house, and hundreds of small fires and slagged printers that people were lucky enough to catch before the fire spread.

The photo you’ve posted looks like a “how many things can you spot wrong with this picture” challenge. The wire routing and management is obviously the source of your immediate wire breaking problem, but I see a ton of other issues. There’s a filament leak in your hot block because it wasn’t tightened properly. You have a big pile of shredded filament dust in the drive mechanism, which says it’s either jamming constantly, or your extrusion calibration is miles off, or you’re printing unattended and letting it grind for an extended period after jamming. That last possibility is really scary when combined with your wiring issues. If the wires break and short the wrong way, your only chance of saving your house is being right next to the printer when it happens.

Then the heat break tube looks crooked (?!), and you’re not running a heatsink/fan on a design that needs one, so your extruder drive and stepper are going to overheat after a while printing. At best, that’s contributing to your jams and pile of filament dust. At worst, you’re going to partially melt the X carriage, dropping the hot end onto the print while it’s printing, causing heaven knows what kind of danger or damage.

That’s just what I can see in this one picture. We want video so we can see what else might be wrong. But honestly, my thinking right now is that you need to take your printer to a local makerspace and ask them to help you learn how to fix and maintain it. I’m worried that we can’t give you enough help over the Internet to keep something really bad from happening. For example, there could be hidden heatbed or mains wiring issues that are just as dangerous as the hot end wiring. We can only see what you post pics and video of. An in-person inspection would be far more likely to catch everything.

The main thing here is, you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s ok, you can learn! You just have to avoid getting hurt while you get up to speed. Remember, you’re working with a cut-rate, poorly-engineered kit robot, with zero safety certifications, that continuously melts a flammable substance, with wiring subjected to millions of motion cycles. 3D printing is a dangerous hobby in face, and your knowledge and competency as the operator is the main thing between you and a fire.