Extruder not feeding filament - Too much compression from extruder spring
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 5:12 pm
I'm sharing my experience here since it's different to what I read from most other users/faqs etc.
Since I built my printer I have had a lot of trouble printing. After increading the temp to 220 sometimes PLA worked enough for a complete print and others it wouldn't get past the first layer or two. There was a clicking sound coming from the extruder, which I could also hear when extruding in free space. By touching the filament I could tell that it wasn't actually feeding. The teeth marks on the removed filament suggested it was not slipping. No problem to extrude by hand.
Most people seem to have problems with not enough force on the drive cog but after taking it apart and discussing with colleagues we agreed that it was really difficult to turn the stepper by hand. Since steppers aren't known for being high torque motors we determined that the stepper was just not able to turn, even without filament in it was hard.
I removed the spring and hacked in a spare spring from the heated bed. I had to make a short tube using a cut off bit of pen, since it didn't was a smaller diameter so didn't fit over the plastic bit. I've attached a picture and will take some more and attach those too. Are there different strength springs available?
Since I built my printer I have had a lot of trouble printing. After increading the temp to 220 sometimes PLA worked enough for a complete print and others it wouldn't get past the first layer or two. There was a clicking sound coming from the extruder, which I could also hear when extruding in free space. By touching the filament I could tell that it wasn't actually feeding. The teeth marks on the removed filament suggested it was not slipping. No problem to extrude by hand.
Most people seem to have problems with not enough force on the drive cog but after taking it apart and discussing with colleagues we agreed that it was really difficult to turn the stepper by hand. Since steppers aren't known for being high torque motors we determined that the stepper was just not able to turn, even without filament in it was hard.
I removed the spring and hacked in a spare spring from the heated bed. I had to make a short tube using a cut off bit of pen, since it didn't was a smaller diameter so didn't fit over the plastic bit. I've attached a picture and will take some more and attach those too. Are there different strength springs available?
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