extrusion fail (PETG)

[mrqs]

Dear Makers,

I am really desperate! It's my first time I am trying to print, after finishing the assembly of my I3 Pro B. I am using PETG, with a bed temp of 90°+ 230 - 250° nozzle temp. But the filament won't come out of the nozzle when printing. If I push the filament manually it comes out like it should. May the tension spring causing this problem? I am thankful for any good hint, since I am trying to fix this since a week now!

Best Markus

[jonsag]

If it's too low tension you should be able to hear a clicking sound as well as seeing it skip when trying to feed.

Is the extruder motor moving at all?
Can you feed filament via the LCD?

PETG is really not the easiest material to start with.
Try lowering the print speed to about 20mm/s and slice again. Then do a test run.

/jon

[mrqs]

Dear Jon

Thanks for the hint. I have the feeling the extusion motor is not working! When I try to test via easy print app, by changing E+/- nothing happens.
How do I test manually? Via LCD, I just found the following control sections:
1) "control_filament_E in mm3: on/off"
2) "Fil. Dia. 1: 3.000"

Please share your expertise!

Best Markus

[jonsag]

I don't know what firmware you are using.
But it should read something like 'Move axis', and then choose 'Extruder' from there.

Remember the extruder won't move until hotend is hot, so you have to heat it up first.

Basic troubleshooting:
Connect the extruder motor to another driver, for example the X-driver.

Then try to move X via the LCD.
If the extruder servo doesn't move, and you normally can move X via LCD, then the servo is broken.
Release tension of the filament before doing this.

If it moves then the driver is broken.
You can confirm this by connecting a known good servo to that driver.

BTW: Usually the filament for i3 ProB is 1.75mm. Check that.

/jon