[Solved] extruder not pulling in the filament

My Prusa Mendel build is progressing. All motors and the hot end now working.
I'm using Wade's geared extruder with 3mm PLA.
The hobbed bolt I had pre manufactured.

Searching on the boards here & on google I didn't find any help on this one:

When I guide my first test piece of PLA into the small hole in the top of the extruder & then key 'extrude 10mm' in pronerface nothing happens

I expected the extruder to grab the PLA & pull it in , but that’s not happening.

I've tried forward & reverse movement for the extruder gears.

Is there a knack to getting the filament pulled in ?
There's 4 wing nuts on the extruder, I think for adjusting the idler. Do I need to adjust those?


Thanks in advance.

Mike

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2012 03:22PM by 3D2B.

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Prusa Mendel /Parcan Mk 2/1280 RAMPS 1.4/PC XP OS/Pronterface/Slic3r

In the UK, down south & over to the left you'll find the West of England RUG.
For details, visit tiny.cc/woereprap or tiny.cc/woerug

It won't pull the filament in. You'll have to loosen the wing nuts and thread the filament past the hobbed bolt and pinchweel, into the hot end.

Dale,

That's great thanks. I loosened the wing nuts, gave the filament a bit of a shove & in it went. Tightened the wing nuts back a bit.

I now have done my first extruded plastic.

Mike

You can add some nuts or washers between the idler bracket and the main body so that it does not close fully when there is no filament. That allows filament to be inserted without undoing the wingnuts. You just have to insert the filament with the extruder running and push on it firmly until the extruder grabs it.

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