Having some extruder issues.

Hey, everyone, I just got done getting everything set up for my new Prusa i3 I recently built.

I'm really only having one big issue (aside from some bed leveling issues), which is that the extruder doesn't seem to be pushing out filament.

I can get it to push filament, however, I have to manually give it sort of a "boost" by pushing down on the filament from the top of the extruder to get it going, and as soon as it stops extruding, it's useless again and I have to give it another boost.

If I give it no boost it either does nothing when I send commands to extrude (I can hear the motor turn on and attempt to extrude but no filament extrudes) or it just sort of leaks out pretty slowly. I'm using PLA at 210 degrees. I've made sure that everything is all warmed up well in advance.

I'm about to check the voltage again on the RAMPS chip, but other than that i'm lost. Any advice?

Is the motor skipping? If so, turn up the voltage on the driver until it doesn't . . .

- Tim

I had a very similar problem. I found the teeth on the hob bolt was full of filament had to clear it all out with a scalpel and to stop it happening again tighten up the spring loaded bolts, never done it since.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2015 03:29AM by DaveRC.

[www.youtube.com]

Here is a video of my issue.

I boosted the voltage to 3.75 just to be safe and nothing changed.

You have to listen very closely, but when I command the extruder to start extruding, you hear this repetitive squeaking noise for the entire duration of the extrusion.
You then see me pushing down the filament with my hand (and I have to use quite a lot of force!) and doing that makes the filament come out. But if I am not pushing, nothing is coming out.

I assume the squeaking is not a sound that should be made so I assume that has something to do with it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2015 03:44AM by Apple-.

3.75V is almost 10 times the regular current. I`m sure that is impossible....Can you switch the driverboard?

Let it run without filament, but at +180° Is that working?

What diameter is your extruder gear, and what did you set as e-step parameter?
Are you sure, the extruder runs in the right direction? Make a mark on the shaft with a pen and see which direction it is turning.


-Olaf

I meant 0.375! Sorry!

Looks like a Folger Tech Prusa and 210 seems a little high for PLA. A lot of people had a difficult time with printing PLA with the stock folger tech extruder. The filament is a little bit too stiff and the gear doesn't have enough bite to extrude it. Do you have the same problem when trying to print with ABS?

If you can print with ABS try making this extruder. [www.thingiverse.com]
It's almost a necessary upgrade in order to print with PLA reliably.

dbrewsli - Thanks for the link to the extruder, I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm having grip issues with PLA, haven't tried ABS, on my Folger Tech 2020 also.

Hmmm . . . on my Folger Kossel, I have had no problems at all with PLA, other than needing to run a much higher drive to the extruder motor (they say .55 IIRC, .85 actually works . . .). I have run almost a full spool with zero issues, so I have a hard time believing that thier extruder is inherently bad for PLA, unless tolerance of the parts is that bad . . .

What has hapened is that the grooved bearing in the extruder destroyed itself (metal shards, loose balls, race in two pieces) in the extruder, and when *that* happens, things get interesting . . .

Oh, and it was running ABS justfine right before the failure . . .

- Tim

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2015 11:20PM by tadawson.

I can't seem to extrude ABS either strangely. What do you all recommend I do?

I printed up one of the extruders that was linked by dbrewski, getting ready to try it out here in a few. I'll post results.

Hey everyone! Extremely pleased to announce that I have solved my extruder issues!

The issue was actually a loose screw on the gear inside the stepper motor.

Here's a picture for a better look.

[i.imgur.com]

Just gave it a nice tighten and everything is golden!

Will still probably print a new extruder soon, though.

- Deleted -

- Tim

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2015 11:22PM by tadawson.

Quote
Apple-
Hey everyone! Extremely pleased to announce that I have solved my extruder issues!

The issue was actually a loose screw on the gear inside the stepper motor.

Here's a picture for a better look.

[i.imgur.com]

Just gave it a nice tighten and everything is golden!

Will still probably print a new extruder soon, though.

I found mine slightly loose and hitting the motor frame a bit. But so far the new extruder I printed is working flawlessly.

View 1

View 2

Quote
Apple-
Hey everyone! Extremely pleased to announce that I have solved my extruder issues!

The issue was actually a loose screw on the gear inside the stepper motor.

Here's a picture for a better look.

[i.imgur.com]

Just gave it a nice tighten and everything is golden!

Will still probably print a new extruder soon, though.

Glad to hear!
The stepper shaft doesn´t have a flat side?

If so, better put the screw there.
-Olaf

Just an update on the extruder that dbrewski suggested. I have roughly 15 hours and growing print time on it and it's working great, zero issues.

Quote
Apple-
Hey everyone! Extremely pleased to announce that I have solved my extruder issues!

The issue was actually a loose screw on the gear inside the stepper motor.

Here's a picture for a better look.

[i.imgur.com]

Just gave it a nice tighten and everything is golden!

Will still probably print a new extruder soon, though.

It is a bit of a pain that that stepper shaft doesn't have a flat spot for the set screw to grip. Mine is the same.

I replaced my stock Folger extruder with a Wade's geared extruder and oh boy am I happy now. No more incessant clicking and my printer now consistently produces very nice prints. In general I think that because the Folger kit supplies relatively low torque stepper motors, a geared extruder is a much better choice than a direct drive one like the stock one.

Iam wanting to upgrade to a wade as well...as mine is starting to skip on every print I try after 4 months of solid printing

..can u post which one u used? I also am still using stock folgertech as well. There are just soo many versions of it...not sure which to use. Would rather use what someone has already says works.

Thanks

Check the grooved bearing in your Folger extruder. Mine died a horrible death, and any semblance of proper extruder function went out the window. I dropped in a replacement bearing, and all is back to as it was, running cleanly . . .

- Tim

thanks tadawson......that bearing is TOASTED !! wiggled like it wasn't even attached.

Now i need to replace stepper on extruder. After only a minute of printing it's hotter than hell. Finger on it 2 seconds it way too long.

I still want to upgrade to wade or bowden.

You´d check the voltage of the extruder-driver. Your stepper is hot from overcurrent!
-Olaf

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2015 05:38AM by o_lampe.

Yeah . . . I run the Folger extruder at a VRef of .85, and the motor only gets warm to the touch, and it runs noth PLA and ABS fine. I am on the Kossel, and the extruder motor is larger than the axis motors as supplied, which may cause it to run cooler than a Prusa . . .

- Tim