Hi All,

I've got a problem with one of our extruders that has me stumped. Its a 2.5" barrier flight that extrudes mostly hdpe. Since November, we have had inconsistent output. With everything stablized, pressure slowly drops off by 1000 psi and the extruder amps drop as well. The output drops off affecting our final product. After a minute or two, everything go back to normal. The extruder RPM is steady. All heaters verified and the screw was even replaced. The barrell was measured from one end to the other at 6" intervals.

My first impression was slipping but I am not seeing any increase in temnperature. Also acts like its not getting consistent feed. We pulled everything to the feed throat and verified no blockages, everything is clean. The feed section is identical to others in the plant.

I'm not sure what do to next!!!! Any ideas?

Just a side note, never had a problem until last november. I have 3 others identical to this one with no problems.

This is probably the wrong place for you question. The reprap project is about rapid prototyping. Our exturders look like this:

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