Filament stops feeding
Posted: August 12th, 2022, 1:12 pm
I hope I landed this in the proper category...
I purchased an Ender 3 V2 about 4 1/2 months ago, and it worked great out of the box. I was able to print about 6 projects, taking around 6 hours each without problem. All of my prints are using SLA. I am using the stock extruder/bouden tube/hotend setup.
Then I started to have problems with the printer failing to feed the filament during the middle of a print, causing a failed print. Some times I will catch it while it's happening, finding that the extruder gear keeps turning, but no filament coming through. Sometimes I would hear a "clicking" sound, sometimes it was just silent. Sometimes the gear actually wears through the filament, causing the filament to severe at the gear. Sometimes I would come after a print was finished only to find it only partially printed, or would come in and find it printing "air" several mm above the project.
For a while this would happen once about every 3 prints, but then suddenly it started rapidly getting worse where it will happen 3 times or more in the middle of a 6 hour print. Sometimes I would either catch it in time to pull the filament out and start a new feed and resume, or resume it by editing the gcode and starting again.
When it happens, after pulling the old filament out from the hot end (resulting in sort of a cold pull), when I would feed the new filament through the bouden tube into the hotend, it does not feel like there is any undue resistance. And when the hotend heats up to temp and I feed filament through manually using the turnwheel, it also does not seem to have an unusual amount of resistance.
I've inspected the extruder for cracks (a friend of mine had that problem) and don't find anything wrong. I tried adjusting tension on the extruder, adding more, adding less, and I also changed the nozzle using the spare nozzle which came with the printer, in case the nozzle was clogged, but that had no effect on it also.
I have put the filament reel on the side, positioned so it is feeding almost directly into the extruder (my projects are usually 30 mm tall at most) I have never observed any resistance from the reel, nor have found the filament knotting.
All of my inspection and observations leave me feeling there is no reason I should be having this problem, with one exception: The brass gear which feeds the filament seems a bit worn. However I don't know if what I am seeing is abnormal, as I have used this for a relatively short time (probably less than 75 hours) and I don't know what would wear it as there is only plastic filament going over it. I have also never come across anything on the internet talking about replacing this gear, or it ever being a problem. I have also moved the gear up and down on the shaft in order to use and unused area, but to no avail. I'll include a photo of the gear.
I've searched on the internet regarding this problem but strangely enough, while finding many discussions and videos about how to rescue a print after it has happened, I haven't come across much anything which talks about the cause of it. People talk about switching to a direct drive extruder, and a friend told me I should use a dual drive. However, what I am wondering is, this thing worked flawlessly once, what happened? I don't want to just change parts if the actual problem lies elsewhere, and possibly compromise the new parts.
Any input would be appreciated.
I purchased an Ender 3 V2 about 4 1/2 months ago, and it worked great out of the box. I was able to print about 6 projects, taking around 6 hours each without problem. All of my prints are using SLA. I am using the stock extruder/bouden tube/hotend setup.
Then I started to have problems with the printer failing to feed the filament during the middle of a print, causing a failed print. Some times I will catch it while it's happening, finding that the extruder gear keeps turning, but no filament coming through. Sometimes I would hear a "clicking" sound, sometimes it was just silent. Sometimes the gear actually wears through the filament, causing the filament to severe at the gear. Sometimes I would come after a print was finished only to find it only partially printed, or would come in and find it printing "air" several mm above the project.
For a while this would happen once about every 3 prints, but then suddenly it started rapidly getting worse where it will happen 3 times or more in the middle of a 6 hour print. Sometimes I would either catch it in time to pull the filament out and start a new feed and resume, or resume it by editing the gcode and starting again.
When it happens, after pulling the old filament out from the hot end (resulting in sort of a cold pull), when I would feed the new filament through the bouden tube into the hotend, it does not feel like there is any undue resistance. And when the hotend heats up to temp and I feed filament through manually using the turnwheel, it also does not seem to have an unusual amount of resistance.
I've inspected the extruder for cracks (a friend of mine had that problem) and don't find anything wrong. I tried adjusting tension on the extruder, adding more, adding less, and I also changed the nozzle using the spare nozzle which came with the printer, in case the nozzle was clogged, but that had no effect on it also.
I have put the filament reel on the side, positioned so it is feeding almost directly into the extruder (my projects are usually 30 mm tall at most) I have never observed any resistance from the reel, nor have found the filament knotting.
All of my inspection and observations leave me feeling there is no reason I should be having this problem, with one exception: The brass gear which feeds the filament seems a bit worn. However I don't know if what I am seeing is abnormal, as I have used this for a relatively short time (probably less than 75 hours) and I don't know what would wear it as there is only plastic filament going over it. I have also never come across anything on the internet talking about replacing this gear, or it ever being a problem. I have also moved the gear up and down on the shaft in order to use and unused area, but to no avail. I'll include a photo of the gear.
I've searched on the internet regarding this problem but strangely enough, while finding many discussions and videos about how to rescue a print after it has happened, I haven't come across much anything which talks about the cause of it. People talk about switching to a direct drive extruder, and a friend told me I should use a dual drive. However, what I am wondering is, this thing worked flawlessly once, what happened? I don't want to just change parts if the actual problem lies elsewhere, and possibly compromise the new parts.
Any input would be appreciated.