Is This Practice Clogging My Extruder?

[CCRN]

(Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to print a spare drive to have it on hand if you don't have one already. If you are switching to ABS anyway you can knock one out with fairly high infill (60% or more) and keep it on hand for accidents.)[/quote]

I've been keeping Makergear in business ordering every spare part I can imagine, so I so have a spare filament drive. What has kept me from putting it in play is the zip tie attaching the thermistor/heater wires to the factory drive is rather tight. I look at it and just know I will cut into the wires removing it and ruin these parts. Is there a special tool to gently get under the zip tie and cut outward or should I just lightly snip with some nail clippers and gradually go deeper?

I am printing fine now and will inspect the drive ABS when finished. Contacting makergear since I am still a few months under warranty too.

[sthone]

Just use wire cutters and cut through the head of the ziptie that way you're not actually near any of the wires.

[Jules]

Contacting makergear since I am still a few months under warranty too.

Chuckle! Inspect it first - there's probably nothing wrong with it other than it got pushed away from the stepper by that bad jam you had.

Cracks in ABS drives are a fact of life - the plastic is stiff and can only take so much strain before it eventually yields. You can just hit it with some glue and keep going, or print a replacement in PETG at a higher infill, which has worked well for me - i've never had one of those crack.

My very first ABS drive had a crack in it (repaired) from the get-go and it never failed, but I did replace it eventually about 6 months later when I upgraded to V4.

Not a big deal either way.

[ednisley]

this ring of teeth was moved back when clogged

If that happened, then the tiny setscrew locking the filament drive gear to the shaft came loose and must be tightened. Put a line across the end of the shaft and gear so you can easily verify they don't move in relation to each other: if the mark ever stops being a line, there's a problem.

A loose setscrew will get looser and let the drive gear move as the extruder reverses during retraction, which will lead to incomprehensible printing problems.

[CCRN]

The way I prevent this from happening now is just to cut the filament I'm running above the filament drive (I use a 90° cut.) and the just hit extrude 100 and feed the next filament in while butting the to ends together. I hardly even retract filament anymore.

Interesting. I have a line in my end script that retracts the filament say 10mm. Not sure what my thought was for adding it, but I am sure i found that here. I like the idea of not clogging up my extruder going forward.

I went ahead and replaced the filament drive with my spare and the filament does not pouch out the front anymore. Printing now and will report back. Attached a picture of the problem one to see if anyone can see a problem with it. Has this ever gone bad for others on the forum? Do you salvage the tension screw and roller? I guess I could print this part but I have not taken the training wheels off for ABS just yet.

Per Makergear

The bottom of the drive gear should be 5 mm away from the top face of the boss on the motor.

.

I sued my digital caliper to keep the distance between the back of the filament drive motor and the set screw end of the drive gear at 5mm.

What is the 3D printing term "face of the boss of the motor"? I don't quite understand that lingo.

Thanks,

Jerold

[CCRN]

Just use wire cutters and cut through the head of the ziptie that way you're not actually near any of the wires.

This worked. Thanks. I am a klutz, and my mom called me a bull in a china shop when I was a kid.

[Jules]

Only thing I can possibly see - you've got the tension on it so tight that the two top prongs appear to be touching. There should be almost zero tension on the Filament Drive. That gap between those two arms should be just about even from the bottom to the top. (But it might also just be the camera angle.)

Don't see any cracks or anything. Take the round wheel out and see if you can run a straightened piece of filament through the holes smoothly.

[CCRN]

The filament runs through smoothly, so maybe the tension was just insanely tight and taking the path of least resistance. My new filament drive is running well and not anywhere near as tight. Thinking of keeping this on hand as a spare or maybe giving it another try when I have some time.

Thanks for your help!

Jerold

[Jules]

Yeah hang on to it- it's probably fine.

[mrscientist3d]

Having filament drive-related extrusion issues making it impossible to print. Motor is failing to extrude or retract filament without manual pushing/pulling assistance. I'm working with a brand new M2 (between 40-80hr printing since arrival 2wk ago) but have experience using an M2 day in, day out at work for months - never seen any filament drive issues there, so I'm lost on this one. The filament drive will grab the filament (Makergear black filament) but stops gripping the filament after about 10-20mm. I've removed the fans so I can watch the gears - upon loading the filament is moving rapidly from a happy midway position to a forward-bulging position, then stops gripping. Oscillating between extrusion/retraction on 10mm moves will also cause the filament to bulge forward. I've adjusted the tension screw to completely loose, and to pretty tight (top of drive housing almost touching) and the filament keeps bulging forward. (At a midway tension it will extrude a bit longer - say 20mm - before the filament bulges out enough that the gear won't grip.) I'm pulling my hair out because I have orders to fill including a wedding gift due in 10 days.
The only thing I can find is an odd-looking channel through the filament drive housing (see pic, top-down view) - I don't know if this is an obvious indicator b/c I've never taken an M2 drive apart before. (When this problem presents on a Makerbot 2x it's typically just filament buildup in the teeth of the filament drive.) It looks as though the filament has already worn away at the drive housing but the printer is so new and the filament pretty smooth, I am perplexed. Also included is a pic of the print on which the extrusion issue presented - some obvious extrusion issues there, evidenced by the hairy strandiness.
Side note question - has makergear changed the depth of the teeth on the filament drive since the original V4 hotend release? They seem more shallow than I remember.
Apologies for the verbosity - drinking so I don't rage quit. Help! Thanks in advance!