M2 Extruder stepper motor not turning

[ednisley]

stupid move on my side

I feel your pain: been there, done exactly that.

Before doing the Powerpoles, I firmly secured the cables to the frame so they couldn't pull loose. Moving the machine meant I had to cut the cable ties to unplug things, but those connectors flat-out couldn't disconnect on their own.

[trinity9]

In case it helps, with me this happens and seems to be a product of low temperature on the nozzle.

If the extruder motor fails, I reset and try a second run and it has worked. Perhaps it achieves the necessary temperature.

This has only happened if the machine is turned off instead of left idling.

Bill

[ajmadison]

I am always appreciative of the information that I can get from this website for help with my using my M2.

I have the same problem. And it showed up in a very confusing manner. My last print completed perfectly. I went to start the next print, and with the heaters on, tried to extrude some pre-print filament. But nothing came out!

The extruder was definitely not feeding (nor retracting) filament. Cleared a nonexistent jam in the hot-end. Took apart the filament drive to look for a jam in there. Didn't even occur to me to check the back side of the motor, until I got to here (this forum thread), and sure enough, I could see the stepper axle spinning. I let out a sigh of relief. I did not have an electrical problem, because I was not looking forward to reseting the board, or buzzing out the wiring. The next step was to check out the planetary gears. And of course! The bottom allen wrench bolt head stripped out on the front of the 'transmission' housing. So I took the entire motor & gear assembly off the printer, and unscrewed the back of the housing from the front of the stepper. And as soon as it came apart, I could see what was wrong. The axle & gear from the motor stayed inside the planetary gear housing, and there was this ragged and nearly flush with the motor, stub of the axle on the stepper. So the stepper needs to be replaced.

But I am wondering, what was the cause? Did I crank the tension on the filament drive too high? I did give it a turn the other day. Is there perhaps something binding up in the planetary housing? Am I just 'lucky' with being plagued with the hit parade of 3D printing issues?

[ajmadison]

BTW, if you do order a new "Extruder Motor" w/ or w/o the Drive Gear from MakerGear, even if you're frustrated with the old one, do NOT throw out the old one in its entirety. The machine screws that come with the new one are only long enough to attach the planetary gear box to the stepper motor. You'll need to re-use the machine screws that originally attached the Extruder Motor to the X axis arm housing. That may be obvious to some, wasn't to me, though I never toss any serviceable fasteners.