Unstable filament drives and resulting groovemount damage

[helix_3]

I have been having problems with Makergear's filament drives. After 11 months, my first filament drive became loose. This looseness caused the filament to misfeed directly into the groovemount's PEEK insert, damaging it badly (PEEK is very soft apparently). I ordered a new groovemount and filament drive, which then failed in the exact same way only 2 months later.

I'm now on my third pair of these parts, and I don't want to be buying more in a couple months. Does anyone else have this problem? Perhaps I could superglue the two together, permanently preventing misalignment?

[Tim]

I've had a motor mount crack, which caused the motor and filament drive to rotate. Concluding that ABS was perhaps not tough enough for the job, I printed my motor mount and filament drive in PET+, which is supposed to be a bit stronger than ABS. Since I have only been using the PET+ parts for a few weeks, the jury is out on how long they will hold up.

[jimc]

maybe i am not understanding what is going on here. peek is extremely hard. i dont see how some abs or pla filament could damage the peek. instead of buying filament drives why dont you just print new ones. makergear makes the stl files for the printed parts available to everyone on their github. you should always keep spares of all the plastic parts so your not SOL when something breaks. you can then also print them with a high infill so they are as rigid as you want them to be. i have never heard of anyone else having this problem. atleast none have posted it on the forum or google group in the past.

[helix_3]

maybe i am not understanding what is going on here. peek is extremely hard. i dont see how some abs or pla filament could damage the peek. instead of buying filament drives why dont you just print new ones. makergear makes the stl files for the printed parts available to everyone on their github. you should always keep spares of all the plastic parts so your not SOL when something breaks. you can then also print them with a high infill so they are as rigid as you want them to be. i have never heard of anyone else having this problem. atleast none have posted it on the forum or google group in the past.

Here's a picture of what PLA can do to PEEK: http://i.imgur.com/p5Uud68.jpg (this damage was my fault, because I didn't press the groovemount all the way in)

This is what my two old PEEK inserts look like: http://i.imgur.com/klyCQ1Z.jpg As you can see, the holes widen into irregular cone shapes. These cone shapes lead to the formation of plugs, and plugs cause jams.

For the record I'm not doing anything weird to the machine, except for running it a lot. My filament is good quality, the filament drive fan is always on, etc.

As far as printing backup filament drives, that isn't so much the issue as is the damage to the groovemount. Once I realize the filament drive has gone bad, the groovemount has already sustained some level of damage.

[jimc]

the white plastic is the ptfe liner not the peek but no matter really. the peek insulators are all deformed from heat. your getting them too hot. they should not look like that. the heat is creeping up the insulator and making your drive soft then everything loosens up

[helix_3]

the white plastic is the ptfe liner not the peek but no matter really. the peek insulators are all deformed from heat. your getting them too hot. they should not look like that. the heat is creeping up the insulator and making your drive soft then everything loosens up

How do I keep this from happening? I'm using all stock hardware. Maybe insert another fan blowing directly onto the groovemount?

[jimc]

are you using the v3 or the v3b hot end and what temp are you running?

[helix_3]

are you using the v3 or the v3b hot end and what temp are you running?

How do I tell the difference in hotends? Mine is a brass-colored rectangular prism.

Also I have run at a lot of different temperatures, but most recently around 230 C.

[jimc]

i would suspect you are using the v3 hot end. the v3 is round all the way down to the nozzle and has the rubber insulation over it. the v3b has an aluminum block above the brass nozzle. given your era of printer, unless you have upgraded to a new hot end at some point you would be using the v3. 230 can be too hot. makergear ships your printer with a warning paper that says to not go over 220 deg. a short print to 230 may be ok but its borderline and over time your warping stuff.

[jimc]

on that hot end you have the thermistor taped to the side of the nozzle with some kapton. if that is not tight anymore or maybe not in the right place also the actual hot end temp can be higher than what your reading. whatever it is your running your printer too hot. if it were me i would just upgrade to the v3b hot end. everything is contained in the heater block. its more durable and if you have to replace some things anyway then its a no brainer