Extruder gear worn?

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melgray
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Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2015 9:38 am

Extruder gear worn?

Post by melgray » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:10 am

Hi all,

Spent the weekend putting together an enclosure for my printer in the garage. Thought I'd try it out by printing something in petg and it immediately jammed the extruder.

After I got the jam cleared up I can no longer extrude ANY type of filament.

Here is a video demonstrating the problem with me attempting to feed some PLA into the extruder.
https://youtu.be/-QmJUhrbsX0

Any ideas what to do next? Bumped out all the work I put into moving things around in the garage ended up cause problems :(

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zemlin
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Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by zemlin » Mon Mar 20, 2017 2:42 pm

Could be any number of things.
Are you certain the drive housing is clear through? - no filament left inside?
Alignment between the drive housing and hot end - is the filament making it through but missing the hole in the hot-end?
Tension setting on the roller against the extruder gear?
Damage to the extruder drive housing that interferes with the filament?

melgray
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2015 9:38 am

Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by melgray » Tue Mar 21, 2017 6:52 am

Yea, positive that the path is clear.

I *think* the pinion is worn. Came to this conclusion because I can still hear the stepper stepping even though the gear teeth aren't spinning.

Contacted Makergear support to see if I could get a photo of what the pinion is SUPPOSED to look like vs what's currently on the shaft of the stepper.

Running a late 2015 m2

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zemlin
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Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by zemlin » Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:38 pm

If the shaft is turning but the gear is not, the set screw in the gear needs to be tightened. If the motor is running but the shaft is not turning then the gear reducer is toast. I seriously doubt it's a gear wear issue.

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ednisley
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Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by ednisley » Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:59 pm

melgray wrote:a photo of what the pinion is SUPPOSED to look like
Like this:
https://softsolder.com/2014/07/31/maker ... tus-check/

Image

If you see this:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1790&p=8351#p8351

Image

You know you've got a problem!

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zemlin
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Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by zemlin » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:04 pm

I was thinking of the extruder gear, not the pinion feeding the planetary drive.

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ednisley
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Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by ednisley » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:33 pm

zemlin wrote:not the pinion feeding the planetary drive
Stipulating that I'm easily confused, the term "pinion" seemed pretty specific; there's no possible way any finite amount of PLA will wear out the filament drive gear.

Having the little bitty setscrew come loose, now, that's entirely possible.

A simple witness mark across the front of the gearbox shaft and drive gear provides a useful check for that problem. This is the old-school drive, but shows the idea:
https://softsolder.com/2016/02/02/filament-drive-jam/

Image

If the line ever stops being a line, then the drive gear isn't firmly attached to the shaft.

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Jules
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Re: Extruder gear worn?

Post by Jules » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:57 pm

Ed, your posts always crack me up. :lol:

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