Filament stops feeding

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KevinJones
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Filament stops feeding

Post by KevinJones »

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.

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Country_Bubba
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by Country_Bubba »

In the bottom picture, that gear definitely looks worn in the center section and clogged with bits of plastic residue.
First try cleaning it to see if that helps. But in long run I would replace that gear. Brass is a relatively soft material and some of the filaments can be abrasive due to the additives.

Good luck.
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LePaul
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by LePaul »

Yup, replace that thing. Or if your want an upgrade idea, get a Bondtech extruder
https://www.bondtech.se/product/creality-cr-10-kit/
KevinJones
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by KevinJones »

Thanks for the input. I ended up buying the Ender direct-driver/hotend assembly ( I won't go into the whys of making that choice, but it was a good choice for the time being and I'm real happy with it. Of course it fixed my problem being it replaced the extruder (and gear.) My prints are turning out perfect, actually better than they ever had before. The extruder is basically the same one as stock, and so I will need to deal with the wear on the drive gear at some point. I have considered buying stainless steel drive gears:



They are 36 teeth instead of the stock 40. Does anyone see any problem with that?
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LePaul
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by LePaul »

Which direct drive solution are you using?
KevinJones
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by KevinJones »

LePaul wrote: August 16th, 2022, 9:00 pm Which direct drive solution are you using?
The one I linked to.
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by LePaul »

No link is showing......
Adrian_S
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by Adrian_S »

" They are 36 teeth instead of the stock 40. Does anyone see any problem with that?"

Probably not, they're not usually part of any gear train. The other pulley that presses the filament against the brass gear is just a steel pulley and turns just from the passage of the filament past it. Incidentally, the bit in the middle that people have been assuming is wear I have seen on almost all extruder gears, I think it's there to prevent the sharper portion of the teeth chewing the filament.

My best guess as to your original problem is that you were having loss of power to the nozzle heater, getting short periods of the nozzle cooling to the point where it developed resistance to the continued feeding filament because the material was now thicker and not flowing so freely. I had this on my Hictop early on, and found when I replaced the heater element there were some fractured wires very close to the heater element, that I had probably cause myself by trying to tuck the cables up into a neater but therefore tighter bend. The thermistor seemed to take a little while to react to the falling temperature. Initially I had thought that it was the spool sticking or the filament getting trapped in binding turns, which I was plagued with a lot on that one batch of material.
Sebastian96
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Re: Filament stops feeding

Post by Sebastian96 »

The gear in the lower image appears to exhibit signs of wear in its central section, and it seems to be obstructed by plastic residue. Initially, you might want to attempt cleaning it to determine if that resolves the issue. However, considering that brass, being a relatively soft material, can be susceptible to abrasion from certain filaments with additives, it's advisable to consider replacing the gear for a more sustainable solution in the long term.
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