Hi All,
I have used my Ultimaker2 reliably for about a year, but now have underextrusion problems, and the symptoms have been getting worse. The feed used to occasionally skip back (make that thunk sound) and under-extrude the first layer. Now, extrusion will fail completely, with the feed gear chewing into the filament. So far, I have:
- re-levelled the base plate
- Cleaned out the hot end many times using the Atomic method. Plugs come out clean.
- Disassembled the bowden tube and blown it out with compressed air
- Checked the set-screw tightness on the advance drive gear and blown out any debris
- disassembled the hot end and removed a slight lip from the teflon coupler
What's frustrating is that there does not seem to be any friction at any of the individual assemblies:
- When inserting a length of filament by hand into the hot end for the Atomic cleaning method, the plastic extrudes nicely from the nozzle, with minimal pressure.
- There are no whispy traces of filament or debris in the Bowden tube, and with it off the machine, a length of filament slides easily through it.
- When loading filament, using the advance-material function moves the material reliably, so it seems like the advance mechanism is fine.
However, when all reassembled, even the load-new-filament process ends up with the drive gear chewing into the filament.
The filament is Ultimaker PLA, and that's the only plastic the machine has ever seen. I've ordered a new hot end, but was wondering if there is something I haven't thought of.
Thanks!