Extruder help desired

[chielvd 0]

Hello

I have problems with my extruder driver/hot end. The filament slips / stops a lot, which I have to resolve by pushing the filament by hand. But I have been doing this for almost 3 years and I am thinking there must be a better way. :-)

I bought the extruder drive upgrade and the hot end isolator coupler, hoping to get a more reliable feeding mechanism. but I am still sitting here manually supporting the feeder mechanism.

Does good / reliable feeders exist? Or is manual feeding the default case by everyone?

Did someone try 2 extruders after each other on one filament, since I am considering this option to get reliability?

Any thoughts or solutions for the feeder mechanism are welcome

Kr chiel

Machine: Ultimaker Original

printing: 220-240°C

Material: PLA

Problem: After having cleaned the nozzle, the filament starts to go in and extrude really easy, after a few cm of extrusion, extrusion pressure must becomes very high to still extrude => slipping feeder mechanism. => Me pushing the filament by hand

[valcrow 145]

You shouldn't need to push the filament by hand. But kudos for sticking it out for 3 years.

If your machine is 3 years old, have you taken apart the hotend assembly at any point? Sometimes buildup occurs between the nozzle and brass tube or peek part and causes excess friction which would cause the constant under extrusions.

I found that after about 1.5 years on my UMO, enough gunk had built up on the interior of my brass tube that I would have to lower my speed to compensate for the extra friction and then as you describe it would fail a few minutes into each print.

I changed out the brass tube, block and nozzle and everything is all good again. (I was lucky to have ordered an extra hot end pack)