Feeder not moving filament. Now it's stuck.

[Murr76 0]

Hi All,

So I've been playing with the Ultimaker 2 Extended for a few weeks now and I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on how it works...or at least where to troubleshoot when it doesn't work. I've messed with the feeder tension, cleaned the bowden tube, done the Atomic Pull, etc. But I'm not sure what to do about this...

I was printing a file and at hour 4+ I noticed that it was not longer extruding (PLA). It wasn't making those horrible clicking sounds from the feeder, just zooming around and not printing. I cancelled the print and tried heating up the nozzle and moving the material through...nothing but the dreaded clicking noise from the feeder. Upon trying to 'change' the material, the feeder would not grab the material and back it out of the nozzle and bowden tube. So now it is stuck. It wont go forward and it wont go back. Any thoughts on how to deal with this little conundrum? Cut the filament below the feeder and try releasing the bowden tube and pulling it out that way?

Also, feeder problems are like the plague with this machine....any thoughts on minimizing these issues?

Thanks so much for your help and time!

Murr

[gr5 2,172]

Remove bowden at both ends, try to pull it or push it out. Once I had to completely bring the bowden over to pan with boiling water but hopefully it isn't that bad.

Is your filament so brittle that it is cracking in the bowden by any chance? If so it's a bad batch. Otherwise there are tons of reasons for getting lots of jams. Let me know about cracking first though.

[Murr76 0]

It's printing again. Thanks for the tip. Wasn't too bad of a fix after all.

And yes, the PLA seemed quite brittle around the feeder. There was a crack/split inside the bowden tube, right above the feeder, and for about an inch or two below the feeder...then it seemed to become more pliable.

One other thing, the feeder end of the bowden tube looks a little rough...

Is this normal?

[Murr76 0]

Hey GR5, can you take a look at the end of the Bowden tube (above)...is that normal or could that be causing some feeder problems too?

Thanks!

[stu_le_brew 42]

I think it could cause problems, its not a problem to cut a short piece from the damaged end - you can do this a few times without creating problems

[IRobertI 520]

I agree with stu, I would absolutely cut off the damaged portion. If you have a countersink bit or a large drill bit, I would advice that you put a slight chamfer on the freshly cut bowden tube. This makes it easier for the filament to get into the tube and not get caught on the end. When the filament catches on the end, it can cause these deformations.

So it's a bit of a two edged sword. Chamfer the end of the tube to make it easier for the filament to get in, but at the same time the tube is now thinner and more vulnerable

[gr5 2,172]

Filament should NOT break in the bowden. There was a bad batch of UM filament recently where parts of it were brittle. Try a few different colors of PLA and bend the filament back and forth (the bit at the end of the spool). It should not snap easily. You can snap it if you bend it back and forth a few times though.

anyway if it breaks too easily in the bowden then it's a disaster. Some of those pieces will get caught and the print will fail. So send that filament back if it is indeed brittle. Or if it's really old just throw it in the trash and get some new filament.