Spool Feeder Keeps Grinding Up the Material While Printing

[CCA 0]

Hi there,

Still having problems with initiating the test print.  The feeder takes in the PLA just fine and when we go through adding new material in, the material comes out as a thin strand. But when we tried setting up the test print, the grinder eats up at the PLA material and nothing feeds through to the main nozzle. Any thoughts??

I've read up on some of the forum posts on here already about all the settings and still getting the same problem. (The White Indicator of Pressure is at the top, means closer to the minimum)

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Here's a video of the issue:      Feeder Problem or (vimeo.com/150686069)

Edited January 4, 2016 by Guest

[JATMN 6]

Might take that thing apart it looks like something broke inside.. I dont recall the white part on the left going "under" the hob on the motor..

Also recommend if you have another printer or access to one.. Print up the Roberts Extuder v2. It works -way- better than the stock one.. Its like the first thing any Ultimaker 2 owner should print after unboxing.

[CCA 0]

Might take that thing apart it looks like something broke inside.. I dont recall the white part on the left going "under" the hob on the motor..

I had that thought but if it was broken, there would have been no way for the filament to have fed through. The feeder takes it in to the main nozzle just fine.... so perhaps it's just a new layout or updated design the way the pieces are placed.

Also recommend if you have another printer or access to one.. Print up the Roberts Extuder v2. It works -way- better than the stock one..  Its like the first thing any Ultimaker 2 owner should print after unboxing.

 

Don't have another ultimaker just laying around to use, but thanks for the reply.... Do you know where I can get the Roberts Extruder v2 file by chance?

[JohnFox 25]

Have you tried changing the material, taking it out and putting it back again? It's possible that the tip of the filament has got stuck in the PTFE coupler.

At some point, you may have to remove the end of the Bowden tube to see what state the tip of the filament is in.

[IRobertI 520]

Might take that thing apart it looks like something broke inside.. I dont recall the white part on the left going "under" the hob on the motor..

That's normal, it's what the latest iteration of the feeders look like.

It looks like there's a lot of ground up material in there. I would take it apart and give a good cleaning. If the knurled feeder wheel is full of plastic it wont be able to grip the filament properly which will lead to even more grinding and plastic buildup.

Taking it apart isn't as scary as it sounds. Start by removing the protective cover on the inside of the printer. It's held in place by two screws, one on the left hand side of the printer and one at the back, towards the bottom. Then remove three screws from the feeder and before you remove the last one, grab the motor so that it doesn't fall. Now the feeder will come out and you can crack it in half to access the inside. Blow out all the crud from the feeder housing and brush the feeder wheel clean with a wire brush/toothbrush or something similar.

When re-assembling, make sure the white indicators are on the right (as seen from the back of the printer). If not, the feeder will run in reverse Also make sure you don't pinch any wires between the motor and the frame. (I've done both of those)

[CCA 0]

We were able to get it to work after initiating the filament feed again and making sure to select OK to initiate the next steps... As oppose to letting the spool just feed in through the feeder and letting it run.  Thank you for your help though.

Got help from Ultimaker... they sent me this link: https://fbrc8.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205089914-My-First-Print-Won-t-Extrude-Is-my-nozzle-clogged-

This is what they explained in more detail:

It sounds like you may be loading your filament incorrectly; this happens a lot with first time users. The filament loading process has three stages; if you wait too long before initiating the second stage, the filament will grind down in the feeder, accelerate too far and begin coming out the nozzle, and then the filament is ground down and there is no way for it to advance when it's time to print.

I have an article here that explains what I believe the situation you're experiencing is: https://fbrc8.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205089914-My-First-Print-Won-t-Extrude-Is-my-nozzle-clogged-.

"When you load the material, make sure to hit the continue button to start the fast load process as soon as you see the filament appear in the bowden tube over the top of the black feeder box. This should bring the filament most of the way through the print tube, but it should not come out of the nozzle at this time. It will then do another slow loading to bring it the last few inches and should then begin coming out of the nozzle. Now when you go to print, it should be able to print well."

Edited January 5, 2016 by Guest