Filament not advancing

[bonduhill 0]

I have owned my Ultimaker 2 Extended + for one week and this is also my first 3D printer. It has done well so far but now it is having trouble after changing the filament. It will not print anything right now despite the fact that I have removed the filament and tried to loosen the piece that advances the filament. I tried the original filament back in and in the same thing happened where the filament comes out and looks as if it has been crushed in one spot. Do I need to continue to loosen the piece on the back? I know that filament has been coming out when I go to put the filament back into the machine but I am getting frustrated. Thanks for any help!

[Labern 774]

It sounds like the filament has been ground by the feeder. ( the part that looks crushed in one spot )

You can cut the filament of just after this spot and try inserting it back into the machine. When you cut it off, sharpen it like a pencil so it goes in and doesn't get caught anywhere.

Alternatively you can just push the filament quite hard while its feeding till it gets passed this point.

[bonduhill 0]

Thanks, I have been cutting that off and it still gets crushed each time by the feeder. I have tried to loosen that up but it does not seem to do anything.

[vince805 4]

Does it get crushed without going through the Bowden tube or does the filament get all the way to the block and then the crushing happens in the feeder?

There may be some filament stuck in the end of the Bowden tube (inside the block) that is preventing the filament from getting through and cause the feeder to grind the filament. This happened to me over the weekend.

[Labern 774]

You may have to remove the Bowden tube on the print head and look down to see if anything is stuck down there. You can heat the nozzle and push some filament down. Also a few cold pulls might be cool to clean the nozzle.

When you put the Bowden tube back you need to make sure it's going all the way down to the TFM coupler. If it's not sitting all the way down then it could cause issues simular to grinding if the filament gets caught in between.

[bonduhill 0]

Vince805 it is allowing the filament to go into the Bowden Tube when it initially feeds it in but then when I tried to have it pull the filament in with the test print the filament gets crushed. Should I open up the feeder and try to clean it out? Labern I will check that but I honestly feel that it is a problem with the feeder because there is filament that comes out when it get I am initially putting the filament into the machine, and I think that this is because of the fact that the nozzle is hot.

[Labern 774]

Yes I would say something is stuck in your feeder then.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

@bonduhill sharing a picture or video makes it a lot easier for people to help you.

[LiquidCrimson 1]

It is possibly your knurled wheel... I'm having the same problems. Is your knurled wheel set back deep into the machine on the shaft or can you see the grub screw?

On some machines it appears that the knurled wheel is attached with the grub screw facing inwards... these seem to have problems. Other machines the grub screw faces outwards so it can easily be accessed.

Check your knurled wheel and see if it just slides in and out or if it is firmly attached.

[IRobertI 520]

@LiquidCrimson, the UM2+ feeder doesn't have a grub screw, the design looks quite a bit different.

@bonduhill, when you load the material, does it extrude out of the nozzle properly at all? If yes, what settings do you use for the print and have you checked that the nozzle isn't too close to the glassplate so that the glass blocks the nozzle.

[bonduhill 0]

I cleaned out the knurled wheel but the problem now is that I need to put the cover back over the feeder and the nuts have fallen out of the holder. Is it possible to remove the housing in order to place the nuts back in there.

I need a nut behind the four corners but only have one of them right now. I tried to loosen the two bolts on the top and bottom but am afraid that they will have a similar issue with the nut that is holding them falling, thoughts. I duct taped the housing cover there and it worked for about an hour and a half until it became too loose.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

You will have to take of the feeder, think this guide can help you;

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/64-disassembly-of-the-ultimaker-2-plus-feeder