OK on reheat and wiping.
BUT I don't understand tightening the feed mechanism. I did adjust the screw/spring but I don't think that helped. The gear assembly latch doesn't seem to clck into place or latch, is it supposed to?
OK on reheat and wiping.
BUT I don't understand tightening the feed mechanism. I did adjust the screw/spring but I don't think that helped. The gear assembly latch doesn't seem to clck into place or latch, is it supposed to?
successful tightening seems to depend on the quality of the filament. In my case supposedly too thick filament caused the mechanism not to tighten properly an the feed mechanism to rub off material from the filament instead of pushing it towards the printer. So if you feed the printer electronically (eg. via the "extrude" function in the ulticontroller) be sure that the filament really moves. You check this by grabbing the filament just below where it enters to the feed mechanism (the wooden part) and check if it goes in or not. If it is blocked, don't tell the stepper motor to turn because otherwise it rubs off material and it gets a notch. This might cause problems when you print because less PLA is flowing through the nozzle.
Does this help?
I "stole" that video from Luis E. Rodriguez over at the google groups.
There should be a subtle release of tension as the cam in the lever engages itself, but it doesn't "click" or "latch" into place, if that makes sense at all. If it's tight all the way through and there's no release at the end you are probably too tight and the lever isn't getting to the break point in the cam, which holds it in place and maintains pressure. Are you seeing the track marks on your filament that has been through the feeder? If not, you are simply not getting enough pressure on the filament. If you are, you are likely having a slicing issue where you don't have the variables in the slice correctly aligned with the extruder/filament. Another test would be is the filament held in place when the cam latch is engaged (to the point you would have to muscle up to pull it out)? If not, you don't have enough pressure on the filament.
Wow!!! Thank you Robert and Luis for the video. The thing it showed, which I had no idea, was that the top of the feed mechanism that's attached to the lever travels vertically. This should make a huge difference, and I I hope they link to that on the getting started pages, a very important "day 1" thing.
Still experimenting...
Well, I sure have PLA feeding now. Various other problems...
When I tell Cura to cancel printing, PLA continues to extrude for several minutes. I have to go into manual mode on the control board and adjust the Z axis manually to keep a giant glob from forming and to make room so I can wipe it off.
Is it normal for PLA to keep going for several minutes after canceling? And how do you guys handle it?
I have to leave for tonight. Will resume later and start new topics if needed.
I am not sure about the amount of PLA, but some emerges always after having stopped/finished the print. To wipe the glob off I usually wait until the next print, when the hotend is heated up again to print temperature, or I tell the printhead to go to home position and quickly remove the glob from the place the printhead has been, before it cool out.
Nice video from Luis.
If you would need any further information on how to feed the filament, please watch this video.
Recommended Posts
msurunner 2
Heat it up again and pull it off with tweezers or simply take a cloth or paper towel and gently wipe it off. Sounds to me like your feeder mechanism is too loose. You should see a track mark of the teeth on the filament. Give that bad boy a couple extra turns if you don't see those. That will tighten up your black latch lever.
Link to post
Share on other sites