Munch Munch - Chewed Up Filament!

[LesHall 95]

Here is a photo of what my UMm2+ is doing to my Proto-Pasta Conductive Filament:

I have tried twice to print it as you can see if you look closely there are two filament segments shown. Each one has the chewed up region in approximately the same place. When the first one happened I said "whoah!" and did my Gremlin erasing trick of wiping Cura clean of my system and reinstalling it from scratch (a fairly painless and quick process thanks to UM quality if I do say so!).

Notice that them grip is like a Kung Fu Grip from an old 1970's action figure toy for kids! Hai-Ya! I think my extruder is wound up too tight! How do i unwind it so it can relax and chill out. Also what is the reason for the chewing up of the filament?

Les

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi Les,

Thank you for your post.

I don't think it is necessary to delete and reinstall Cura when your filament grinds. Is there a reason why you think it is required?

Grinding of filament can have different reasons. It can be that, like you say, your extruder is too tight, or something made sure the filament couldn't move back or forth. The latter could be due to an obstruction near the hot end, like a narrow PTFE coupler or a clogged nozzle, an inconsistent diameter or dirt in your bowden tube, or maybe the filament got tangled up near the reel itself and prevented it from moving up. I would suggest to look into these reasons if you want to find out the reason.

Depending on how properly you cleaned your bowden / extruder after the first clog, it could be plausible that your 2nd attempt carried dirt from your first clog in the bowden tube or nozzle.

I don't have any experience with this filament myself, so I don't know if it is more prone to clogging than other filament, or how consistent the diameter is usually.

Do you need any help to rule out any of the above reasons?

[LesHall 95]

Hi Les,

Do you need any help to rule out any of the above reasons?

 

HI Sander,

First let me express my thankfulness to y ou for all the dedication you put into this forum. I have recently coined the phrase "A 3D printer is only as good as the community behind it", and you are a cornerstone of this community.

I think it's the extruder being too tight because when I first got the printer I took apart the extruder - without reading instructions (!) because there was a clog in the Bowden tube caused by the printhead wire bundle tangling with the filament. Also the Proto-pasta Conductive filament I am using is very brittle and kind of soft too because the filler material is some kind of carbon stuff.

I was printing these same circuit structures with PETG and had no problems - quite beautiful prints too. Now I have cleaned out the hot end with cleaning filament which took forever as the cleaning filament kept coming out grey. Maybe that was the problem. Anyway I am trying the Functionalize Conductive filament which contains Graphene. It's much lower resistance.

Will keep you posted!

Les

[SandervG 1,521]

Thank you very much I think it is the community itself, I am just trying to facilitate. But I am happy to hear you feel at home here and find the help you are looking for. That is exactly how it is suppose to be.

Sounds like the material could just be prone to grinding due to the slightest level of resistance. Maybe your new material works better.

The perks of open filament system is that you can feel free and experiment with different types of filament, but it does not mean all materials print equally easy or good. Failure is our greatest teacher is it not?

Keep us posted about your results!

[LesHall 95]

Yes, you are right Sander - it's the material and maybe the Kung-Fu-Grip of my out of tune extruder. All the materials - even PETG get deep teeth marks on one side of the filament where the feeder thingie engages. I need to adjust it lighter perhaps - how would I do that, do you have destructions for it?

I am also happy to mention that all this difficulty with 3D printed conductive materials has caused me to reconsider my approach to the whole design. Just as necessity is the mother of invention says, I've recalled an earlier concept of wire forming, or wire art for my circuits. In this approach I use an insulating filament (currently PETG in my case) to make wire forms that exist solely for wrapping wire and component leads around (by hand).

I have just designed a socket for a chip and tested it for fit and it fits beautifully first try - how often does that happen? This approach is more artsy and less expensive so I like it a lot. The purpose is to make musical circuits related to www.electro-music.com, my first love of forums! TY for all you do!

Les

[SandervG 1,521]

Sure! Since you have an Ultimaker 2+, there should be a screw on the top right corner of the feeder. By turning that, the little indicator on the side should move up or down.

By moving it up, the tension should decrease.

it is important to note, the screw should be IN the box. Not on top of it or sticking out.

I say this, because with some users, after having taken it apart, it was put together with the screw sticking out of its housing, rendering it useless. (it would only have one level of tension, regardless of the turning you do.)

Good luck!