Feeder or head problem?

[gup08 0]

Hi all, 

 

Was printing a 27 hour piece for work and I came back to the piece being a mess of extreme curling at the edge and spaghetti PLA everywhere (picture 1) while the nozzle was still moving with no extrusion. I realized by googling that the feeder was grounding down the filament (picture 2) so I followed the steps to release all the tension (indicator is all the way to the top). Next I re-feed the PLA and start the print once again. This time it prints the first layer and quits extruding. I googled once again how to unclog and follow the Atomic method and the filament flows nicely out with me manually inserting the filament. 
I try the print again and it does the first layer okay and quits extruding the second layer. I do not know if it's the feeder or the head? I changed the tension on the feeder multiple times with the same result. I did the Atomic method multiple times on the head and nothing seems clogged. 

What is consistent is that the feeder does grind the filament at medium tension and no tension, and also when the head stops extruding: the filament looks swolen (third picture) as if it's heating up but it has no where to go.


 

 

 

[fbrc8-erin 272]

From the third picture, I'd say your rear fan isn't running. This is the fan that should be keeping the hot Teflon piece (and the filament above the nozzle) cool.

 

If it's not running, the filament will expand due to the heat, and it will be too wide to proceed down the Teflon piece, resulting in the grinding you're seeing in picture 2.

 

Your rear fan should be running whenever the nozzle temp is above 50 C. (Or if this an older printer, running whenever the printer is on.)

 

[BairdB 1]

What kind of printer is this, is it an Ultimaker?

[gup08 0]

Yes, It is a Ultimaker 2 Extended

[gr5 2,172]

Keep the tension in the middle.  If you examine the filament it should have 2 or 3 rows of diamond holes in it at this tension.

 

I suspect your problem is primarily at the hot end and not at the feeder.  That 3rd fan is definitely the first thing to check.  Many things can cause the issue you are seeing.

 

If you want to test the feeder all alone to eliminate it then insert filament half way down the bowden, move the filament so the stepper is engaged, then pull very hard down on the filament below where it enters the feeder.  Try to gauge how hard you are pulling.  The feeder should be able to handle 10 to 15 pounds of pulling force.  If it slips with only 6 pounds of pulling force then it's the feeder.  If it can pull with 10 pounds force then it's not the feeder.  Send us updates (was it the 3rd fan, did the feeder test pass) and I'll send you a list of things that can cause what you are seeing.

 

[gup08 0]

On 6/8/2018 at 8:08 PM, fbrc8-erin said:

From the third picture, I'd say your rear fan isn't running. This is the fan that should be keeping the hot Teflon piece (and the filament above the nozzle) cool.

 

If it's not running, the filament will expand due to the heat, and it will be too wide to proceed down the Teflon piece, resulting in the grinding you're seeing in picture 2.

 

Your rear fan should be running whenever the nozzle temp is above 50 C. (Or if this an older printer, running whenever the printer is on.)

 

Hi fbrc8-erin,

 

I checked the fan today and the fan seems to be working. Went ahead and did a factory setting just to make sure there was no change in the fan.

This is what the first layer looks like:

[fbrc8-erin 272]

This isn't related to the feed issues, but make sure you bend your fan shroud back into the right shape. Where it's dangling down on the left, you could snag it on a print and kill a print you've put a lot of time into.

 

How many print hours are on your machine?

 

What's the tension set to on your feeder?