How to adjust feeder tension to stop material grinding?

[ewanoss9 0]

Hello, I've recently bought an Ultimaker S5 to use at work. The first few prints went great, but then on later prints the material either wouldn't extrude or would do so extremely slowly. When the material retracts from being in the print core after use i could see a few fairly large grinding marks on the filament, i would say half of the filament's diameter deep. I had a look in the feeder, cleaned away from the dust then made sure the tension gauge was in the middle. The material extruded but then seemed to have a grinding mark after it had stopped, so i relieved a bit of tension, just a few twists. How do i know how much tension to have and how to ensure i don't have problems like this again?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Ewan

[TheodorK 11]

In most cases having the tension gauge in the middle is fine, when the material is grinding away there is most likely a clog in thecore. Have you checked if the material extrudes normally when loading the filament, and have you already tried to clean the printcore?

[geert_2 557]

Also check if the filament is not bent (like in a knot), and not tangled or wrapped under itself on the spool. I have had these two things causing problems too, and they can easily happen if you frequently change filament.

 

[TheodorK 11]

The number one rule I have for preventing filament tangling, is to NEVER let go of the end of the filament when loading/unloading and handling the spools, and always tie it to the spool when it is unloaded or when handling the spools.

 

This rule prevents any issues with the filament wrapping under itself of any kind, since this is impossible to happen when the filament is manufactured, so it is almost always a user error.

[ewanoss9 0]

On 11/8/2019 at 10:43 AM, TheodorK said:

In most cases having the tension gauge in the middle is fine, when the material is grinding away there is most likely a clog in thecore. Have you checked if the material extrudes normally when loading the filament, and have you already tried to clean the printcore?

Thanks for the reply, i started in the middle then slowly adjusted it till the material didn't grind! All fixed, thanks