Clicking sound, won't extrude material...

[tinydancer 0]

I just got my Ultimaker 2 a few days ago and have been able to print out a whole slew of things. But this happened a couple of days ago and is happening tonight, coincidentally with the same roll of red PLA. It basically loads the new red material, gets to the extruder, then the feeder at the back starts making clicking noises like it's trying to feed the filament but it can't for some reason. If I try and heat up the nozzle then manually move material in the advanced options, it makes the same clicking noise.

Any ideas why this is happening? Keep in mind this is from a roll of red that came with my printer. Thanks!

Edit: I changed to the blue and didn't have any issues, it began printing a test piece and layed down the first layers no problem.

The weird thing is I have printed a couple of small objects with the Red previously. Maybe it's just a bad batch.

 

[nightwish 0]

Congrats to your UM2, fine machine

Is the blue and red filament from same brand? If not it could be that the red one is indeed a more tricky one..

 

[donmilne 2]

This could be nothing to worry about. Sometimes the filament gets snagged on the entrance to the Teflon spacer and won't go all the way in. Then of course the motor can push as hard as it likes but the plastic isn't melted, and it ain't goin nowhere. I try to put a point on my filament rather than square cut it.

If that's not the whole story then tweaking the temperature up by 10C might help too.

 

[gr5 2,170]

Sometimes the filament gets snagged on the entrance to the Teflon spacer and won't go all the way in

 

Yes. What he said. Usually I can go to "move filament" move it *up* about 5mm and then down and often the second time it gets through.

Also I usually cut the end off my filament before inserting with two angled cuts so that the tip is pointier (more shaped like a wedge).

 

[tinydancer 0]

Thanks for the advice guys. How to do you move the filament up, not sure where that setting is? And I cut a wedge on the end but it didn't go in, and this time it's the blue filament I was able to use last night.

And both the red and blue are from Ultimaker.

Edit: Ok I don't think it's the filament as it's now doing it with all three. I did try cutting a wedge shape in them, still no joy.

 

[tinydancer 0]

Ok I took out the Bowden tube (somehow lost the little blue collar in the process, absolutely no idea where it went :shock: ) and it looks like there is some material blocking the opening. Any suggestions how to get that out? Do I need to take apart the print head?

 

[tinydancer 0]

Problem Solved!

Turns out it was that little piece of plastic blocking the PTFE tube, so after taking apart the head for the first time I was able to fish it out, get it all back together, and I'm now printing a test piece in red. Success! I also found the blue collet as well, it had fallen inside the head.

Thanks for all the help everyone, much appreciated! I'll definitely be cutting the filament ends as you suggested for easier loading.

 

[donmilne 2]

Use the Atomic method to clean out the nozzle (see online visual guide). Also, if you look back in my post history you should find where I posted an OpenSCAD script for an exact copy of the UM2 bowden clip. You do need it - you don't want the bowden tube moving.

Edit: ah, problem solved while I was composing. The blockage was a bit more basic than I had in mind, but well done for finding the problem.

 

[tinydancer 0]

Thanks DonMilne, I was wondering if you could just print more of those so I'll grab that design from you and get a few more made.

Cheers!

 

[donmilne 2]

I was on a tablet yesterday which is why I didn't post a direct link (copy and paste is hard). Here it is now :-

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/7338-ultimaker-2-collet-locks/

 

[oklok 0]

Kind sounds like the nozzle has something stop in it making the machine stop accepting filaments

 

[donmilne 2]

Hmm. Read on Macduff!

 

[gr5 2,170]

Move material upwards? There's a "move material" menu item. Have you not found it yet?

Or you can just yank on the filament behind the machine. The extruder motor is off most of the time. It turns on when you start a print, home, load filament, move material. But after 60 seconds or so it turns off again and you can just push filament in and out by hand.

 

[tinydancer 0]

Yeah I saw that, but it only seemed to move material down. Good to know about the extruder motor though.

 

[yodajammies 0]

I have a similar issue to this so I guess I'll threadjack since TinyDancer has his problem solved...

I've checked for clogs/obstructions (nada) and it looks like the issue is in the feeder motor itself. I can heat the heads and advance material through so that it extrudes, but if I try to run the material any faster than a snail's pace, the motor skips backward (to protect from grinding). I've read up on the adjustable pressure feature of this part but my question is:

Which way is which? With the white indicator all the way at the bottom that is suppose to denote "high pressure." Does this mean it requires higher pressure to make the motor skip backward, or does it mean that its being put under high pressure and it will not take much to make it skip?

Thanks for your help gurus!

 

[CG5 0]

Same here. My printer worked for a day and now is just not taking the filmant now. Anyone got a idea why?