Extruder clicking
Hello,
So I've successfully made some prints with my new assembled MK3S, but now I have a problem with the extruder clicking. It started with a new roll of black prusament filament (I have not yet gone back to the other filament I used, the silver that came with the printer), and may happen anywhere from 30 to 60min into a print.
I checked the alignment of the extruder wheels (it's good), I tried tightening the screw around them, untightening it, unclogging the nozzle with the needle (although it didn't seem clogged, as the melted filament flows straight), unloading then reloading the filament - the clicking always comes back to mess up the print, so I can't really print anymore.
Here's what the filament looks like:
Any idea what else I could do?
RE: Extruder clicking
So after some further reading I installed a fan over the extruder motor with this
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2975582
The next print failed but this time the filament was let go by the gears instead of ground down, can't tell if it's an improvement or not... I'll tighten the extruder screw, but the filament already has some wheel tooth marks so I don't know if that will help.
I'm considering replacing the heatbreak with a regular E3D heatbreak but I don't have those 2.2mm clogs, so also not sure if that would help.
RE: Extruder clicking
Could be that you need to print hotter, or slower.
Test with different filament.
Check if you extrude at 100mm high, if filament comes out thick enough and straight down, without bubbles.
RE: Extruder clicking
I tried with the black prusament: at 210° the print failed after 40 minutes, the filament was released from the gears. At 225° the print fails after 20 minutes, the filament has some grinding but no blob, can be unloaded normally.
With the white prusament: at 210° failure after 75 minutes, at 225° after 20 minutes. In both cases the filament has some grinding but no blob, can be unloaded normally.
When extruding the filament is a bit curly at the start, then drops straight down. It looks smooth and regular to me.
I'll do the test with the stock silver, so far I've only had problems with the prusaments but I haven't used the silver in a while.
RE: Extruder clicking
You could try a new nozzle , so you can be 100% that it is not clogged.
I had this also, and I did not see it clogged, after changing nozzle it printed again.(you also could try a cold pull with a high temperature filament).
I have also the extra fan on extruder, I also did a standard e3d heatbreak in my mk3(no s).
Search the forum if a different heatbrake is needed.
Also check if the room or enclosure is not to hot to print.
RE: Extruder clicking
I tried the same model with the silver filament at 225° and it just finished the 100-minute print successfully, when the other 2 filaments failed at the 20 minutes mark. I'd done a cold pull after the problems started and it looked clean.
I don't have an enclosure, it is warm in the room (27°) but I would assume not enough to cause these errors?
This is strange and I don't get why only the prusaments fail (and at 225° they fail at the same time). I've ordered a standard heatbreak, hopefully that solves the problem.
RE: Extruder clicking
In the winter less people have this problem, and not all printers have this problem.
You could test a print at night time to see if the other filaments works wen its colder.
And of course search the forum for solutions.
RE: Extruder clicking
This video, which is older, has some good tips on extruder idler adjustment for clicking. looser is better.
I would say that the indents on the filament indicate too tight idler which can contribute to clogs or partial clogs.
First, do cold pulls, preferably using cleaning filament but PLA will work. then make sure the idler adjustment is just tight enough to grab and feed the filament, using the video as a guide.
Strange women, laying in ponds, distributing swords, is hardly a basis for a system of governance!
RE: Extruder clicking
I tried setting the extruder screw tension according to the video - it feels like it's the same as before, or maybe slightly less tightened (it's flush with the extruder).
I tried another cold pull, here's what I pulled out:
It really doesn't look like a clogged nozzle. I'm able to do 2h prints with the silver filament, but 10 minutes into a print with the black prusament I got clicks and the filament looked like that:
I'm certainly regretting buying some more prusament rolls a few days ago, as it appears that the quality of this brand of filaments is the cause of my problems
RE: Extruder clicking
Here's an update, just in case someone else has the same problem.
I left the printer alone for a few days, while waiting for the regular E3D v6 heatbreak to arrive. It was easier to install than I feared it was going to be (the worst was actually unscrewing the heatbreak from the heatsink). I did not have special thermal paste so I just put some that I had for desktop CPU.
I was really not sure the heatbreak was causing my problems as I didn't see any evidence of a jam or a 2.2mm blob, so this was sort of my last resort, but I'm happy to report that after this change I have not heard the dreaded clicking once. I was able to finish longer prints with the black and white prusaments, and even successfully finished a 12h print when before I would not even think about trying a 3h print with those rolls.
(I'll note than between the failures and replacing the heatbreak the temperature in the room has dropped by 5-8°; I don't know if that's a factor as well)