Topic: PETG extrusion - stalled motor
Before I describe anything, here is what I have tried.
Temp 195-240 (240 results in too thin filament obv, the heater can barely even keep it there.)
Motor amperage limit of over 2A! (and maybe 2.9A :))
Have not tried,
Nozzle size increase (Edit: I have tried drilling to 2.0mm with no avail, I believe it is due to barrel friction)
higher temps?
Some kind of hopper config that can reduce shearing (is this even possible)
So from all that information you can probably figure out I am having stall problems when I try to extrude the PETG found on this site, and through research, it is apparent to me that the filastruder was not designed with this material in mind? Aside from maybe being able to get away with a larger nozzle. I really don't want to drill my nozzle nor do I have the tools to do is properly, I would really want a drill press.
Setup: A filastruder fully insulated (this is version 2.1 or something with the new motor and acrylic case) with some fans blowing air around, through I cant really blow air directly on the nozzle as it cools it faster than it can heat itself, as it seems. I don't know whether the motor is being strained by the pressure at the nozzle or the pellets being scraped against the inner walls of the pipe. Either way my motor is being stalled and it will stay at a steady 1.8-1.9amps while it is not stalled. Of course I only own one nozzle so I really want to gather some more opinions and possible solutions before potentially destroying my only nozzle. Thanks in advance!
More edit: I have tried removing the insulation other than right on the tip so that it can still get up to temperature but the pellets don't melt too far up the pipe. This I think helped but I haven't been able to test it for very long as it resulted in horrible squeezing and screaming noises coming from the pipe and being amplified by my hopper. So I can't really tell if it reduced the friction but I can definitely say it did something.
Extra edit: I reshredded my failed extrusions and now I am getting a problem I had before where the amperage is low on the motor and the extrusion rate is really slow. What might shredding have to do with this? I am now worried that because I tested the half insulated barrel with a mix of shredded pellets that I have ruined my results and probably didn't solve anything and am now experiencing a problem with how I reshred my plastic. I have never gotten the filastruder to work successfully for any long period of time. It has been super inconsistent for me, or at least consistently slow and or consistently stalled. At the moment I am only extruding at 1-2 inches per minute.