1 Topic by tylerl423

  • tylerl423
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Topic: Filament not feeding on SD3

My Solidoodle 3 just recently encountered another issue, when printing (sometimes it starts in the middle of the print) the filament doesn't guide through the hot end. Either the bearing on the tension arm doesn't spin and no filament is fed through with only the drive motor spinning, or when i add more tension to the arm I hear this clicking noise and the filament sort of "jumps" yet theres no sweet spot in the middle of those two. Ive been primarily used abs for the past year but i used pla for a few days before this started happening so i switched back to abs. what can i do to solve this issue?

2 Reply by mdrVB6

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Re: Filament not feeding on SD3

Sounds like your hot end is jamming.   First, make sure it is getting to temp and staying there.  Then make sure it is not clogged.  Then make sure your drive gear teeth are not gummed up with filament dust.  More than likely one of those will fix it.  If it is the stock hot end, it may be hard to unclog, so hope its not that.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

3 Reply by tylerl423

  • tylerl423
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Re: Filament not feeding on SD3

I have taken a toothbrush and cleaned the teeth of the drive gear but that didn't do anything, i have my temp at 205 and it tends to stay within 203-208 for entire prints so its stable enough. i think i read somewhere that its possibly a partial clog? if i click extrude theres no issues but when i start to print things it sometimes starts doing that at the beginning or even it could start 100 layers in, its completely random.

4 Reply by tylerl423

  • tylerl423
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Re: Filament not feeding on SD3

Also it is the stock hot end. I've been thinking about upgrading to the e3d v6

5 Reply by mdrVB6

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Re: Filament not feeding on SD3

Yes, sounds like a partial clog caused by heat creep.  The heat from the nozzle is creeping up the filament making it soften before it is extruded and that increases the torque needed to push it thru.  If the motor can't handle it, you get the skipping that you are having.  You might be able to get around it by decreasing your temps but that could introduce other issues.

Sounds like a good time to get an E3D v6 or lite6.  The fan over the heat sink will eliminate this issue as long as you are not running too hot.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

6 Reply by ecalistro87

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Re: Filament not feeding on SD3

I took the entire hot end apart and had a really bad jamb. Experiencing the same problem as you with ABS, once a cleared the clog it has worked great since.