xyz da vinci extruder clicking (Page 1 of 2)

Once the filament gear gets plastic stripped into it you need to take a stiff brush(toothbrush) and clean it so there is no plastic stuck between the teeth that drive against the filament. You don't need to do this everytime you hear the gear click/strip but after a while the plastic builds up and the drive gear will not be able to push filament into the hotend accurately causing prints to fail or be dodgy.

This is a followup to the Filament Clicking noise.  The comment related to the bed being out of calibration appears  to be true.   I noticed the clicking was on the left side and rear of the bed.  Ifound an STL file of a small washer.  I loaded on on the left rear and one on the front right.

sure enough the right rear clicked and hacked and after a few passes, ripped the print right off the base.  the washer in the front printed perfectly.

So my right rear was obviously too high.  Now for the calibration....  it could be made a whole lot simpler, if the readings correlated to the touch points.  Several posts indicate an auto Calibrate is available...  I could not find it on any of my MENUs.   even tried printing the demo, wherein the video showed the machine doing an autoCalibration.  No luck.

After more than two hours, of fiddeling with +999 +999 +999 Fails,  I played with the left rear adjustment...  Big mistake. I have not seen any - negative values.  But I started getting +165,+135, +195, etc.   I only have 3 degrees in engineering, does it take 4 to figure this out?

So, can anyone tell me, where the "Auto Calibrate" menu option is..?  What are +111 readings relative to?  How does that number compare to +999Is + the difference from what?

This forum has been very helpful...  Thanks to all.

This seems to be a problem with the Da Vinci printers.  I got out a dial indicator and leveled the bed, well according to the machine the dial indicator is wrong.   Played the game with the machine until liked it.     But even if you do not touch the bed and calibrate it after it says its perfect it will return values that are way off.

Not really happy with this feature at the moment.

You have to unload the filament first and unhook the wiring from the side to make it easier. Then you just pull up on the black plastic lever on the back of the extruder above the fan and it will tilt outwards towards the back. Then you pull the extruder up and out and now you should be able to get in with a brush and brush the drive gears clean.
someone posted pictures of how to remove on soliforum. Just google "xyz printing removing the head"

On my printer I noticed the X-axis belt didnt have a screw in it holding it in place like it is supposed to, so I put one in and it started making the horrible clicking noise, I thought it was coming from the print head, but its actually coming from the left side of the printer.  It appears that tightening the screw seems to cause the belt pulley on that side to shift just enough to cause the horrible clicking\grinding noise.  I have not figured out a method of fixing the issue other than removing the screw again...

Is the extruder clicking using ABS filament or PLA?  While Printing ABS I have had no problems.  Printing PLA is another story.  One MFG I can print for under 10 minutes before a plug forms and the filament freezes off.  another supplier im getting 50min and way better resolution but still same problem.  So the clicking problem is effected by more than one factor.  some factors are 1) quality of filament, 2) temp of print head, 3) speed.  but more importantly I suspect XYZ print head design is no conducive to printing PLA... Why wouldn't XYZ support and sell PLA cartridges... I think they ran out of time developing the recipe for PLA and desided to market the printer as is.  the upcoming duo will support PLA....  if I'm wrong please let me know how to print using PLA.  I have just over 88 hrs on my machine and have spent north of 30 trying to print PLA.

Old forum i know but i have found a way to use slic3r to write the code where you can change the print temps then convert the gcode to .3w and print with custom temps. This allows for any aftermarket filament to be used

That seems to have solved the issue, printing fine now!
THANKS!!

The calibration feature on the da Vinci is temperamental I have found try using a slip of normal paper and adjusting the four corners that way I do that in under 5 mins and get excellent prints there's a sticky note on the top of the davinci post feed have a read worth it saves time and hassle

Your motor should not be getting hot. I run my da vinci for 21 hour prints and none of the motors get hot. They get warm, very warm but not hot. Not to the point it would make them go thermal.

If yours are getting hot then your current is too high going in to them and needs to be adjusted.

I havr not looked at the board,  but each stepper should have a trimpot to make the adjustment. Clockwise is more counter is less. On the original board the stepper drivers are on carriers that are in sockets. The pot is on each carrier. If you have a newer board then the stepper drivers are mounted to the board and not even on carriers. The pot for each is still near it. The extruder connector should be labeled. The driver and pot should be near it. Back the pot off about an 8th turn. Thr proper way is to measure the reference voltage but since that is not openly shared then you would back it of till the motor just buzzes then up a quarter turn. If it skips then bump it up another 8th turn.