1 Topic by barry1685

  • barry1685
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  • Registered: 2014-11-23
  • Posts: 203

Topic: Filament tension

Just a quick question for experienced users. Does your filament have to have zero tension when extruding? I find that when using a custom extruder that it easily gets jams from tension of the filament feeding. I think the davinci extruder was designed to handle higher tension when pulling the filament out of xyz cartridges.

2 Reply by Junbug

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  • Registered: 2015-04-02
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Re: Filament tension

I'm not an experienced user, but... I have a refilled cartridge where the spool turns with difficulty once per rotation. There is definitely tension there, and it seems to extrude alright so far with my stock extruder.

3 Reply by barry1685

  • barry1685
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Re: Filament tension

Thanks Junbug, I believe the davinci extruder was designed to handle the tension in the cartridges. I set up a spool for the filament and it is working fine now.

4 Reply by PseudoShooter

  • PseudoShooter
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  • From: Windsor, Ontario.
  • Registered: 2015-02-07
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Re: Filament tension

I've had to enlarge the hole in the top of a few new cartridges.

On one occasion, the filament was so bound in by the small opening, it caused one of my prints to fail.

I started just opening new carts up and enlarging the hole as a matter of course to make sure the filament flowed ok.

Win 8.1
Improved Da Vinci 1.0 with Firmware 1.2.5 and stock extruder
Arduino cartridge resetter and after-market ABS filament
TinkerCAD, Netfabb, Simplify3D

5 Reply by jasonb.194

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  • Registered: 2015-01-20
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Re: Filament tension

When you say extruder, do you mean the Hot end, or the stepper?

Tension should not effect the hot end as the stepper should push the filament into it.

As for the stepper itself, I don't think that the stock one is stronger than other steppers as I have also had issues with it when there is a lot of friction in the filament path. As long as the gear has a good hold of the filament then everything should be okay.

6 Reply by pbcrazy

  • pbcrazy
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  • Registered: 2015-01-05
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Re: Filament tension

PseudoShooter wrote:

I've had to enlarge the hole in the top of a few new cartridges.

On one occasion, the filament was so bound in by the small opening, it caused one of my prints to fail.

I started just opening new carts up and enlarging the hole as a matter of course to make sure the filament flowed ok.

This has happened a couple times to me too. When I was still using buying cartridges I would open them up and remove the desiccant packet, never had a problem after.

da Vinci 1.0
Repetier Firmware, E3D v6 Hot End
Successfully printed in: ABS, PLA, Ninjaflex, Nylon, and Woodfill