1 Topic by focal

  • focal
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  • Registered: 2014-06-06
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Topic: Help! Filament not extruding while printing but does extrude manually!

Hey guys, new to the forums and am desperately seeking help. (I have done my homework and looked through the forums to see if anyone has had a similar issue. Someone with a similar issue started a thread but the problem was never resolved and the thread is too old to revive). So here's my problem:

When ready to print, I go through all the preliminary work and everything seems to be in working order. The bed and hot end heat up as they should, the extruder goes to its home placement, and some of the filament (about 2 inches) slightly leaks and curls. Then after I hit "Run" the printer goes through all the motions but filament no longer extrudes. It doesn't even lay the support layer.
Filament is extruded when I manually hit the extrude option which leads me to believe that the nozzle is not clogged. Also, I don't think it's a problem with the platform being too close or far from the nozzle. Just yesterday I was able to run two small prints with the configuration. Just to double check, however, I shifted the bed closer and further from the nozzle four times and haven't had any luck.
Thanks in advance for any help!

2 Reply by ronsii

  • ronsii
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  • Registered: 2012-10-28
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Re: Help! Filament not extruding while printing but does extrude manually!

It is a little unclear in your post but has this printer ever started to print anything? If you could post the gcode it would tell us if the problem lies with the printer or it is a problem with the stl file or slicer.

Have you tried to lower the platform a lot... so it is definitely not near the nozzle when printing? this way you can see if filament is coming out in mid air... this test will eliminate the possibility of bad start code messing with the first layer height.

3 Reply by focal

  • focal
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Re: Help! Filament not extruding while printing but does extrude manually!

@ronsii

I was able to print at one point. To start, I printed the "Make Robot" and the "Owl Facing Left" from thingiverse just fine a couple of days ago but I yesterday I began having problems. I don't think there's anything wrong when converting the stl file to gcode as the printer goes through all the motions layer by layer just fine but actual filament isn't coming out. For what it's worth though, the following is the gcode I've been using when printing the "Make Robot".

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Make Robot GCode.zip 430.79 kb, 1 downloads since 2014-06-06 

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4 Reply by aaronstalling

  • aaronstalling
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  • Registered: 2014-04-10
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Re: Help! Filament not extruding while printing but does extrude manually!

I had a similar issue. Check the extruder temp, set it to 195-205°C. Next, perform the extruder temperature  auto calibration test,  http://wiki.solidoodle.com/pid-autotune … uctuation.
Also just check the wiring from your components to the board.