1 Topic by Joe_Southern

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Topic: Black Filament stops extruding

We have the SD3 - we've gone through a whole roll of white SD Filament and never had an extrusion issue. We changed to SD black and consistently after about an hour or so into a print it stops extruding. Time and time again. Cleaned the little gears with the brush - would print fine for awhile and then stop extruding.

I've seen multiple posts of similar experiences with the black - and after it stops - I can stop the print job, push down on the filament into the head while pushing the extrude button and it soon will start extruding. Start the job again - fine for about an hour - same thing. Using a different 3D model - same thing - eventually the print head is moving like it's printing but nothing is coming out.

We switched to a different filament - an almost transparent white one and - printed just fine - first time - a 6 hour plus job. So, clearly something with the filament.

Any ideas on the issue with the black? I'll really need to use that color after my testing is done.

2 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: Black Filament stops extruding

When you say "stops extruding", do you mean it refuses to feed, or that the motor stops turning?

Some have found they needed to increase their temps a bit when using black. This could be the case. Also, have you measured the diameter of the different filaments? What brand filament?

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3 Reply by IronMan

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Re: Black Filament stops extruding

Another thing that helps is a larger nozzle...are you running a 0.35 or a 0.4?

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4 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Black Filament stops extruding

All of the above and moisture or dirty filament.
I use Octave Black all the time with no issues at the same temp as my other Octave colors.
SD Black on the other hand is a different story.... Brand matters wink

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5 Reply by jagowilson (edited by jagowilson 2014-12-10 20:23:19)

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Re: Black Filament stops extruding

I had this issue after switching from SD filament. It would feed for a while and then stop. You probably just don't have enough tension on the filament in the drive gear. Before I swapped the aluminum plate with the mk5, I solved this by shimming the spring. Not sure what it is but black seems to be kind of slippery in my experience so perhaps that is the cause.

6 Reply by Joe_Southern

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Re: Black Filament stops extruding

Thanks for the input -

- It's the SD brand - and I've seen that about the Octave - I may try it
- It stops coming out - I can see 'one' of the gears going but not the other one that is on the other side of the filament.
- The motor just keeps going - moving as if it is extruding.
- I don't think it's dirty as the filament before and after worked fine
- I tried adjusting the tension screw so much that I could see shards coming off and it wouldn't really go any tighter and I tried various tensions..
- I do not know the nozzle size it's the original one on the SD3 - we've had it a year or so.
- I'll try a little higher temperature.
- I read someone saying to put it in the oven for a bit to get rid of the moisture. It's sat with the other rolls, but perhaps it just got more moisture retention.
- I'll try the Octave brand I've seen where other people had issues with the SD

Thanks again

7 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: Black Filament stops extruding

wardjr wrote:

I use Octave Black all the time with no issues at the same temp as my other Octave colors.
SD Black on the other hand is a different story.... Brand matters wink

+1 I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the quality and reliability of Octave. AND it's cheaper than SD wink

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