Extruder issues?

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blackeagle
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:59 pm

Extruder issues?

Post by blackeagle » Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:04 am

I have a Prusa I3B Pro and have started having issues extruding (using the new mk8 plastic self-tension setup), It will print perfectly for awhile (10-20 layers of a small cube) then it will stop extruding, I can feel that it's not even trying to pull the filament down, if I leave it alone it will go for hours and nothing else will come out as it finishes. If I just barely push the filament down, I can feel the filament go down (like there was a gap) and not only will it start printing properly again, I can also feel the motor pulling it in... Then it will print for a few more layers or perhaps a 100 more layers then it will happen again.

I've replaced the nozzle, tube, bought brand new filament, took the extruder apart to check for any issues, re-flashed the firmware, adjusted temperatures, speeds, retraction, etc., adjusted the Potentiometer up and down. I can manually set it to extrude 100mm of filament and it does it fine, haven't tried larger batches yet.

The only thing I haven't replaced is the motor itself... I'm looking at doing that next, but wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas or can think of something I've missed...

I took a bad picture of the filament when it last happened, If I just pull the filament out it looks like this (I cut off a little of the trailing piece). But I can see where it's almost stretched, or like it's getting cold-hot-cold..

Ideas?

Thanks!

[img]http://www.inich.com/IMG_0903.JPG[/img]

blackeagle
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:59 pm

Re: Extruder issues?

Post by blackeagle » Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:58 am

It seems replacing the plastic pieces of the extruder with the metal pieces of an older MK8 I had laying around fixed my issues.. seems like others I've read on here, the "new" MK8 with the plastic self adjusting tension aren't as good as they sound...

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