Solved Extruder Bolt Chews Filament

I've had my Robo3D R1+ Plus for 2 months, and have printed more than a dozen times with it, with no issue. A few days ago, though, I moved it to a new room in my house. Of course, I had to make sure it was all set up, level, calibrated, etc. However, while trying to calibrate the filament feed, I ran into a huge problem; the filament will stop feeding, get chewed up by the feeder bolt, and will produce an uneven extrusion at the hot end.

I've made sure it's not clogged more time than I can count (I've cleaned it out), adjusted the tension screws on the feeder bolt, increased the temperature of the hot end to 220, and tried slowing down the feed in MatterControl. Nothing seems to work.

I can manually feed the filament through the hotend with no issues, as well. I did notice that the filament seems to hang on something when I load it into the hot end, but I can't see anything that would cause the blockage, plus I've ran different filaments through it, as well as used the wire method to clear the filament path.

One more thing I've noticed; when I do try to print, the skirt looks to be over-extruding quite a bit, but the still occurs.

Everything is as clean as I can get it, the path is clear through to the hot end, and the flow is smooth when I feed it manually. Has anyone had an issue like this? I can't find anything on it anywhere I searched.

Hopefully someone can help; I'm at my wits end with this thing.

 

Well you have done a thorough job troubleshooting. Couple things I can think of. What are you using for a filament holder? Could it be the filament is tangled a bit and hangs up on the roll? For it to just happen after a move like that doesn't make a lot of sense. Could you also take a pic of your hobb bolt teeth?

 

I'm using a top-mounted holder I printed from Thingiverse, but I ruled that out by cutting a 12 inch piece of filament and trying to get that to feed. At first, I thought it was a setting in my registry that MC or Cura put there; I had to go through the registry manually and remove all the entries I could find after removing the programs, but that didn't help. I even reimaged my system after that (though I needed to, anyway, in order to fix other unrelated issues).

Could the firmware have been updated or changed, somehow? That's the only other thing I can think of, but I don't remember approving a firmware update for it. You're right, though; it doesn't make any sense that moving it is the cause, it's just the only major event that happened before it started this mess. BTW, here is the pic you asked about.

 

The firmware wouldn't change unless you did it.
I would try to see if the feeder work properly first by removing all filament out then remove the hot end. Then try to load the filament and then do a extrude command to see if it feeds correctly. You will want to check that the gears are not slipping. Even give it a little tension by pulling on it.
While you have the hot end out visually check it out.

 

I'm not using an oiler, and I've ruled clogs out, so far. I followed suggestion and tried extruding filament with the hot end removed; it feeds through just fine, but there is an electronic burning smell coming from the stepper motor, and it makes a high-pitched noise when it spins. Also, the motor wouldn't initially start; it made a whining noise and wouldn't spin, like the motor, itself, got jammed somehow. Are these things under warranty? I'm thinking the motor needs to be replaced.

 

Motor... Yes.... If you just got this in the past 6 months then file a warrant part replacement claim.

 

Might need to check the stepper motor driver for E on the Ramps board itself. If the current isn't right it might be sending to little to the motor.

 

Please forgive how new I am at this, but how do I check the "stepper motor driver for E on the Ramps board itself," and does this happen often? I'm not sure how it would with just moving the printer.

 

Glad to hear it got you closer to the problem and hopefully fixed soon.

 

Well, I submitted a warranty replacement for the stepper motor. I'll update the thread when I get it in and replaced. Thanks for the help, folks!

 

There might be more to the story, but at least checking to make sure the driver is in range might be a good start.

 

The new driver might need to be calibrated as well. Might as well watch the video and try on your current one (no pun) to see if that helps or not. Another thing is to swap the E driver with another like X and see if the issue goes away.

 

Thanks for that, but I'm still a bit confused. The video goes into the what to do and why to do it, but doesn't go into the how. I THINK I've found the correct driver on the board (upper right mini-board, when the RAMPS in in the top left while looking at the bottom). Which way adjusts the voltage up or down? And how much does it adjust the voltage?

On another note, I toyed with it for a bit, and the stepper motor stuck every time I tested the changes.. I'm guessing the motor is the culprit causing all my printer issues. Hopefully the new part will come in quickly.

 

Clare goes into the how a bit more. Small changes are best. Use a multimeter and get the reading it is now before changing it.

 

Here is another thread that goes into this subject

http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?threads/stepper-driver-calibration-information.6466/