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Answered Extruder motor skipping

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by colton81, Feb 23, 2017.

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  1. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Ive been having a issue where i will print anything and about 5 mins into it i hear a loud clicking noise like the motor skipping. the prints come out like its missing material almost like the printer skipped layers at a time. when looking at the head you can see the piece that pulls the filament in is skipping. Any idea what this could be from?
     
    #1 colton81, Feb 23, 2017
  2. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Its possible you have a jam/partial jam (PLA is bad about this) or worse there may be a mechanical issue. When the "skipping" happens can you push on the filament and it starts going again? (help the motor pull it into the hotend).
     
    #2 Geof, Feb 24, 2017
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    and this is a C2 (just be sure we are looking at the same problem)?
     
    #3 mark tomlinson, Feb 24, 2017
  4. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Yes its a C2 i didnt try pushing it but i did do a cold pull on the filament. I heated it to 90 degrees C and removed the filament. After that it worked fine it only skipped about 2 layers which wasn't noticeable. I will try pushing it through when i print again tonight if it skips.
     
    #4 colton81, Feb 24, 2017
  5. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Sounds like you need to do that cold pull again then season the extruder
     
    #5 Geof, Feb 24, 2017
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  6. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Well i tried the cold pull again and im still having the same issues tried rebooting and also updated it as well and still the same. Not sure what to do at this point. I have contacted Robo but they are very slow at replying and they still never responded to my last email with issues i had. But i fixed those on my own. This is a major issue for me since this machine is only a little over a week old. How do i season the extruder?
     
    #6 colton81, Feb 25, 2017
  7. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    #7 Geof, Feb 25, 2017
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Where did you buy the machine?
     
    #8 mark tomlinson, Feb 25, 2017
  9. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    I bought it from frys which was a mistake because they dont allow returns on 3d printers.
     
    #9 colton81, Feb 25, 2017
  10. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    #10 colton81, Feb 25, 2017
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Crap :) That was what I was afraid of. You may want to give Robo a call (rather than an email) during normal business hours and see if you can't get them to send you a new hotend or stepper.
     
    #11 mark tomlinson, Feb 25, 2017
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  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I can't say because it does NOT use a standard RAMPS/Arduino/Stepper drivers. I will see if I can find out.
     
    #12 mark tomlinson, Feb 25, 2017
  13. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Yea i knew i screwed up i was impatient and took the risk... thanks for the help let me know if you find out. Also i should probably mention this started happening afterni took out the robo filament that it came with and put in the makerbot filament same size and everything so i dont think that would be the issue. Im going to swap it back to the robo filament and see if it still continues though.
     
    #13 colton81, Feb 25, 2017
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Well, actually not all filament is created equal. Even if it is labeled as 1.75mm (rather than 3mm) filament, sometimes there are rolls that are out of spec. somewhat. On the original Robo R1 style with the GregsWade extruder this was not going to be an issue unless it was wildly out of spec. There was enough torque and a short enough feed that the filament was going to get where it needed to go. The new direct extruder is not that beefy (and does not need to be). So filament that is too oversized will cause issues. Try another spool.

    Also make sure it is PLA :) Other materials need hotter extrusion.
     
    #14 mark tomlinson, Feb 25, 2017
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  15. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Ive only seen pictures of the c2 board, but from what i saw it looks like its non adjustable. Id just get robo on the phone, theyll be able to sort you and get you warrantied parts. Defianently check your temp though. Makerbot pla runs extemely hot in my experience. Might want to measure it, make sure its in spec make sure its pla and if yes to both try increasing the heat a bit
     
    #15 Geof, Feb 25, 2017
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It may be firmware adjustable*, the Rambo Boards are like that. I simply do not know (yet) and have not heard back from them.
    I doubt I will hear back before next week, but we will see. There are some potential adjustment spots from what I can see, but nothing well labeled... I will look into it further since I am tearing down the C2 again to finish it.



    *nope, it does not appear to be.
     
    #16 mark tomlinson, Feb 25, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2017
  17. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Well i switched back to the robo filament and it works perfect. So its either bad filament or the temp isnt high enough. Should i increase the temp by 5 degrees c at a time untill it starts printing? I read that makerbot recomended temp is 230c but that seems to hot for PLA.
     
    #17 colton81, Feb 25, 2017
  18. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    I'd go for 210 or 220 and adjust as needed
     
    #18 Geof, Feb 25, 2017
  19. colton81

    colton81 Active Member

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    Im going to try to increase heat and see if anything changes if not then try another spool.
     
    #19 colton81, Feb 25, 2017
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  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I am still waiting to hear back on the stepper drive, but I think this picture says it:

    [​IMG]


    Those heat sinks along the lower left corner are the stepper drivers I bet and there are not obvious adjustment pots there (or anywhere really). So you should be pinging Robo about a replacement stepper motor.
     
    #20 mark tomlinson, Feb 26, 2017
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