Feeding too slow...

Greetings all. After a few prints i noticed the quality degrading during quick movement printing, such as infill. It was discovered that the toothed feed 'gear' was full of dust like bits of plastic, i cleaned it off, and upped the temp a bit just to be sure. It still feeds and prints fine during slower movements, but the only way it prints consistently and without bunching up around the nozzle during printing is if i physically grab the filament and push it downward into the feed mechanism. Also, the only way i've gotten decent prints out of this gray filament is running 215-210 temps. Is there a way to increase the flow rate or strengthen the holding power of the feed mechanism short of using bigger springs? Thanks,

 

You can increase the flow rate in Slic3r (Extrusion Multiplier).
You should also think about replacing your hobbed bolt. The one that's coming with the printer is somewhat poor quality.

 

Cool, I'll have to play with the setting a bit then.

Hmm, interesting, is the upgraded Hob on here for purchase? Might just get a buddy at work to do it... the perks at working at a machine shop!

Currently I've trimmed a bit of plastic from around bearing that holds the filament against the hob, it was too tight and the bearing wasn't spinning freely- now it is. Also found some stiffer springs I'll be swapping in and do a few test runs...

 

Cool, thanks for the links.

As of now, the stiffer springs seem to be doing the job, but the info on that other bolt makes sense, so I'll probably be heading that way too.

In a twist of fate, being able to print larger object without a feeding problem has highlighted another issue I didn't know I had... but that is for another thread!