1. Got a question or need help troubleshooting? Post to the troubleshooting forum or Search the forums!

Fixing the wandering toothed gear

Discussion in 'Projects' started by tkoco, Dec 21, 2019.

  1. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 7, 2018
    Messages:
    721
    Likes Received:
    273
    My C2 printer developed a "wandering" toothed gear problem. When I compared the extruder of the C2 printer to the R2 printer, the R2 printer has thread lock applied to the toothed gear whereas the C2 printer does not. After carefully measuring the R2 extruder, I determined that the optimal depth should be around 3.3 mm. So I designed a depth gage for this project and printed it with PLA filament on my C2 printer.

    Materials and Tools:

    Thread lock compound
    Allen wrench provided with the C2 printer
    Printed depth gage ( download the attached STL file )

    material.jpg

    Printed gage

    gage.jpg

    Procedure:

    Remove the Extruder cover and move toothed gear to the 10 o'clock position. Remove the setscrew (grub screw) and place the gage on the Extruder motor shaft. The gage should fit tight on the shaft so that you won't have to hold it.

    gage_on_extruder.jpg

    Put a drop of thread lock compound into the hole and replace the setscrew (grub screw). Tighten the screw to a snug fit. Do not over-tighten! You can strip the threads of the toothed gear.

    Place a straight piece of filament and confirm that the toothed gear is lined up such that the filament lays in the middle of the toothed area. Also, clean up (wipe with a paper towel) any excess thread lock compound.

    filament_alignment.jpg

    Wait at least 10 minutes before attempting to do any printing (to give the thread lock compound time to set up ).

    Finished!
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 tkoco, Dec 21, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2019
  2. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2015
    Messages:
    5,905
    Likes Received:
    3,593
    If you can't find Blue, Green Loctite is probably sufficient
     
  3. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 7, 2018
    Messages:
    721
    Likes Received:
    273
    Agreed. The Red Loctite is like superglue. Once you use it, there is no way to take the assembly apart. So Red Loctite is to be avoided at all cost.
     
  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2015
    Messages:
    6,757
    Likes Received:
    2,339
    If you use red just put a solder iron on the screw the red is on briefly and it’ll spin right out :)
     
  5. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 7, 2018
    Messages:
    721
    Likes Received:
    273
    I won't disagree with you. It is much easier to not use that type of Locktite and stick to the blue or green versions.
     
    Geof likes this.

Share This Page