This is driving me nuts...

I am not sure what to describe this as but it seems that I keep getting this "clumping" in the center of all my PLA prints. I have cut infill speed and raised extrusion multiplier, it seems to improve but I still haven't gotten a successful PLA print. Also ant other thing I have noted is that my PLA seems to strip or chip inside the extrude (almost like a filament snag but the line is loose) much more easily then my ABS is that common?

 

What temp?

 

About 200, couldn't seem to get any extrusion below that.

 

I wonder if your thermistor is reading incorrectly. Stock hot end?

I would bump it to 210 and try it.

I just tried a new pla, been flawless on the others but this one didnt stick like it should have on first layer. At 200 i couldn't get it to get a good layer down. Went to 210 and never skipped a beat on a 2 1/2 hr print.

 

Also make sure hobbed bolt isnt full of plastic in the teeth. You dont need extrusion multipliers, the more you change the more problems you are going to have.

 

Yeah I always brush the teeth out (with a tooth brush even). But i don't understand why it keeps stopping... I might have to clean the whole extruder assembly. Is there a how-to on that?

 

I went ahead and cleaned the hobbed bolt again and the smooth one opposite of it(don't know whats its called) I cleared out a lot of that filament dust that comes off the hobbed bolt and then. There was alot of crud in it and I dropped some gun oil to lube it (all I had laying around) while I was at it.

 

I am starting to think the bearing was getting jammed from all the filament dust that got in it. I cleared out a bunch and dropped some gun oil on it to lube it.

 

Did you swap out the hobbed bolt for a better one? My original one even had the teeth angled backwards from the direction of rotation so it was useless. I got a new one on ebay and even got a grooved opposing bearing to ensure the filament stayed in the bolt channel. I think this is called the idler bearing.

Also does the bolt inside the large gear have any rotating play in it? Rotate the bit gear back and forth and if there is some play then every retraction will have a delay in extruding which will leave bare spots. Latter filament can be layed on top of the bare spot and make a jumbled mess. I fixed this by taking the gear off and with the bolt in place, putting a drop of high strength locktite on each corner of the six corners. be careful not to get it on the threads and let it dry at least one day.

 

Also make sure the spring tension is all the way. You can even add a washer or two to each spring to up the tension. With the hobbed bolt working right and correct tension you should see no or very little filament dust in that area.

Make sure the new hobbed bolt has the teeth 15mm from the base of the bolt head. Measure the old one to be sure.

 

Well if that is not the problem its certainly a contributor, I get dust everywhere.

Got a link to the bolt?

 

Hey just for future reference... is there a bill of materials available somewhere? I think I stripped the screw that hold the filament latch.

 

We tried starting one here but it's incomplete.
http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/r3d-bom.1298/page-2

 

If you mean one of the two long ones, they are 50mm M4.

 

try CURA

 

Oh cura is terrible....ive never had anything come remotely close to working with that.

Go back to original settings...you probably changed to many things and its too far off to figure out. Stock settings will produce perfect parts...you may just need to change temps slightly. No need to change extrusion or anything like that.

 

Exactly
When i was messing with settings at first, i ended up creating problems rather then solving.
All you u have to do is to set correct filament size and nozzle diameter. Everything else is PERFECT the way it is.