Hello all! I am trying to set up my a30 and I keep getting filament extrusion issues. I have this set up out of the box, haven't messed with anything mechanical yet, however, right out of the box the filament isn't being pushed through the way it should. I am getting grinding and skipping and it will stop extruding 30 seconds into the print. The only thing I can think of is that the tube is interfering. The tube is pushed in as far down as it can go. is this a normal setup? I am not sure what else could be causing this. I feel like there is a lot of friction in the tube.
On top of all of this, I am having issues with the filament sticking to the "super plate". Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I leveled the bed using a .004" 1.02mm gauge
The filament is brand new
I sliced the model in EasyPrint 3D 1.2.6
Firmware is at V2.1-NULL
Filament extrusion issues
Re: Filament extrusion issues
make sure you cut your filament at a 45 degree angle and push it through. It should feed through fairly easily.
Check your stepper driver voltage for the extruder (and all the other axis drivers).
My experience so far:
It seems that all these plastic bowden extruders can have a narrow range where they work. You will probably end up between .7v and .8v on the extruder (as low as you can set it and not get skips) and normal setting on the X and Y axis of .6v to .65v. The Z axis is special case it uses 2 steppers so the voltage should be set higher. (.9v to 1.1v) Also I had some issues with it slipping on the filament (not clicking, but just turning without moving filament) that is commonly solved by putting a little something under one end of the spring so it has a little bit more tension. Not too crazy or you'll break the plastic extruder and have to get a metal one sooner. (under $20 on Amazon). Don't add more tension to the spring unless you are actually getting slipping because once you add tension to the spring getting the driver voltage tuned is even more critical since you are pushing the stepper about as hard as it can go. You set the voltage so it doesn't click, but also so that when you touch the stepper motor it isn't too hot to keep your hand on. Warm or hot-ish is ok, but you want to try to get it to where you can just barely keep your fingers on it but it still has enough oomph to never skip a step (click) trying to drive the filament. In the end it has to be set where it will get a print done.
Check your stepper driver voltage for the extruder (and all the other axis drivers).
My experience so far:
It seems that all these plastic bowden extruders can have a narrow range where they work. You will probably end up between .7v and .8v on the extruder (as low as you can set it and not get skips) and normal setting on the X and Y axis of .6v to .65v. The Z axis is special case it uses 2 steppers so the voltage should be set higher. (.9v to 1.1v) Also I had some issues with it slipping on the filament (not clicking, but just turning without moving filament) that is commonly solved by putting a little something under one end of the spring so it has a little bit more tension. Not too crazy or you'll break the plastic extruder and have to get a metal one sooner. (under $20 on Amazon). Don't add more tension to the spring unless you are actually getting slipping because once you add tension to the spring getting the driver voltage tuned is even more critical since you are pushing the stepper about as hard as it can go. You set the voltage so it doesn't click, but also so that when you touch the stepper motor it isn't too hot to keep your hand on. Warm or hot-ish is ok, but you want to try to get it to where you can just barely keep your fingers on it but it still has enough oomph to never skip a step (click) trying to drive the filament. In the end it has to be set where it will get a print done.
Re: Filament extrusion issues
For issues with the print not sticking to the plate, check out my thread here for some tips, I had the same issues but it's all fixed now 