My printer can only extrude but cannot retract

[Aperculum]

I tried all the slicer settings I could think of and everytime my printer would print the movement lines too(where printer would normally retract) and instead it extruded those too. When I first got my printer and I used the UI to install the filament it worked but when I wanted to change the filament, it would also extrude instead of retracting. I thought this was a firmware issue but the problem persisted even after I updated the firmware to the latest.

In short, my extruder motor will extrude with both forward and backwards command and cannot retract. What can I do?

[William]

Have you tried to swap the motor driver board A4988?

E180-SWAP.jpg (114.3 KiB) Viewed 11723 times

[Aperculum]

I have not tried doing that but I will do so now. Will update with the results

[Aperculum]

I swapped those driver boards, but the result is still the same. I will only extrude using either of the buttons

[William]

You can upload the firmware again
If the issue still exists
You should take apart the outer shell of the extruder.And then you will get more details about it

[Aperculum]

Hi,

Here's a video of the issue. I tried switching the drivers but it had no apparent effect in anything. I even tried the extrude/retract on the Easyprint 3d software when I updated the firmware but it had the same extrude-only behaviour.

https://youtu.be/u6sNG2twk8E

Here's an image of the extruder assembly. Everything seems to be in order:

https://i.imgur.com/kZxweuj.jpg

[William]

Have you tried to check the lines of motor cable

E180-线序.jpg (127.9 KiB) Viewed 11647 times

E180-LINE2.jpg (136.15 KiB) Viewed 11647 times

[Aperculum]

Yes, I found the post about fixing the non-working extruder and I checked the cables. The colors match exactly to your picture

[William]

You can swap the wiring of X-axis motor and extruder motor

[Aperculum]

I tried swapping those cables, but the the cables are infact very different and I cannot really swap them. Extruder cable is just a short jump cable from the motor to the board just under it and the z-axis cable is a longer cable that goes inside the chassis. I could attach the z-axis cable to the extruder motor but the cable would rip itself apart as soon as the z-axis would start moving.