Extruder stepper stops after 2.5 mm thickness?

Hello all,

I’m not new on 3D design,
but very new on 3D printing …

So, I need some help here,

I was testing the printer for the second time, with a gear part.
all started very well, but after 2.5 mm thickness,
the extruder stepper started to loosing steps.
and no more ABS - black was coming out of the printer head.
Sorry, I broke the part by pulling it of the plate …

So, I stopped the 3d printer, restarted the PC and communication and started the job for a second time.

And, Yes, after 2.5 mm the stepper stopped again ???##@@**

So, I restarted all for the 3th time, but with the second extruder (left) …
and all worked very well.

can someone help me here ?

Greetings from pajottenland - belgium,
Marc

This looks like a truncated G-code. If you’re printing from the LCD panel, you probably removed the SD card from the computer before the whole file was copied on it. So it only contained the first 2.5 mm of the print.

To print with the other extruder you had to re-slice your piece and this time got the whole file on the SD card…

Hi raby,

This was printed from the PC, with USB connection.
No SD card was used …

Marc,

When the filament stopped flowing did the printer keep printing in the air? Did you hear a clicking noise from the extruder when the flow stopped?

What are your temperature and flow parameters?

Also check if the filament is not entangled on the spool.

Hi raby,

[quote=“raby”]When the filament stopped flowing did the printer keep printing in the air? Did you hear a clicking noise from the extruder when the flow stopped?

What are your temperature and flow parameters?[/quote]

  • Yes, the printer X-Z and Z axis are working like there is ABS flowing out of the extruder …
  • And yes, there is a clicking noise coming from the stepper …
  • ABS - black - settings => 255°C - real temp. is 239 °C
    the heater can’t warm up higher, the cooler ventilator is cooling down to match the head…
  • All clear …

Marc,

[quote=“pajotter_marc”]* ABS - black - settings => 255°C - real temp. is 239 °C[/quote]It’s way too much! I’m printing at 225° with black ABS and a bit less with other colors. With higher temperatures you’ll clog your nozzle (and it probably did). And my flow is at 75-80%.

I hope this will help! :slight_smile: I dont think his temp is the main issue

If you get a clicking sound from the feeder mid print it is that the filament have jammed in the printhead in a retraction sequense. Making it that you can not push filament forward. This can happen in a retraction motion.

There are those that put a retraction distance over 5 mm and that is not required exept if your doing a tool change on this printer but if your doing a normal retraction you need todo it quick but when doing a tool change retraction it need to be done slowly or else you start getting these type of problems mid print.

Reason for this is the effect the retraction have on the filament with this design where the ptfe tube goes so close to the heated nozzle. (heat gap between nozzle and the tube)

A normal retraction with fast speed should never pass the distance of 1/3 of the nozzle length when retracted in this case it is not longer then 6 mm but that is playing with the limit hense im saying 5 mm.

This is my settings for this for most normal filaments like PLA and ABS. The normal distance need to be lowered on some filament types due to the density of the filament and how it behave when melted. Like some softer density filaments.

Normal retraction 4,5 mm
Extra restart distance 0 mm
Normal retraction speed 150 mm/s

Tool change retraction is only done if your printing with more then 1 nozzle and using a prime pilar wish is advisable to use.

Tool change retraction 12 mm
Tool restart distance -0,1 to 0,1 mm usualy works here
Tool change retraction speed 10 mm/s

PS you can retract it longer on the normal retractions but then the speed for the retraction need to be lowered in conjunction with the distance. But then you also need to add restart distance or else you will end upp with filament not flowing after the retraction possibly making a small hole in your print where there didnt come any filament for a couple of mm. On tool change and using a Prime pilar always add extra restart distance because for the most the pilar wont have filament on the entire pilar and then you need to tinker with it so that you get a useful pilar that dont break or get loose from the platform when going upward in the Z axis layers.

There is however other reasons why the clicking sound can happen and that is if the filament spool is tangled and dont have a free flowing role effect. But then this could even happen in mid filament loading. I had once a role where the filament strain had gone under another making it that i needed to help the role to go around loosening the filament or the stepper started clicking. Took me a couple of prints before i managed to find out it was this reason and unwind and rewind some of the filament on the spool.

A 3rd option is if the feeder plastic parts is screwed to hard together with the frame. It can happen that the stepper feeder wheel get issues with it. Making it click. But i doubt it is any of the 2 last suggested reasons. Last but not least there is the current on the stepper drivers but i doubt that is your problem considering it would have showed itself long time before this if it was that.

Best regards
Marlark

thanks raby, Marlark,

@raby,
I will test this temp., but I did some tests on the second nozzle,
with my 255°C (239°C real temp.) settings, and used ABS - Red for this.
The result is OK.

@Marlark,
Thanks for your reaction, I will test this in the WE.
about your second point: The spool is free, and no problems with it.
your third point: If this was so, then filament can stop flowing also from the beginning …
but I will check this.

best regards,
marc,