My 2 big sprockets on the extruding are somewhat wearing out in an incredible high rate. I tried to grease them once… sorry ever since. Anyway it is raining sprocket, the stuff is everywhere. Now I am printing with natural filament which allows me to see sprocket even inside my objects. And the printbed keeps getting black of sprocket all the time.
Is this supposed to be? or have I put the two sprockets to close on eachother?
And I am guessing I will soon receive advice to print new ones? (now there is still sprocket left to print with )
Sounds like the sprockets are really too close.
The should barely touch without any pressure.
Anyway, they will still wear down over time, caus it’s simply ABS grinding on ABS.
That’s why i exchanged the extruder gears with belt pulleys (GT" 2mm).
Runs very smooth and stable and gives no debris.
What does Velleman use for the original gears? It really shouldn’t be ABS. Is it Nylon? The 3Drag parts sheet calls for POM (Acetal), and that’s what they should use.
… but I agree with the previous comment. Adjust your gears so that they have free rotation. You don’t want any binding.
At first, I tried printing my own gears as they wore out, and even had a cover to keep the oil/plastic from sloughing off into my print. The GT2 upgrade proved it was a waste of time, and I never wore a single GT2 belt out (or printed gear).
Oil is not generally good for plastic. You should not need to put oil on printed or molded gears, and you could be shortening their life considerably by doing so. The gears should not shed any significant amount of material if you have everything adjusted properly.
Without oil I could see the scuff marks between teeth getting deeper. With oil, the flecks began building up into a paste that looked like lapping compound, but they did seem to wear more slowly.
I just don’t see, regardless of how aligned those 2 gears are, how a smaller gear can push a larger gear under tension with a sliding connection without wear.
There will be wear, but adding oil or grease is only likely to break the plastic down faster. The extruder gears need to be very loose to avoid a lot of binding, friction, and wear.
Without oil I could see the scuff marks between teeth getting deeper. With oil, the flecks began building up into a paste that looked like lapping compound, but they did seem to wear more slowly.
I just don’t see, regardless of how aligned those 2 gears are, how a smaller gear can push a larger gear under tension with a sliding connection without wear.[/quote]
When the center-to-center distance of the gears is correct, there is nearly no wear, because the teeth are rolling, not sliding (involute teeth form)