Filament won't load
Hi there!
I'm new with 3D printing. I've bought the Prusa Mini+ with PLA Filament. From the very beginnning I had issues with loading the filament: The extruder "catches" it but when aiming to further pull it into the hotend PTFE-tube it simply scratches on the filament without actually getting it into the tube (1 in 20 times is actually successfull).
I've already tried serveral things such as cleaning the extruder, adjusting the tension of the Extruder-spring but nothing seems to be able to fix the problem.
Recently I've additionally experienced additional problems in terms of the filament's extrusion: It sometimes simply stops to extrude filament in the mids of printing. Don't know whether this might be in relation to the aforementioned problem.
Hope anyone may be able to help and give some new advices.
Kind regards
If it has been scraping filament from the start (you are correct to adjust the idler pressure, maybe you got to it a little late) you may have clogged the drive wheel with scrapings. Open the inspection hatch and clean it with a stiff paintbrush.
With the hatch open try introducing filament and watch the path it takes, if it seem off show us a picture.
Cheerio,
RE:
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately it did not solve the problem. No matter how tight or how loose I correct the idler, or clean the drive wheel the problem remains. I've opened the "spring hatch" and noticed that the filament always appears to miss the hole by bending downwards (see photo). Additionally it appears as if the filament already arranged a new path to follow underneath of the hole where it is supposed to go..
RE: Filament won't load
Update: I feel kinda dumb because I always tried to cut the filament correctly (45°) but it appears to be important where exactly this 45° angle is pointing. I may have found a solution: It loads the filament only when the part that has been cut away is faced away from the riffles of the extruder (downwards). This so far worked 3 out of 3 times so maybe thats just a conicidence. I will be keeping you up to date if this does not solve the problem in the long run.