Low Extruder "Grab" on Filament
Lately I have had extrusion issues on my Mini, where the extruder drive gear slips on the filament. It seems to slip much easier than it used to, where slight tension on the spool winding will cause extrusion to stop, and then restart once bind is released. I have tried tightening and loosening idler tension and can't figure out if I am running it too tight or too loose. I have it just slightly tighter than what is recommended on the Mini setup documentation.
Any thoughts on what could be causing this and how to fix?
Check the drive gear is clean - blow out any dust.
Then check whether the inside of the PTFE tubing has worn and is gripping the filament too much.
Cheerio,
RE: Low Extruder "Grab" on Filament
I cleaned the drive gear thoroughly with a needle (filament pressed into the teeth) and it printed great for about 8 hours. Then another slip/fail.
Then I swapped to the Bondtech single PTFE tube solution ( https://www.bondtech.se/product/pipe-fittings-set-for-prusa-mini/) and this worked well for a few hours then another slip failure.
I'll try cleaning the extruder gear again, but other than that I am at a lost...
It does not seem to be nozzle clogging because if I gently nudge the filament into the extruder it will pick it back up and continue to extrude, despite not extruding after slipping unless you nudge it. Not sure what is going on but tension idler seems to be at the recommended setting.