printhead does not extrude after an hour in printing - klicks ervery other second
Hi!
I just got my first MK3S second hand and am getting acquainted with the new hobby/ hyperfocus 3dprinting..
After calibrating (still some finetunig to do..) I started the first two prints, in both cases the printhead failed to extrude after about an hour of printig time. the filament is not drawn into the head anylonger, instead it "klicks" about every two seconds and touching the head I can feel the impulse of that klicking quite well..
when trying to push forward or extruding via prusaconnect same thing happens..
any ideas what my cause this fail and how to repair it?
thnx in advance
Your extruder idler pressure probably needs tuning - it might need to go either way so I would begin by slackening off and then tightening by stages until it grips.
Cheerio,
RE: printhead does not extrude after an hour in printing - klicks ervery other second
You'll probably be sorted by now, if not, here are a couple of thoughts.
Check the Filament Thickness
Tighten the Idler screw correctly
Have you a Partially blocked nozzle?
1) check the thickness of your filament should be 1.75mm. I once bought a bad lot of cheaper filament, it made the clicking as well. It was only after some time I checked the filament thickness (it was less than 1.75mm) @1.6mm thus too thin.
Unravel a couple of metres (Yards) and check at a few places, My filament was ok at one part but too thin in other parts.
2) re: tightening the idler screw so it grips the filament correctly
search for "idler screw adjustment" in the knowledge base and scroll down the page until you find the MK3S part (It wont allow me to put the Link, in sorry)
in short, Screw the Allen screw until the top of the Allen screw head is flush with the body.
(For clarity looking at the front of the machine with the Nozzle assembly facing you: you will see the filament goes in the top of the Nozzle assembly.
The adjustment screw is on the left of the nozzle assembly approximately in line with the word PRUSA. That's what you are tightening)
One last thing unload the filament and check the gears haven't chewed away some of the filament
3) If Filament size is OK and the filament is gripped:
Is the nozzle partially blocked i.e. a small lump of burnt filament moves inside and blocks the nozzle.
It's possible that is what caused the previous owner to sell, it can be frustrating.
In any event just buy a new nozzle (a hardened one if money allows) and replace the existing one, there are great instructions on how to do this again in the knowledge base. The nozzles are cheap enough particularly the V6 brass nozzles £5.50, buy a couple for spares and a hardened one once you get sorted, I promise you the frustration of blocked nozzles is not worth fussing with, just replace them like you would spark plugs on a car.
Finally buy some good Filament e.g. Prusament at the same time as the Nozzles.
Why?
Once you get everything working, clean nozzle, good filament, correctly adjusted idler, choose the appropriate filament in the slicer
Then you know you are are starting from new, with the correct settings. In my opinion when things are not working go back to basics, once everything is working make any changes you want, just do one change at a time.
Hope this helps. Graham