Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?  

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

The cause of the clicking may be nothing to do with the tension. You may have a small blockage somewhere, or your nozzle may be near end of life, for example.

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

Hi, what's the proper tension on the idler screws (the ones with springs that put tension on the filament drive gear)?
Mine usually protrude a roughly 1mm from the left side extruder housing cover.

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

Upgraded to R3 parts this weekend. Also replaced the PFTE tube on my hotend assembly. I checked it at least five times to ensure it was seated properly. Did the wizard and got ready to do some calibration prints. Click click click click. After six hours or so of cleaning, cold pulls, and all the other assorted issues with a clicking extruder I decided to change out the hotend assembly for a new one to cover all my bases. When I pulled out the old one the first thing I noticed was that the collet was not in the raised position. Popped in the new hotend, just in case you understand, and found no problems with the old one after careful inspection. Musta bumped it against something on the original re-installation.

The point...when all the easy stuff ain't working start on the less easy stuff. Check your PFTE tube and make sure its seated and locked in place.

Hope that helps,

Neal

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

When you say 'roughly 1mm from the left side extruder housing cover.'
Do you mean the end of the screw sticking out or the head of the screw sticking out?
thanks,

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

Prusa covers how to properly adjust your idler tension in their common problems video:

Basically, you want to loosen your idler and then feed the filament through the extruder while tightening your idler slowly and evenly. You'll want to do this until the filametn gets to the point where it's being pushed through the nozzle.

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

When you say 'roughly 1mm from the left side extruder housing cover.'
Do you mean the end of the screw sticking out or the head of the screw sticking out?
thanks,
Heads sticking out from left-hand cover.

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

i think the 1 mm is with filament loaded. i fought the clicking for awhile myself, i think what helped me was putting a locking pin for the collet. (i feel it should have came with one)

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

A good starting point is to, with the filament removed, adjust the screws so they’re barely pushing on the springs. I find that this is easily repeatable and is a good tension.

Re: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

i think the 1 mm is with filament loaded. i fought the clicking for awhile myself, i think what helped me was putting a locking pin for the collet. (i feel it should have came with one)

When I built my delta printer Bowden problems were common and i quickly adopted the practice of using a clip on any bowden lock. I think the reason it is not included with the PRUSA is that the whole thing is encased in the extruder and it was not thought it would be a problem but I will continue using a clip whereever I see a bowden lock.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:936611

RE: Extruder clicking - what's the proper tension of the idler screws?

@dryja123

How could I do this on my mini plus?