Extruder feed clicking & jerking
I have had my i3 MK3, built from a kit, for just over two weeks now and done about 8 days of printing.
Over the last couple of days the feeding of the filament is marked by a strong clicking and the filament seems to be fed in a jerky manner. The stepper motor is feeding in jerks and can be seen to be doing this through the side window. It seems to be so with any filament including the one supplied with the printer from Prusa.
Any thoughts as to what has gone wrong or what I can do to correct the situation?
Colin
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
I’d say potential partial clog or low temp for filament. Try increasing temp to something like 265 for pla en extrude. Clog might be fixed with this and you can also check if Extruder still clicks with this filament. This is for a test or fix. Do not print at this temp unless your filament needs this high temp
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
Thanks for your prompt reply. I will test the printer as you have suggested.
Colin
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
There are a half a dozen posts about the same thing. I'm in contact with support but they don't seem to acknowledge the problem yet. So far the only solution that works is to buy a different heat break.
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
try a cold pull also. This happened to me couple times and that usualy helps.
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
Have you checked the extruder tensioner screws? Mine was doing the same thing. After adjusting them so they're nearly flush with the cover the problem has gone away. Also, if it persists, try slowing down your print with the front knob. That may indicate you simply need to tweak your settings.
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
i second the extruder tension screws. i had the same issue and the screws were too tight. loosened them and that issue went away.
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
Had a similar issue on my Mk2. Turned out to be a damaged wire to the stepper for me. Luckily it was within a few inches of the stepper and just readjusting the wire a bit fixed it (for now). Otherwise, it If the other suggestions here don't help, unbundle the wires and look for kinks.
Re: Extruder feed clicking & jerking
Sometimes it is a real issue that the idler tension screws can’t help.. but to see if they are set ok, facing them:
1- adjust one on left until it just catches the gear and drives. Not too tight at all.
2- adjust one on right until it grabs filament that you are pushing up and down through extruder. When it grabs, turn another half and stop.
Truth be told, when the stepper transfers a bunch of heat to the bondtech it can start to skip and stutter.. at least it used to for me, no matter how much I messed with those screws. And my mk3 was prebuilt. Only thing that fixed it for me, so far, was switching to a different heatbreak and replacing my ptfe tubes. Knock on wood
Some (smarter than me) people are suggesting turning the idler around so it is not driven. Haven’t tried it