Idler tolerance issues on the mk3 (R3 extruder)
My mk3 was working beautifully for ages. And then the heat block melted the R3 housing (honestly, the entire R3 housing is a TERRIBLE design, but part of the blame for that lies on E3D for not having anything other than a friction mount for their heat sink). I printed a new R3 housing, but using the old idler housing.
Now, the idler gear barely spins. It's as though contact with the motive gear is just... off.
While I would be tempted to take it apart and swap it out with another, NEW R3, I'm waiting for the mk3s extruder, and it seems almost pointless to rebuild the mk3 when (maybe... someday soon) the mk3s parts will arrive and I can swap things out with the R4 design.
That said, has anyone run into an issue where the motive gear simply can't quite reach the idler gear properly? It's either too far away, or it's clicking from slippage. There's no in between.
Re: Idler tolerance issues on the mk3 (R3 extruder)
Make sure the pin holding the gear is in both ears on the door. It is slightly too short for the design and has a tendency to slip out sometimes. Then it will skew and cause clicking/poor feed. The inter-"ear" distance was reduced on the R4 door, which should help with this issue.
Re: Idler tolerance issues on the mk3 (R3 extruder)
Thanks. I'll check that. It's very odd.
Are there replacement rods out there? I suppose I could cut one. Might not be perfect, but it has to be better than what's supplied.
Re: Idler tolerance issues on the mk3 (R3 extruder)
I modified the axle supports in the Idler Door part to fix the extrusion/clicking issue. It eliminates any possibility of the axle shifting during printing. It also ensures the axle is always in the optimal "non-clicking" position. Please note that this the MK3S version of the door. I am not sure if it is compatible with the MK3.
This is the remixed part: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3504682