Insanely stupid newbie question..
So when I want to swap filament over, I choose the Unload Filament option on the menu, the hot end heats up, the drive wheel spit the filament out, job done.
But then what is the best way to load the machine with the new filament? (I have Autoload enabled) When I start a print from my SD card, the printer pulls the new filament in, but I never seem to get any out of the extruder nozzle in time for the start of the print, therefore the first layer is largely missing. I end up cancelling the print and going again, and generally speaking I have material flowing at the nozzle for the 2nd attempt.
Obviously I am doing something stupid. Please put me out of my misery!!
On the flip side - I'm getting some lovely builds off the machine, really impressed.
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
Hi Alasdair,
for the unload you are right,
for autoload you should be able to put new filament in, immediately after the unload, and as soon as the filament passes the filament sensor, the extruder motor should kick into action and load the filament for you.
It would appear that's not working...
So Unload your filament, then go to the Support > Sensor Info menu on the LCD and look at the IR sensor status, (IR:) if that shows 1 then the filament sensor thinks there is filament in the printer already.
If this is the case, take the top cover off your extruder and loosen the screw holding down the filament sensor, try moving the sensor board to the left and see if the display value changes,
If this does not work, try printing a filament sensor spacer off thingiverse and put that between your filament sensor PCB and the body of the extruder then replace the screw and check your filament sensor...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4079248
in the mean time, if you go to Settings>Filament Autoload, and toggle it to OFF, you can manually load your filament before starting your next print
don't worry about putting the top back on your extruder during testing, the printer works quite happily without it on
as you can see above My printer does not have a top on it since I modified the filament sensor to give immediate feedback, with a 5volt LED
regards joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
Thanks Joan. Your suggestion makes sense, as the dialogue on my screen never felt like it matched up with the way the printer is behaving. I'll check it out ASAP.
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
Wow, this seems like a solution to my problem as well. The IR sensor always sees something even though no filament is loaded.
I will have to test this myself.
Thanks.
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
I haven't had time to investigate mine yet, but if it is this, and if this helps you and others, then Happy Days 🙂
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
@alasdair
Yes, it did. I did exactly what Joan suggested.
I moved the IR sensor very slighly to the left and then the read out went from 1 to 0.
I had to keep pushing the sensor to the left while tightening as it wanted to slide back to its original position.
Thanks to both of you!!!
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
Bingo!
Fixed mine too. In my case I just had to undo the little cap head screw that holds the sensor PCB in place a tiny fraction and the logic flipped from 1 to 0. NOW I understand how to load filament properly 🤣
Thanks Joan.
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
May I jump in with another newbie question related to this?
After I load new filament and confirm it is ok, extruder moves to the position to continue printing.. BUT.. it starts leaking filament while moving so I have to chase it to remove it before it actually starts printing to prevent ruining the job. It happens every single time.
Can this be prevented?
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
@pedja
No its designed and controlled at a firmware level to do that. The correct procedure is to grab the filament with some tweasers before confirming ok. Then the filament is supposed to break off the nozzle as its moving away.
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
Hi just reading the Forum.
I have had this for some time and could not work out what was wrong.
will have a look for the part on thinyverse, w e will see if that fixes it
RE: Insanely stupid newbie question..
@pedja
No its designed and controlled at a firmware level to do that. The correct procedure is to grab the filament with some tweasers before confirming ok. Then the filament is supposed to break off the nozzle as its moving away.
That is what I do. I clear excess filament that leeked during the filament loading process, and press OK.
Then extrudes moves toward continue point and starts leaking again. I have to chase it with tweezers to try to remove that leak. Sometimes it is not easy to do, especially if extruder is low on Z axis.