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Filament stuck between gears - copperFill  

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mikevrpv
(@mikevrpv)
New Member
Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

Hi. Assembled MK3S kit and printed some PLA stuff without any problem (30 hrs or so printing).

Then I've installed an E3D Hardened Steel Nozzle, calibrated and printed some PLA again for test (3 hrs of printing) - worked good with adding 5 degrees and lowering speed.

Then I finally switched to copperFill from colorfabb, and here is the struggle begins -  after a lot of tweaks with printing speed I managed to get stable 1st and several following layers, but every printing session ended with the same problem - filament chewed by gears, preventing motor from rotation, resulting these nasty clicking/stuck sounds.

I've disassembled Extruder completely, changed teflon tube, cleaned nozzle and tried again - with no luck....

Check photo for more info. Using copperFill preset in Prusa Slicer, only changed speed for infill and printing on 70% speed.

Any ideas about this issue? Really giving up on this

Best Answer by --:

This may be why it is more sensitive to extruder heat than other PLA types, and why a fan on the extruder motor may be a requirement.  I doubt extraction settings will have much effect, but worth trying to minimize work the motor is doing.  

Glass Transition Temperature: 55C

Posted : 09/12/2019 7:44 pm
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 --
(@)
Illustrious Member
RE: Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

This behavior is common when printing PLA inside an enclosure, or when the hot end fan has restricted airflow to cool the extruder heat sink.

Most find adding a fan to the extruder motor case can help: Thingyverse has many options.  Alternatively, keep the enclosure open and place a room fan such that it circulates cool air around the printer.

This post was modified 5 years ago by --
Posted : 09/12/2019 8:29 pm
mikevrpv
(@mikevrpv)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

@tim-m30

  1. Thanks for the tip! Do you think that it can be a retraction issue? Maybe lowering speed and length will help?
Posted : 09/12/2019 8:37 pm
rmm200
(@rmm200)
Noble Member
RE: Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

Metallic filaments will always be problematic. They have particles in them that like to get stuck in the nozzles as well as rapid wear on brass nozzles.

If I were doing this - I would use cleaning filament after every printed part, just to get the crud out (technical term).

Posted : 10/12/2019 12:55 am
mikevrpv
(@mikevrpv)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

@robert-rmm200

Sure, I'm doing that anyway because I can't get successful copperFill print and always ending with disassembled extruder, extracted PTFE tube etc 😀 

For now I will try to play with retraction and install cooling fan on the Extruder motor

Posted : 10/12/2019 6:25 am
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 --
(@)
Illustrious Member
RE: Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

This may be why it is more sensitive to extruder heat than other PLA types, and why a fan on the extruder motor may be a requirement.  I doubt extraction settings will have much effect, but worth trying to minimize work the motor is doing.  

Glass Transition Temperature: 55C

Posted : 10/12/2019 7:56 am
mikevrpv
(@mikevrpv)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Filament stuck between gears - copperFill

@tim-m30

Totally makes sense! Yeah, trying to minimize motor work is more like curing symptoms. So my only solution for now is to get a cooling fan, thanks for your time 🙂 

 

Posted : 10/12/2019 10:02 am
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