Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.  

I suspect you may have discovered why ... try bypassing the side sensor and delivery tube and feed directly to the toolhead from above.

Cheerio,

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

Posted by: @diem

I suspect you may have discovered why ... try bypassing the side sensor and delivery tube and feed directly to the toolhead from above.

Cheerio,

I have not figured out why, but there is a weird noise coming from the side sensor area. Is there something in that sensor assembly that need modified? Is this a common problem? I just put the new enclosure on the setup as well so that was a difference in this spool and the previous I printed of the same filament with no issues. The filament seems to feed super smooth by hand and doesn't feel bound anywhere. But it does squeak now by the side sensor. 

Thank you for your reply! I appreciate your time. 

.

I have not figured out why, but there is a weird noise coming from the side sensor area.

Because prints fail - and the noises suggest surface friction.

Cheerio,

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

After trying to print several times with even smooth PTEG filament, it still fails. Opening the tube at the nextruder head and pulling on the filament, there is a HUGE amount of resistance coming from the spool end, as you said, lots of friction. I've now bypassed the filament sensor on the spool end by removing the circuit board and putting a zip tie to hold the balls down. It seems much easier to feed now. We will see if I can make this 22 hr print work finally. Now I just need to figure out how to disable that sensor so I can just take it off. I think I read somewhere it's possible in the software I just need to figure out where. I'll search for that when I get some time unless someone has a link directly to it. Thanks all. 

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

Removed the 2kg spools and put back on 1kg spools. Still won't print. It prints on the left side of the bed fine. Once it gets to the right hand side of the bed, it strips the filament out. I've moved the head over there and the filament feeds just fine to head. Taking the tube out of the extruder, it pulls easy and smooth. 

Not sure what the hell to think at this point. All I know is that out production floor is waiting on parts and I can't produce a thing with the XL now. The Mk3 is still going though. Disappointment is over taking me. 

Anyone got any more ideas on what I'm not doing correctly? It just started this crap out of the blue after I put the XL enclosure on. I don't see any pinch points in the tubing. Maybe I'll try adjusting the roll higher on the side of the machine. 

RE:

I just noticed something else that might contribute. When I set up the spool holders and side mounted filament sensor, I put the sensor and the feed thru block at the top. I moved it down to the center and flipped the top spool over. Maybe that will help. Old on left, new config on right. It never occured to me the bind I could be causing. 

I've had three of these in a row now. Mabye it will make it past this point this time. I can't seem to make it past layer 1 of each print before the filament drive wheels strip out the filament and it stops feeding. Any help would be much appreciated!!!

For the record, this issue is no longer about ESD material, it's about all PETG material. And I'm using Prusament filament, brand new spools, just opened. What you see in the picture above is some prusament spooled over to a 3dextch spool because I wanted to try 1 kg spools and all I have of the orange are 2 kg spools. 

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

Nope. Same thing again. I'm at my wits end with this thing now. I'm going to re slice it with just the one part in the location that is actually printes the first layer and then I'll see if I can make it through one print. It's like it gets to that area of the bed and it locks up the filament. I can't find any restriction in the feed tubes. 

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

If the issue is 'something' related to the side sensors you can just turn them off through the LCD's menu and then completely get rid of them. Just feed directly into the tube that goes to the extruders.

If the issue is the spools not spinning on the mounting arm freely enough there are models out there that use ball bearings rollers either on arm or on the table.

There's also that possible issue where the idler arms may have flexed/warped a bit and stop doing their job. Could look into that.

Maybe even a heatcreep issue? I've only experienced it with PLA but your symptoms sound basically the same.

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

Thank you for the reply, BaconFase. I was fighting the feed issue but honestly, I think the gcode was the issue. I never did watch the heat but I'm thinking maybe the nozzle temperature was dropped for some reason and it just got to solid to feed around that part of the model. I resliced the part and I've printed 3 now with zero issues. I will most likely look into the spool holders with bearings though. These 2kg rolls are heavy and I burn through a 1kg roll so quick it's nice to use the big ones. 

RE: Trouble Printing ESD Filament on XL Nextruder.

Had some down-time and made new spool feeders with cheap bearings from Amazon. Adapters are stepped to work with all the different brands of filament we use. Turned out great. Filament now feeds smooth as a baby's butt. In other news...the drive belt shredded...but at least the filament feeds smoother now.