Prints Fail Everytime, All the Time.

Currently using:
Makerbot Rep2
Sailfish v7.7
A combo of ReplicatorG and Matter Control (Also tried Makerware)
Usual temp of 200C, have tried with 210, 220, 185, 190, 195
PLA
Mods include glass build plate (Makerbot) Spring loaded extruder design (Makerbot) New Thermocouple (Was also doing it with the old one, but got a new one anyways, old one was breaking. Can't remember source, but it has a nice cloth coating on it, and a nice rubber terminal on the hex screw in portion)

Every time i print, it starts out great. Perfect. But then, at some point throughout the print (It always gets minimum of 5-10 layers down) it simply stops extruding. No matter how hard i try to push it while it prints, nothing comes out. The extruder stepper keeps spinning, the cog/drive gear isn't spinning on the axle, and if i pull out the filament, it has obviously been ground away. With that, i highly doubt its the extruder (But maybe it is?? A new drive gear, Makerbot, is on the way.) If i immediately pause the print, i can run the change filament command, hit load, and give the filament a nice big push, it comes out again without any problems. Occasionally, i have to do the unload first, snip off the end, and then do load. When i unpause, however, two things may happen: 1, it prints a few more layers, and issue occurs again. 2, it doesn't print at all.
It did this before I upgraded to Sailfish. It did this before changing the thermocouple. I have tried Mattercontrol, Replicator G, and Makerware as slicers. All with the same outcome, more or less. Tried all of the above, with temps ranging from 185 to 225, stepping by increments of 5. Why?? I have been working on this piece of equipment for the past 4 days with no avail. Why does it do this? How do i fix it? If any more info is needed, just ask.
You can also send x3g files to me to test print.
Pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/Ler7W
http://imgur.com/a/OQorA
http://imgur.com/a/tGjqy

Thanks

I would definitely recommend you to change the plunger kit, can happen that the spring wears off over time. So for a temporary solution you can take it out, stretch it a little bit with pliers, clean the drive gear with metal brush put everything back together, spray just a little bit of WD-40 in the hole where you load filament, then load it and start the print it should give you a better result.

We'll start with the obvious: have you checked that the extruder is maintaining temperature ?

I had period where the extruder would get to temp and then stop heating so you'd get afew layers down and then it'd cool down too much to push the filament through.

Also does it do it with both extruders ?

It almost sounds like a dry joint somewhere.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sinful

I would definitely recommend you to change the plunger kit, can happen that the spring wears off over time. So for a temporary solution you can take it out, stretch it a little bit with pliers, clean the drive gear with metal brush put everything back together, spray just a little bit of WD-40 in the hole where you load filament, then load it and start the print it should give you a better result.

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Plunger? Got rid of the one a while ago... And i have cleaned the spring/tension device 4 time sin the past 4 days. I have not, however, stretched the spring. Might try that. Did use DW40, however. Sprayed some into the nozzle and tube after i cleaned it all out, and let it burn off when I turned it on. I've soaked the drive gear in acetone and brushed it every time.

I've noticed that most of the time, the prints fail proportional to their height. To do a test, i printed a simple bolt, which was suppose to be ~2". The print failed right as it was getting to the threads (It wasn't the threads that caused the issue, the fact that it stopped as the threads were starting is coincidence. I could repeat this with any tall object.) So what i did, is a scaled it up by like 2.8. Guess what? It also failed at the same height, proportionally!
http://imgur.com/YAfvhD1

I'll stretch the spring when my current print is done. I added a very tall object (Proportionally) to a current flatter object i am printing. If the small object completes just fine, and the tall object fails, well, that narrows a few things down.

And if it does happen to be software, how is it that all three slicers failed???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

We'll start with the obvious: have you checked that the extruder is maintaining temperature ?

I had period where the extruder would get to temp and then stop heating so you'd get afew layers down and then it'd cool down too much to push the filament through.

Also does it do it with both extruders ?

It almost sounds like a dry joint somewhere.

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How would i check if it maintains it? The company's thermocam couldn't detect the correct temps because of the insulation on the heat block...
On the printers end, beyond straying 2 degrees in both directions occasionally, it stays at the set temp.
It might be that, but as i said, according to Sailfish, it only strays at most 2 degrees in either direction, occasionally. Most of the time, it stays at what i have it set too. I don't have a third party device to measure it, so thats pretty much out of the question. The thermocouple is new, so it should be pretty accurate on the software end, right?
I have the Makerbot Rep2, not Rep2X, so only one extruder (Seriously thinking of getting an upgrade, change power supply, buy some nice all metal J Head hotends, make a custom mount for the Makerbot...)

Dry joint?

Hi there
i would take a look into stl itself - after seeing your bolt picture - this might do the trick.
Is it possible to get that STL?

Failed yet again. http://imgur.com/UL3EBPp

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roberto

Hi there
i would take a look into stl itself - after seeing your bolt picture - this might do the trick.
Is it possible to get that STL?

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Which one?
The issue occurs with all files.
The bolt i got off of Thingiverse
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:204809/#files

Ok, so i stretched the extruder spring and added a few drops of machine oil to the hotend tube and extruder... And my first (Almost) successful print just finished.
Now, in the past 6 days, i have had 3 successful prints, counting this one. With that, i can't say for sure if that solved the issue, so i will report again after a few more prints.
The only issue was a bit of warping (First time i have ever seen PLA warp). I was printing at 200C... I've heard people say that 200C is hot, but i have also heard people say that for Makerbot Filament 230C is ideal, but then also heard that it isn't.
Going to try lowering to 190C... Hope that fixes it.
http://imgur.com/a/x44Ci

Alright... So i was going for round two, and all was going mostly well (On the first layer, whenever it was done laying the first trace of an edge, and would move to another one, it would always pull up about a half a millimeters worth of filament when it would move to the next edge, why is this? I increased the retract, but it didn't help much... The rest is setting i need to adjust. Beyond that, i am not having the issue i was having originally) and at one point, the printer just stops. No power outage or anything. It doesn't even tell me it finished, it just asks if i want to print again. the hotend was still on, the print was halfway done, the nozzle was resting on part of the print (Slowly melting it) and the printer acted as if it wasn't even printing. I had to jog the motors to remove my print because it was still on it. Why? Corrupt SD card? Corrupt x3g?

And another issue, the top kinda looks weird. What should i modify to fix it? The amount extruded looks fine (It occasionally had a few small blobs on the supports, showing it was almost over extruding)
http://imgur.com/a/PF21d
Blue paper is where extruder stopped.

Well, after stretching the spring, i have not yet had one failed print from the original issue. Guess that was it. Anyone have any links for a good aluminum extruder? Preferably one that uses a spring, but also has a tension screw. And also uses the original feed gear/cog.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RocketPenguin

Ok, so i stretched the extruder spring and added a few drops of machine oil to the hotend tube and extruder... And my first (Almost) successful print just finished.
Now, in the past 6 days, i have had 3 successful prints, counting this one. With that, i can't say for sure if that solved the issue, so i will report again after a few more prints.
The only issue was a bit of warping (First time i have ever seen PLA warp). I was printing at 200C... I've heard people say that 200C is hot, but i have also heard people say that for Makerbot Filament 230C is ideal, but then also heard that it isn't.
Going to try lowering to 190C... Hope that fixes it.
http://imgur.com/a/x44Ci

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Perhaps on a more basic level: have you checked to see if anything is possibly preventing your spool from rotating freely? There might be just enough friction to prevent the extruder from pulling the filament.

I am experiencing the same problem. We have 2 replicator2 machines. Both will successfully start a print but stop pat way through. The printer head stops extruding but continues to go through the motions. These are parts from a file I have use successfully in the past a number of times. I am printing PLA at 230C. It appears that at some point the pla is getting stuck in the feeder tube that screws into the heater block. Yesterday I dismantled the head. Cleared out the feeder tube and the extruder tip. Readjusted the build plate. The print started beautifully but stopped after 3mm had been put down. This was a 16 hr print. It was running around in the air when I came in this morning.
Puzzling and pretty frustrating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sebastian Finke

Perhaps on a more basic level: have you checked to see if anything is possibly preventing your spool from rotating freely? There might be just enough friction to prevent the extruder from pulling the filament.

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This might be another issue. Any commercial spool holders you can recommend (That are of course, worth purchasing)?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HenryE

I am experiencing the same problem. We have 2 replicator2 machines. Both will successfully start a print but stop pat way through. The printer head stops extruding but continues to go through the motions. These are parts from a file I have use successfully in the past a number of times. I am printing PLA at 230C. It appears that at some point the pla is getting stuck in the feeder tube that screws into the heater block. Yesterday I dismantled the head. Cleared out the feeder tube and the extruder tip. Readjusted the build plate. The print started beautifully but stopped after 3mm had been put down. This was a 16 hr print. It was running around in the air when I came in this morning.
Puzzling and pretty frustrating.

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I get great prints at 200C on our makerbot rep 2... You should try that, it could be heat creeping. That, and what fixed my issue, is the tension spring. Try stretching that, and maybe even replacing the feed gear/cog. Works fine for me now, new spring on the way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sebastian Finke

Perhaps on a more basic level: have you checked to see if anything is possibly preventing your spool from rotating freely? There might be just enough friction to prevent the extruder from pulling the filament.

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I had this exact same problem. The print would stop at the same spot every time. Spent hours troubleshooting. Turned out, the spool was getting stuck on the stock spool holder. I designed a smaller one and have never had that issue again.