Extruder Drive Gear Frustration (Creator Pro)

[Vivid8]

Ok so this is related to my other POST. Essentially I'm having a problem with my filament feed of my Creator Pro. My right extruder just randomly stops feeding filament during printing. I thought it was the motor after some investigation and research, I replaced it and it was not the problem. I finally decided to remove the fan and heatsink and run the extruder through the load filament option on the printer to visually see the problem. To my amazement there IS no failure other than it magically stops feeding filament. The extruder drive gear continues to spin perfectly, steadily and without hiccup. Yet after a random time the filament suddenly stops moving, the gear continues to spin but the filament doesn't go. The extrusion that comes out (when it does) is nice and full size and perfect, just to cover a bit of my other post I have heavily cleaned the tips anyway. I've checked the wheel that pairs to the drive gear and it spins smoothly and freely. Simply I can find and SEE no physical reason that there is a feed problem. Everything moves freely and properly during and out of operation, the filament just ceases to move randomly. I've checked the extruder drive gear vigorously for teeth failure, removed the gear from my left working extruder and compared them under a microscope (not joking) and they are identical, healthy and strong looking teeth. I would normally guess either the stepper driver or some such (there are 2 other parts I can't remember the names of that were on my top 3 list when this started) is the problem, but because there is no stop in functionality while printing I can't begin to guess how to trouble shoot this when there is no trouble. Any help would be appreciated.

[faross]

I would look at the filament it might have bad spots that arnt melting right maybe raise the temp a little see if that stops it .

[Sebastian Finke]

Another possibility is that something snags your spool and prevents it from turning (is your spool on the holder btw?)

[jfkansas]

Ok so this is related to my other POST. Essentially I'm having a problem with my filament feed of my Creator Pro. My right extruder just randomly stops feeding filament during printing. I thought it was the motor after some investigation and research, I replaced it and it was not the problem. I finally decided to remove the fan and heatsink and run the extruder through the load filament option on the printer to visually see the problem. To my amazement there IS no failure other than it magically stops feeding filament. The extruder drive gear continues to spin perfectly, steadily and without hiccup. Yet after a random time the filament suddenly stops moving, the gear continues to spin but the filament doesn't go. The extrusion that comes out (when it does) is nice and full size and perfect, just to cover a bit of my other post I have heavily cleaned the tips anyway. I've checked the wheel that pairs to the drive gear and it spins smoothly and freely. Simply I can find and SEE no physical reason that there is a feed problem. Everything moves freely and properly during and out of operation, the filament just ceases to move randomly. I've checked the extruder drive gear vigorously for teeth failure, removed the gear from my left working extruder and compared them under a microscope (not joking) and they are identical, healthy and strong looking teeth. I would normally guess either the stepper driver or some such (there are 2 other parts I can't remember the names of that were on my top 3 list when this started) is the problem, but because there is no stop in functionality while printing I can't begin to guess how to trouble shoot this when there is no trouble. Any help would be appreciated.

So if the filament stops moving does the drive gear eat a hole into the filament, it should. I didn't read the other post yet, but did you say what the filament type is? PLA/ABS? What extruder temp? Generally when a filament stops it is because it can't be melted fast enough for the speed the filament is being fed in. It only takes a split second of blockage for the drive gear to slip a little and it generally will dig a hole in the filament and not go anywhere after that.

[curious aardvark]

still sounds like the extruder is losing temp, have you got an ir thermometer to double check it with ?
http://www.amazon.com/Temperature-No...ir+thermometer

[robosmith]

I've got one of those and it is very hard to get an accurate reading from something as small as an extruder head. Works great with the HBP though.

still sounds like the extruder is losing temp, have you got an ir thermometer to double check it with ?
http://www.amazon.com/Temperature-No...ir+thermometer