What am I doing wrong? Extruder eating fillament

[Tachout]

I have a Makerfarm 8" i3v I have not used it all summer as had other things going and it was printing fine then. I decided to dust it off and see what I could do during the winter on a couple of projects. I asked it to print a calibration cube and it did a fair job up until I went to remove it right after printing and it did not want me to remove it. I waited long enough for it to cool and cleaned it off. Then I decided to ask it to print a couple of other projects that I had already on the card. Figured it printed them before it would be a great test to get rid of the end of the filament I had since it has been on the machine since last winter. Sure thought it would just go through the machine fine, but no, it just ground a spot in the filament and stopped feeding part the way through the print. Ever since I can get it to start printing if I cut off the bad part of the filament, and then re-feed it. I have taken the extruder apart and made sure it was clean and everything was moving that should. I can get it to start to print, I can see the hobbed bolt turning but when it starts not printing it is too late, it has already started to eat the filament. What is wrong with this thing? Any ideas?

[Roxy]

Everybody's extruder is different. So it is hard to say. But a lot of times it is possible for the filament to get hung up after the hubbled bolt and not go into what ever pathway it is supposed to go. Or... Even once it has started into the nozzle, there is that teflon tube it can get hung up on. On thing that helps a lot is to cut a very sharp point from multiple sides on the end of the filament. That makes it less likely to get hung up. And it also helps to feed in a straight piece of filament instead of one with a tight curve in it. You might try taking a hair dryer and straightening the filament and putting a point on it. That might just do the trick.

[Tachout]

I will try that. I just loaded a different roll to see if maybe it was because it was the end of an old roll.

[Tachout]

This is driving me nuts. Got a nice first layer put down and I decided to let it run for a bit to see what happened, while I sat and watched it. First layer seemed like it was actually putting out a lot of filament. Then it goes to do the second layer and nothing. then it just ate a cresent out of the filament and decided not to feed anymore.

[printbus]

I've compiled a list of possible reasons for extrusion stopping here - http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...ll=1#post58220

[Tachout]

I decided to try a different file.... One that has printed good in the past. It makes 8 scale jack stands for r\c cars. One can never had too many jack stands right? Decided to run it and see how the first couple of layers lay down and see if it is the printer or the files. Funny thing is that this file although running 11 minutes so far has not started the second layer, but so far it is running just fine. I am going to let it run and sit here and watch it and see how it does. I will keep everyone up to date just in case what ever I am doing may help someone.

[BLKKROW]

I had this issue plague me for several months. Please see:

http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...agon-vs-E3D-V6

I tried numerous things and finally found that the diameter of the Greg Wades Extruder was optimized for 3mm filament. So the connection from the hobbled bolt to the hot end was to wide. I had to use an aluminum piece to narrow it down to 1.8mm.

[Tachout]

So far it has been running for 2 hours and has not jammed and it is progressing well. Cannot believe that I picked such a large file, but hey I knew this one worked. I am guessing I am in for a long night of watching it print. I will be in here, or in and out of here until it is done. It is now at 3 hours printing with no problems. Wish I knew what I did to fix it but it is working fine at the moment.

[Roxy]

I am guessing I am in for a long night of watching it print. I will be in here, or in and out of here until it is done.

No Silly Grass Hopper.... You can press pause... Raise the nozzle... Turn off the hot ends, and just leave the bed turned on... You can pick up in the morning.

[Tachout]

Are you kidding. I am so excited who could sleep. It is now 5 hours in. Going to go watch some tv and check in on it on the commercials.