Extruder motor studders while putting down the raft.

Support&troubleshooting Zortrax M200
#1

Got my M200 the other day, and have done some printing on it. But one thing that keeps bothering me and ruining prints are that the extruder studders while putting down the raft, and sometimes during prints aswell.

The teflon(?) tube for the filament guide loops smoothly and I have even tried without it and making sure the filament stays in a nice loop.

Anyone else with this problem?

I need to stand watch with the scalpel and snippers to clean away any raft that comes loose due to the sudden loss of filament feed...

#2

Make sure the nozzle is clean. It uses an electrical connection to find zero. If you have a bad connection it may think Z-0 is lower than is. It can't force ABS out because nozzle is too close to the bed causing clicking of extruder. I normally pull off string of ABS from extruder with tweezers right before it touches bed. Make sure it not pushing down too hard on bed when it starts. It should just kiss it..

#3

As far as I´m concerned the nozzle is clean. This happened on the very first print I made.

How can I make sure it´s not pushing to hard on the bed, when there are no parameters to change?

Thanks for the reply by the way. Thought I was going to have to wait until morning :-)

#4

Hi Peter!

As Kyle says the nozzle height can cause this.

Have you checked your bed levelling and does it click when printing in a particular area or side of the print bed? If the nozzle is too close to the bed due to levelling issues it can prevent the filament from extruding and the back pressure can cause the extruder stepper to click.

Cheers,

Jay

#5

Just look when the bed comes up. If it is pushing up too hard you will see the bed being pushed down. It doesn't stop going up until it makes connection with the bed. Mine does that once in awhile..

#6

Hi Peter!

As Kyle says the nozzle height can cause this.

Have you checked your bed levelling and does it click when printing in a particular area or side of the print bed? If the nozzle is too close to the bed due to levelling issues it can prevent the filament from extruding and the back pressure can cause the extruder stepper to click.

Cheers,

Jay

Yes as Jay said.. Make sure bed is level.

#7

Have you levelled the bed before Peter?

We can talk you through doing a bed level if you need it ?

Cheers,

Jay

#8

Levelled the bed when I first got it, and again now this evening. Everything looks fine.

[URL=http://s380.photobucket.com/user/PeterM44B19/media/bild4_zps98aa46da.jpg.html]bild4_zps98aa46da.jpg[/URL]

Here is a picture of some prints. The round middle one is the print that came with the printer. Nice, think and consistent lines.

The ones on the sides are my own, blobs of the firt layer, then only spider web fine strings that wont even hold their own weight...

#9

Does it click when you load filament or do you get a nice constant stream?

#10

You may have loose set screws on heater element or temp sensor in heater block.. Mine did that once. I cleaned the extruder out and tightened the set screws. The pic on the right is what is was doing. After tightening screws print is on left.oie5.jpgcaap.jpg

#11

As far as I can remember I had a nice constant stream of filament.

That looks just like my print from this evening. The layers coming apart and looking all miserable...

I have put the nozzle in some acetone for the night, I will look on the heater block and everything else in the morning.

Thanks a million for the quick replys  :)

#12

Just to be sure it isn’t temp related - the ABS you’re using is Z-ABS and not 3rd party?

As much as it’s against the rules this would be a lot easier in the shoutbox !

#13

No problem.. If the heater element comes loose it won't heat the block to temp. That is what caused mine.

Have a great night.

#14

Kyle … It does look the same as yours was doing !

#15

Just to be sure it isn't temp related - the ABS you're using is Z-ABS and not 3rd party?

As much as it’s against the rules this would be a lot easier in the shoutbox !

This would be a lot easier over the phone.. I hate typing!!!! :P

#16

Lol :slight_smile: night guys … Peter … I will check back in the morning in case you are still struggling but have my fingers crossed :slight_smile:

#17

Check that your nozzle tip isn’t squished anywhere…it could be that your nozzle is restricted.

Also make sure you have no loops on your spool. I had that once…the extruder could not pull the filament because the filament was looped like a knot.

#18

Have been busy today, but took the nozzle out of its aceton bath, and there was actually some white goo in the bottom of the container.

Polished everything off and now it actually seems to be working OK.

I have an 1 hour print and we will see how it goes. But there was no studdering while laying out the raft so I´m positive...

#19

Good.. Let us know..

#20

Works like a charm.

The raft sticks like crazy! Almost too good :-)

How often do you need to clean the nozzle?