Stiff Hotend Selection Beam?

Zortrax Inventure
1

Hi all,

I installed a new hotend module and the brass filament selector beam seems really stiff. I’m getting feed issues when using the support filament. I tried doing spool only, but the issue persists. When I disassemble the toolhead, there is always crudded up support filament on the extruder gear.

I feel like the beam shouldn’t be so hard to push to the right. I did notice the beam itself slightly rotates around the y-axis when in the support filament position. See attached pictures comparing the two selector positions.

No issues with model filament extrusion - only support filament.

Also, everything is fully seated, so no misalignment.

I need to get this printer up and running yesterday…

Help!

Voronica

IMG_2895
IMG_28953024×4032 2.01 MB

IMG_2896
IMG_28963024×4032 2.35 MB

2

Hi Voronica,
I had the same problem with the support filament. In my case, the cause was a wet filament. Now I make sure the filament is dry. I store it in airtight bags. If I don’t use it for a few weeks, I bake it in the oven. I always take it out of the printer after printing. Now I can tell if the filament is suitable for printing or needs to be baked just by touching it. It works for me.
Regards
Darek

3

That’s interesting! Everything looks mechanically good, so I was v confused. Then I saw another post about the premium filament. I even saw someone say they had to dry new cartridges, and mine is a brand new cartridge.

I’ve had mine sitting in the filament dryer for 8 hours. Excited to see the outcome.

Thanks for replying!

4

Can you describe what the wet vs. dry filaments feel like to the touch?

5

Dry filament is harder and stiffer. Wet filament is softer, you can feel it by pressing it with your fingernail.

6

Oh, this stuff is still super wet, then. And have had it in the filament dryer for 11 hours! I will try to dry it more. It worked so well for a few days, then just started gluing up the inside of my printer.

Limonene-soluble support filament looking pretty attractive rn.

7

I’ve now dried my premium support filament for at least 20 hours. I still hear the clicking of the motor as it fails to catch the support filament. :frowning:

What would be a good next step diagnostic.

I have a brand new hotend assembly installed. The gear teeth aren’t damaged. Everything is well aligned and the encoder wheels spin well.

8

Hi Voronica,
Sorry to hear you still can’t print. What I can suggest is to try replacing the Z-Support with Z-PLA to test the extruder. The support hotend can handle most filaments and not just Z-Support. If there is no extruder knocking then the problem is the quality of the Z-Support filament.