Extrusion Stopping Mid-Way Through Prints

[aidanofjayus]

Hello,

I am having a major issue with my FlashForge Creator Pro that is causing me to no longer be able to use it. First off, I started a print and noticed that the filament was getting thinner and thicker, as in, at some points during the printing of the raft, it would get thin for a second, and then go back to thick, and it would do this every 5-10 seconds or so. This seemed to happen less frequently relatively soon, and was completely gone by the time that raft was half way done. However, then later, the filament would get thinner again and then stop extruding completely. The print head would keep going, printing just air. I tried the same print again and it went a few layers longer until it did the same exact thing.

Why is this happening? How can I fix it? Help is much appreciated, as this is urgent!

Thanks,

Aidan

[3dprintwiz]

Hi,

If you know how to uninstall the stepper motor, and disassemble extruder assembly, you can clean the extruder gear which I think is the issue here. Check youtube, there are a lot of videos on cleaning extruder gear.

[wirlybird]

Take a long chunk of the filament and measure its diameter with calipers. See how consistent the size is. May not be the problem but better to eliminate that.

What type of filament? What speeds, temps etc. would be helpful.

[Invize]

Could be such a simple thing as too low extrusion temperature. It happens to me when I switch from PLA to TPU and forget to raise the temperature a bit. It will start printing fine but then clog after 5-10 minutes. What temperature are you using?

[Janusmarine]

I have had a similar problem on my machine the problem was not a jamming issue. You made no mention on clicking noises during the print. Based on this I would assume you do not have a jam. It took me a while to figure it out I even thought it was the filament. My problem was a worn worm gear, the gear that grips the filament with its teeth. How I came about to troubleshoot it was the following; First I notice that the filament and spool was not moving. Second while changing filament the filament would not come out using the stepper motor I would either have to assist it or use the MK8 idler spring. Third if you took the steps to clean out the extruder gear like 3dprintwiz said and the above is still happening. The gear that attaches onto the stepper motor shaft needs to be replaced. I replaced my aluminum one with a stainless steel one an has been fine for months…

[aidanofjayus]

I’m using 230C with ABS.

[dewhisna]

It could be the cables going to the print head. They get a lot of flexion during printing and after prolonged use could break and cause the stepper motor to not always turn as it should. As far as I know, there’s no feedback mechanism to the motherboard to tell it that the motor is turning or not, so the printer would likely go about its merry way trying to print with nothing coming out. I was watching mine print this past weekend and saw the huge amount of movement those cables receive and was just thinking to myself: “I wonder how long it’s going to be before I have to replace those cables?”

That would also explain your report of an initial thinning, followed by a thick extrusion. When cables break, they generally go intermittent for a bit before completely ceasing to function – much like the X-endstop cable on mine that I had to replace just last month.

If you have an ohm meter handy, you could turn the printer on its side, open the electronics bay, pull the motor connectors off on both ends, and ohm-out the connections between the extruder motor and the motherboard (just be sure to turn off and unplug the printer first!). And if all four wires read OK, try wiggling the cable a bit and see if it affects it. My bet is that one or more of the wires is bad.

[aidanofjayus]

I just cleaned out every single part of the extruder, trying the print again, fingers crossed.

[aidanofjayus]

Didn’t work. Same thing happened again…

[aidanofjayus]

Where might I find a replacement?

[jfield]

230C for ABS could be on the low side. I switched one of my nozzles from a .4mm to a .25mm. I started to print and after 5 or 6 mm in height, the nozzle jammed. I went as high as 270C and it would still jam (too cold). I switched to a different ABS and printed it at 270C. I normally print at 245C with a .4mm nozzle.

[wirlybird]

In a printer with PTFE tubes temps of 235-240 should not be exceeded for any length of time and never over 260. If you do then it is likely the PTFE tubes are damaged and can be causing jams. 230 should be fine for ABS in general… I print at that and a bit lower on my FFCP all the time. One thing to look at is the speed you are printing with especially going to a smaller nozzle. In theory you would want to increase temp to compensate for faster speeds but only to a point.

[Janusmarine]

If you are local to So Cal, San Bernardino County, I got mine Will Call at Monoprice.com item number: 12133. The picture shows a grub/set screw but it is not included you have to use your existing one.

If not you can pay to have it shipped. For something that small you can expect to pay $2-3 in shipping i guess it will tell you exactly at the time of check out.

[francesco_pesso]

I am having the same with my FelixPro1. One hot end occasionally slips and the other after few seconds.

I tried everything and no even the maker of the printer has gone silent.

Of all printers I never ever had something like this till I bought a “made” one instead of building one.

[jfield]

Yes, I have a E3Dv6 so it can take the higher temps, but not all hot ends can go that high.