Recently, my FlashForge Creator Pro has stopped working. The head will move, as if it is printing, but no filament will come out. I have talked to a few people personally, and they told me to look at the filament after trying to print. I did, and saw that there was a scrape on the side, like an indent. They said I needed to adjust the tension.
I don’t have much experience with tinkering with 3D Printers, so I came to this website for help. How would I adjust the tension? Would I need to increase or decrease it?
If anyone has experienced and fixed this problem, or knows what’s going on, your help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Sounds like you have a filament jam. I’m not familiar with the FFC as I’m a RepRapper, but is there a way for you to release the tension and push the filament through by hand. If it doesn’t extrude you could have a jam or a plugged nozzle. Also, can you verify that your nozzle is heating up to the proper temperature. Is it hot to the touch?
I am able to push the filament through with my hand, and it works fine. After that, it will work on it’s own and extrude about a quarter of a centimeter more, and then it will stop extruding on its own. And yes, it is hot to the touch. I am sure it’s heating up to the proper temperature.
Also, just to note, I am using ABS.
I’m almost certain the solution is to adjust the tension, but once again, my question is: how?
Do you hear any clicking when you try to extrude the filament? If you do you may not be printing hot enough.
Are you using the correct size filament for your printer? I would recommend checking it with a caliber tool. In some cases, the diameter variation of a filament is gradual – you might have great prints for a long time, and then as the filament gradually gets narrower, you have a extrusion problem and it doesn’t come out. Or, as the filament gets wider, you start to have an over-extrusion problem.
I have used this width of filament before, and it has worked. I am able to push the filament through with my hand, so I know it’s not jammed. It might be, as you said, too thick or too thin. How might I test this? Or, resorting to my original question, how would I adjust the tension?
Best way to check the filament is with a caliber tool. If you are using a 1.75 filament it is common to see a 0.05 increase or decrease in the in the filament diameter. I’ve had a few cheap rolls of filament before where the diameter fluctuation was 1 mm or more in change which lead to poor quality prints due to either over or under extrusion.
Alternatively it may be worth it to clean the drive gear of your printer. It could be that the drive gear is clogged with plastic and thus can no longer grab the filament to feed it through. As you can still push filament through manually, I know you do not have a clog in the nozzle which makes me think it is either the filament or the gear needs to be cleaned. Here is a video on cleaning maintenace for the for the flashforge extruder drive. My Flashforge Creator Pro 3D Printer: Cleaning maintenance the Extruder Drive Gear on a FlashForge Creator Pro 3D Printer 40
At the same time you should be able to tighten the filament tension if needed.
