Hi there, not sure if this is the right place, I’m only here to get some help, hopefully someone can… I have a da vinci jr. that stopped printing a little while ago. Instead of printing, I hear a loud clicking noise. The noise I found out is coming from the gears that feed the spool through the tube, right above where the spool is installed. The gear just gets stuck on it, because the plastic won’t budge. I can’t print, or unload the filament as a result. I tried to remove the the feed tube, but I couldn’t remove it from either end, it’s totally stuck. I’m sorry if I’m missing something obvious here, I’ve been looking around and can’t seem to find any kind of a solution. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to answer.
Edit: Fixed! Thank you everyone for your time and advise!
OK, assuming your extruder is heating up correctly (the fact that the extruder motor is trying to move filament strongly suggests this) then hearing the clicking noise means that the force to pull the filament out or extrude it is too much for the torque of the motor. Probably the filament has been ground down enough at the point of contact that it can’t exert the maximum it could at this point anyway.
At the risk of being redundant, be sure the extruder is in fact heating. If so, and you are trying to unload, it might work to grab the filament at the entry point of the extruder with a needlenose pliers and pull as the motor starts to click. That might free it. In tough cases (for example, where the heater cartridge died during a print) I had to use a small butane heat gun (not a torch with a flame) to over heat the brass end of the extruder and then pull the filament back. Careful - there are a lot of plastic parts to melt…
It is quite difficult to get in to the rear of the extruder to clear the filament by cutting it, but it can be done with a small jeweler’s cutting wire, though I don’t recommend this do the the potential for damage to the pinch wheels that drive the filament.
You have the bed set too high, so the filament is unable to leave the extruder, it might be so high that it could take 3-4 passes before it starts printing again. LOWER THE BED! and you will see that is whats causing the issue. set up a few small test pieces say 5cm x 5cm x 3cm and test it once calibrated.
Lay3rs
4
This is the extruder wheel. the axis needs to be cleaned and add some grease. It is a weak and known issue and takes you one hour to fix.
Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately it isn’t this, I’ve tried this already 
My guess is that plastic is melted and jammed in the extruder.
I just checked to be sure, and the extruder is in fact heating up. I have tried to remove the filament while it was clicking, but I wasn’t able to do so. It’s really stuck in there! I don’t have the time today to try the heat gun technique, but I will keep it in mind. I reached out to XYZ printing for help, and they have been ignoring me… I scheduled a phone appointment and I never got the call and haven’t heard from them since.
have you tried the extruder pins or a pin pushed up into the head?
it sounds like bed height likely caused the latter issue, can you set it to change filament, so the head heats up and you can just pull the filament out?
I heated up the extruder and tried that yes, unfortunately to no avail.
I thought so as well originally, but I’ve experimented with many different heights high and low, without success. I have also tried to use the change filament options to my advantage, but nothing I’ve done has led to success.
It sounds like you are going to have to take apart the head and investigate further inside, it may be that the gears have been jammed with melted plastic which has cooled and hardened. (just a theory) Good luck with it.
That’s what I’m thinking as well. Thanks for all of your help, I really appreciate it. I’m not sure how this happened, I may end up waiting for XYZ to get their act together and respond to me haha.
Hi Itopher, I sometimes get this problem as well.
Luckily, there is a solution to this problem! Firstly, if you try using plyers, then maybe you can force the filament out. Do not try too hard as you may damage your machine.
The other solution is to watch this video here: da Vinci Jr. 1.0 - Drive Gear Cleaning - YouTube
This video by XYZ shows you how to take apart your printer so you have access to the gears that are jammed. There you can manually remove the filament.
In the video, the guy removes the wires in the casing surrounding the gears, I do not advise it. Just keep them plugged in. He only does it so that he has more room to access the gears with. Just keep them attached since putting them back is really frustrating.
Good luck!
You sure you didn’t take the lock off the filament? Sometimes even popping the filament box off, and making sure it’s not tangled would help 2…
Be aware that this is a junior.
The gears are not in the head. The feeder and the nozzle are two seperate units far apart.
The filament feeder and nozzle are separated by a long filament guide tube.
Feeding gears and hot unit are thus separated by about 40 cm.
Most problems with grinding feeder wheel are caused by a blockage in the nozzle unit.
Because of the blockage the feeder cannot push the filament into the tube and starts clicking and grinding.
Yes, if a Jr. then the head can be easily removed and if you are capable, disassembled to clean and check. I’ve not had one apart, but clearly there is filament stuck in the path or in the hot end section, and clearing this may be a challenge. Take it slow and try to see where the actual sticking place is. It might be necessary to get a new head but most blockages can be cleared - the main thing is to not damage the extruder in the process.
Yes, this is the best approach outside of a complete extruder head disassembly.
Hello Chris,
I have had the same issue with my Junior.
the filament is stuck in the nozzle.
The solution is simple but requires some hands on work.
1) removing the head
Cut the fillament below the feeder.
Take of the printing head from the carriage (push white button on top to release)
Remove fillament guiding tube from feeder and pint head
you might have to push the filament through the feeder (while pushing the filament release) before you can take off the tube.
Now you should have a loose printing head with about 40 cm of filament sticking out.
just put it down on the bed but leave the electronic flat cable on
2) removing stuck filament
Start the nozzle cleaning cycle via the operating menu.
utilities>clean nozzle
When the temerature is ok, poke the nozzle with the cleaning needle
stop the cleaning cycle by pushing ok
the filament is probably still stuck.
now go to monitor mode in the menu.
When temperature drops to about 100 degrees celsius start pulling hard on the filament while you hold on tight to the printing head.
Now the filament should come out.
3) prevention
by deep cleaning the nozzle on regular basis this can be prevented.
KNUGA
19
yes completely agree with approach. I have done the same with my Da Vinci 2.0. I recommend cleaning the drive gears on the extruder at regular intervals. I usually give a quick clean before a large print just to ensure I don’t have any issues.
Good luck,
Jay
Thank you so much, this totally fixed my issue!!
