Extruder Issues

Hello,


I have just started to calibrate my Prusa i3 printer. The first couple of prints printed just fine. But now when I try to print the extruder wont push filament through it just gives sort of a clicking noise like its setting there trying to push the filament but cant. When I stop the print and try to extrude the filament it extrudes just fine. Any help would be much appreciated.


Thank you.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2015 12:56PM by espeicher.

Having a similar issue with my Ezstruder from SeeMeCNC at the moment. I would try checking the voltage on your extruder's stepper driver. Mine is currently set to 0.75V. Had it up to 1.0V though it was getting extremely hot. At 0.6V it was slipping a lot worse.

Consider playing with the tightness of the springs. You want to firmly clamp the filament to the hobbed bolt, but not so tight that it just chews up the filament. This is supposedly a much bigger issue with PLA then ABS as it is much more brittle and less prone to bouncing back.

If you are using a bowden tube with PLA, try a few drops of canola oil in the tube to help lubricate the channel. Haven't tried it myself, though I assume you don't want the oil to lubricate the hobbed bolt, so be careful.

Try increasing the temperature of the hotend a few degrees, though be careful as PLA expands when over heated, making the issue worse.

Ive found my problem the bed was slightly un-level making the nozzle too close to the bed. But, now my prints are very globby. Would this be due to the feed rate being too much? what are some other contributing factors for this?

Thank you,