EZ Struder Unstrudeling

[noddynomolos]

HI Guys,
Got EZ Struder mining its way into my filament and does not feed. Does not happen right away usually 5-10 min into a print. I'm using 235 C hotend (checked with thermocouple)
Steps are adjusted to my old Rambo 1 am using 1.75 filament. Yes it is some cheap ass shit from china or somthin'n but worked just fine in old extruder..
I have tightened up all the bolts to nothing is moving though I find there is resistance caused between the EZ Struder and the bowen tube. Though you can feed the filament through and cause the hotend to extrude plastic with the spring handle held.
The teeth on the ez struder are all gummed up with plastic..
I have read on other threads about this issue and the people where able to resolve it by tightening the shit out of everything (the mounts and the bolts to the step motor)! I have done so, to no avail
I am not very pleased with this mount (conversion mount to old spool holder) as it allows so much play on the step motor... Think I am going to have to build a bracket and mount it properly rather than this POS SeeMee provided...
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Don S

[barnett]

I found that if I over-tighten the bolts on my steve's extruder, then it does grip the filament better, but it also squashes the filament so much that it becomes out of round and rubs against the sides of the bowden tube. The increased friction in the tube is too much for even the tightest bolt settings and then it's stuck.

I want my bolts as loose as they can be while still preventing me from pulling filament back out with my fingers. If I can make it slip, then it's too loose.

Do others here agree or is there a better way to set the bolt tension?

[Broose]

The teeth on the ez struder are all gummed up with plastic..

Once the teeth get gummed with plastic, all bets are off. You will need to clean the drive roller teeth. I don't know what caused the teeth to get gummed, but it was probably something causing the extrusion force to be too high like the first layer being too close to the glass. I've had mine get gummed a couple of times with ABS and usually it was something like that.

Edit: One more thing to check- make sure that the drive roller hobbed section is aligned with the hole going up into the bowden tube.

[noddynomolos]

Thanks Broose and Barnett for your informative replies.
I have a feeling you might be right about the drive roller section may not be lined up with the hole going up the bowden tube. I can feel resistance there. Z hight seems good... Paper test loose...
Thanks once again for the ideas.
Yours,
Don S.

[jetpad]

I have the same issue with filament on the EZStruder. The teeth on the gear get gummed up pretty quick.

Does the clear plastic shield on the EZStruder serve any purpose? I've taken mine off so that I can clean the junk out easily on the fly. Has anyone come up with a little brush or something that could be mounted on the EZStruder to keep the teeth clean?

[barnett]

I'm still using the steve's extruder, but when you describe gunk on the teeth, is it something that a can of compressed air can't solve? Whenever my filament gets stuck, I can blow air on the teeth and any bits of filament come off right away. Is it more dug into the teeth than that?

[texsc98]

I had problems when I first used the EZstruder as well. First problem I had was temperature too low, and I'm now printing between 230-235C and it seems to be making it better. But even now it still will "slip" and chew the filament some but rarely. Usually doesn't cause it to jam, just slight filament starving... But I made this part to increase the tension on the filament that seemed to help some: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:111513

Another thing that can cause it is trying to extrude too much volume at a time... I've found I can go at MAX 68mm/s if using .2mm layers, and going slower makes things better. If I go down to .1mm layers, then I can pretty reliably print around 88mm/s or even higher. Getting up to those speeds though you have issues with overhangs and such anyway, but that's a whole other topic! Lately I'm print printing pretty slow trying to get nice overhangs and keep it down around 32-40mm/s

[jetpad]

After a little more investigating, I think a lot of my problem with the teeth/slipping was caused by a slightly clogged PEEK & nozzle and printing at too low a temperature. There was just too much pressure to push the filament through the hot end.