EZstruder slipping, grinding filament One Solution

[foshon]

I had a pg microstuder mounted to my machine awhile back. I switched to the EZ to give it a shot and it worked great, so the pg went to another machine. While poking around in the firmware I noticed that my current setting for the extruder was still set very low for the pg. At the time I was having some trouble with a spool of silver filament (read: junk that will not run consistently with any settings) so I upped the value to the same number as the rest of my motors.

I dealt with the junk filament for awhile and finally gave up on it . Moved back to some more stable stuff and my prints started suffering from persistent extrusion issues. There had been a month or so between the junk filament and switching to the good stuff, we were moving the in-laws and stuff. After cleaning my nozzle, upping the temp, and cleaning the drive wheel teeth more times then I care to talk about, I finally remembered the one firmware change I had recently made.

I was running the EZ at the default current (135, 150?) I decided to drop it back down a bit to see if it made any difference at all. Yup That got it, no more mid print popping, no more shavings in the block. I dropped it to 120, btw.

[Jimustanguitar]

Where are you changing motor current at?

I've either got it wrong, or my "out of the box" settings are different in the seemecnc fork of the firmware.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/oFlXTES.png[/img]

[foshon]

Could be, I'm using a different (older) version and not SMCNC's.

[fsamir]

I had exactly the same issue, crappy silver PLA filament causing the filament to slips in the extruder.
Also, noticed a few other parameters that will cause slips. Basically if not everything is perfectly tuned, the Ezstruder will miss steps. Eg. Cold end without proper cooling when ptinting PLA, low quality filament, nozzly with deposits.
Also, 90% of the people end up bumping up the temperature in order to minimize the problem, which ends up causing more frequent PLA clogs.

In addition, crappy filament is a reality and failed prints are a headache and big wast of time. I've wasted countless hours tweaking steps per mm in the FW, driver amperage, cleaning the nozzle and increasing melting temperature. While these tweaks work sometimes, they won't last more than two or two prints.

I ended up buying a extruder with a geared box and problems are all gone. I can print with the very same low quality filament, at proper PLA temperatures (190C) and without having to cleanup the nozzle.

I still believe the Ezstruder is a good option, specially for ABS, if everuthing on your printer is dialed in and you have a good source of filament. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

[ccavanaugh]

Try reducing extruder accelerations instead of motor current. Reducing current too much will cause missed stepper steps, inconsistent extrusion and lead to poor prints. Decreasing extruder accelerations will prevent the grinding in the first place without missing steps.