Material stops feeding in the middle of printing

[Gumleezy]

Hi everyone,

I've been having issues my last few times through trying to print a part. The print time is about 3hrs, and at some point during the process it appears that the material stops feeding and the machine begins printing air. I've tried clipping the filament and rethreading. A test extrusion produces a nice smooth, even flow. It doesn't always occur at the same point, either. Has anyone else experienced this? Could there be a problem with the filament itself? Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[mvansomeren]

What kind of filament are you using? If it's PLA and your extruder stepper motor is getting hot, it could be softening up the PLA to the point where the gear no longer pushes the filament through.

[Gumleezy]

I am using ABS

[mvansomeren]

Have you made any changes to your configuration lately, like increasing retractions? It is possible, as you suggested that you could have some bad filament or even filament that is actually PLA mislabled as ABS.

When you discover that it stops extruding, is the stepper still trying to push the filament through? Does the Hotend actually get clogged?

[addisonElliott]

I would recommend that you watch the print until this happens. I know that sounds like a sucky task, but there are a couple of ideas that come to my mind.

When you are watching the print and this happens:
1. Check to see if the EZ-struder is turning. Watch the white knob and see if it is turning slowly.
a. If it is turning, proceed to step 2.
b. If not, then touch the motor with your hand cautiously and see if it is REALLY hot. This would mean you need to change the driver currents in the firmware because its getting too hot.
2. Pause the print where its at. Manual extrude 5mm of filament out and see if anything comes out. While it's manually extruding hold on to the filament above the EZ-struder to see if you can feel it slowly going down.
3. If all else fails, my best guess is that its a software issue.

With these tests, it becomes easier to narrow down the issue. Feel free to report back what you find.

[Rburke1963]

I to have been having this issue. I have a Rostock Max V2 with e3d v6 hotend. It doesn't do it with short prints or with longer prints when I'm using harder filaments. I tried decreasing the retraction to 2 and then 0 and it still did it. I have noticed the extruder stepper motor appears to be very hot so I suspect it might be softening the filament and then it won't extrude. It was mentioned to change some settings in the firmware for this. I have the stepper motors that don't normally ship with the kit. In the initial setup I remember having to switch something in the firmware for this. Does anyone know what and how I go about making this change or do I need to contact support. Thanks!