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New extruder gear?

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 9:57 am
by dunginhawk
Good morning.. Can anyone recommend a good stepper motor gear? Soft filaments seem to just slip a bit too much on the stock gear.
I am also looking to cool my stepper motor... Is a heat sink good enough? or is a fan crucial as well?
thanks

Re: New extruder gear?

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:22 am
by BenTheRighteous
I was having similar trouble - soft filaments would jam after awhile.

I just pointed a 80mm cooling fan at the stepper motor. No new gear, no heat sink. That was enough to keep the motor cool to the touch and the filament stopped jamming.

Re: New extruder gear?

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:46 am
by dunginhawk
So if you dont mind me asking, why would simply cooling the stepper motor help it from jamming ? Im just finding that the gear itself rubs the copper/bronze and grinds it away rather than feeding it.
id love for that to be the fix. just curious as to how that works.

Re: New extruder gear?

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:10 am
by BenTheRighteous
In my case, the drive gear would get hot enough to transition the soft filament just enough to make it sticky. Once that happened, it wouldn't release from the gear when it was supposed to and would kink in the gap between the gear and the feed tube.

I don't know if that's the same problem you're having, but the fan might help. It's worth a shot.