Does anyone now why my extruder is not pushing the filament into the hotend.

Controllers Smoothie
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1

Does anyone now why my extruder is not pushing the filament into the hotend. If I help push the filament when the motor is Turning it works. but if I let go it starts to click and and it doesn’t push the filament anymore?

I’m using the E3D V6 hotend

I’m using a smoothieboard

I checked the wires and there correct. So it’s not the wires

I think it’s something to do with the configuration.

I’m a little confused with the configuration can someone help me with the extruder configuration that would be most appreciated. There’s a copy of my extruder configuration in the picture.

I’m using a Nema 17 stepper motor

I tried wiring the extruder to the x axis and it turns

Any help is Most appreciated
Jake

3543af6fa04af0c8469e453e6a739c8e.jpeg
3543af6fa04af0c8469e453e6a739c8e.jpeg5344×3006 4.13 MB

2

It sounds like the current setting is low. The variable you want is in your screenshot, delta_current.

If the x-axis pin works nicely try finding what alpha_current is set to and use that value for delta_current.

3

Thanks for the response.

I tried bringing the current up to 1.9
Didn’t work.

Tried 1.8
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.2
1.1
0.5

I tried all of them.
And it still not working.

I think max is 2.0 for the current on the smoothieboard.

I don’t think it’s the current.

4

@Stephen_Baird

5

@Stephen_Baird

Plus I changed the steps per mm for the extruder from 140 to 100 and that didn’t do anything.

6

If you are using a 5X board, try swapping the extruder stepper to the 2nd extruder output and modifying the config to use that.
Or try plugging in a different stepper motor to that output to test it.
My 5XC board had a faulty stepper driver out of the box and I have been using the 2nd extruder output since. (Too much of a pain to send the board halfway around the world and wait for a replacement.)
Fortunately I am only using 1 extruder.

7

I would agree, it sounds like there may be a problem with that driver chip. If it’s brand new I’d get in touch with the vendor you bought it from.

8

Thanks I’ll check with them.

I have 4x smoothieboard

9

It’s possible this is a wiring problem, please try another stepper motor on that stepper driver’s port.

10

your extruder default feed rate seems very high, try 600

11

What kind of extruder are you using? A poorly configured or weak extruder could be just as likely a culprit.

12

Thanks everyone for responding

I will try a different extruder. And bring my default feed rate down to 600.

13

@jacob_keller ​ when you made changes to the firmware, did you restart the smoothie board (power it off then back on)?

14

@Alex_Krause yes

15

OK so I changed the motor and the extruder is now working. Thanks for the help everyone.

16

Great, so it was a faulty motor? Or a co dig issue?

17

“co dig” == config

18

@Douglas_Pearless I think its the extruder bad design. Here’s a link to the video.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x97l1v7tblwf87m/VID_20170110_171718633.mp4?dl=0

It worked for about an hour then started to do everything that it was doing before.

I have now idea what to do now. Maybe I should buy different extruder design.

I have like 5 of this extruders in my shop doing nothing.

19

What’s your hotend temperature?

20

Tried going up to 260 and 270. Plus I checked to see if there was a clog no clog