Will a clicking stepper get damaged?

3D Printing
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1

Will a clicking stepper get damaged?

2

Is the stepper itself clicking or something it is mounted on/to? Does it click when not mounted on a printer and not driving anything?

3

Just wondering. Sometimes my extruder jams and the stepper clicks

4

That’s just skipping steps as it is stalling. It shouldn’t hurt the motor. if it’s not a hard jam (foreign object), and your motor isn’t getting hot, you might dial up the extruder motor current a bit more.

5

Its not an open source printer so I can’t adjust voltage. It only clicks when the extruder is jammed

6

PLA? Have you tried canola oil? It’s like magic…

7

@Abc_Def what type of printer are you using?

8

Its a davinci 1.0 that I have found loop holes in to use pla and pet and stuff like that. I don’t need any help with it. Just wondering if it hurts the motor. I dialed down the temps and it seems like it was jamming from the pla swelling

9

Steppers are very sturdy little things. The “clicking” or skipping steps will not harm it at all.

10

About the only way to kill a stepper is to get out really really hot. And I am not talking hot to the touch.

11

@Joe_Binka curious as to how much canola oil is needed? Also, are we just looking at the hot end or the entire bowden tube?

Thanks.

12

There’s many different things that can jam a hot end. Contamination, too hot, too cold, bad material to name the majors.

If you’re “seasoning” a hot end with oil on filament, like a drop’s worth on the filament is probably more than enough, then push it through.

13

I once had a stepper click for hours due to a jam with no damage to the motor. The constant clicking did ruin a bowden tube fitting, but it was an eBay “special” anyhow. :slight_smile: