I've searched the forum and can't find this issue. I also can't find anything but extruder skipping when I search for this problem. I don't know how to explain this. I have a rigidbot and I just upgraded to the E3d v6. did a small little test print and it looked a little sloppy, so I figure the next day, I'll just calibrate the extruder. Well I did this, and the number for steps was really close, I changed it anyway so it would be perfect. All I am seeing is this repetitive pattern throughout my print and I can tell that it is synchronized with when my extruder stepper is pushing out filament. I've never had this issue before swapping hot ends. Anyone have any idea on how to fix this?
I see from the views that plenty of people have checked your problem but like I had when I first saw it. Only thing I can think is either the hobbed drive is not round or slightly offset giving a constant length but not a constant flow. Not sure if a loose stepper would be a repeatable effect. Sorry I can't be of any further help.
I don't know if I am able to explain this clearly. First of all, I appreciate your reply. What I mean is that I can see the stepper take steps, and every time it takes a step, a small blob of filament comes out (almost like the steps are too large) as the layer width gets thinner, until it takes another step and blobs again. You can kinda see what I'm talking about in my third photo. I am experimenting..... Someone told me that there are supposed to be more steps/mm when using the E3d on my Rigidbot. I tried more, seemed to barely change anything, so on a whim, i basically doubled my steps/mm (keep in mind, the only thing that has changed is the extruder, stepper, hobbed drive gear, tensioner, even filament all the same as before) and now instead of a 6 or 7 blobs per 20mm line, its like 14 blobs which in turn makes it look like a more straight line, and more even. They're almost not even blobs at this point. I'm going to step up the steps/mm some more, and see if I can get perfect streams coming out as it's laying plastic down. I had calibrated the extruder and it was very close, this is going to throw off my calibration but if it means better prints i'm all for it. Also, after more than doubling my steps/mm I printed a 20x40x10 cube and its coming out almost perfect. within .5mm or so and the layer width is exactly .8mm which is what it was set at in cura. Im just going to mess with it some more, if anyone else has any ideas, please chime in. If not, I will post back up what my solution is if one is found. Thanks for looking and happy printing! Kalvin
I meant .05mm not .5mm. if anything it's probably at most .1 mm off. but most of the measurements are spot on.
It could be that you are printing at a too high temperature and the filament has become very fluid. You do not say what filament you are using but drop the temperature by 5 or 10 degrees as a quick check.
Hey Mike, because I'm open minded and could use any help or advise, I will give this a try, but is there a reason why it would work perfectly with my last hot end, and not this one? The previous hot end is the Rigidbot hot end that had a PTFE tube that went into the hot end, the new one is the E3d V6. Printing at the same temperatures I wouldn't think this would be an issue. but maybe? I'll give it a shot and report back.
Two things: As far as I know E3D was the first to have the thermistor up as close as possible to the nozzle to get pretty accurate temp readings, so there's that. So temps could be too high. The extruder stepper is pretty much always running. I believe it's one of a few things: 1) Your Z is set much too low and it is building up too much pressure and causing that 2) Stepper motor is failing, it happens, manually turn the hob and see if you feel it slipping at all 3) temps (based on your third pic your top layer looks very bad like it is running too hot) What are your temps and filament?
That is very weird. You shouldn't be able to see individual steps. Instead, it should look like the stepper is slowly but smoothly rotating. How far does the print head move in between extruder steps?
I found the problem and the fix. The problem is that my extruder stepper was not getting enough current. Its possible that my previous hot end didn't show these as bad therefore I missed it. Long story short (I have a rigidbot and the DAC chip went bad on the board) so I bypassed this, giving my steppers full power and it printed like a champ. I have now replaced my board and am fully operational again without this issue.
