So my Titan either grinds the filament in half or slips completely. It will not drive the filament correctly. Got halfway through a print and the print stopped because of this. I have tried adjusting the tension screw everywhere in between max tension and no tension and still no luck. There is not a nozzle clog as I can manually feed material into the extruder. Seems to be working out worse than before. Material: ABS 250degree hotend temperature
I've tried Temps up to 260 down to 220. I've tried 3 different materials. I've calibrated the esteps. I've taken it apart and cleaned it multiple times. I've changed out the ptfe tube. And when it does extrude material. It's all jogged from the gear. I will post multiple pictures tomorrow. This is very frustrating.
still the same problem even after cleaning it. It either grinds the filament to where it breaks by not driving it, or puts indentations so hard in it it extrudes like the picture above.
The fact the filament is coming out the nozzle with the indentations (at least that is what it looks like in the picture to me) kind of indicates that the nozzle isn't melting it into a liquid completely, what happens if you manually try and push the filament through, does it go through smoothly? have you checked the thermister and heater is making good contact with the heating block/nozzle? Basically I am new to all this but it sounds like its a temperature issue rather than a Titan or path issue to me, but I could be very wrong.
I am able to push filament through the nozzle by hand with no problems. It is a factory assembled e3d hotend so I only assumed it was put together correctly from e3d.
Very strange then, guess its not a temperature issue, I have just ordered a dual Titan Upgrade so wont get it for a little while so unfortunately can't test anything.
I hope its not that ABS is a bit soft/sticky and the Titan is almost griping it rather than pushing it down the path such that it tries to pull it around with it. I am sure others would have experienced that issue if it were the case.
I printed Innofil ABS but also had hard time to get the tension right (old extruder system)... Actually I have also problems with the same Innofil ABS in 2.85mm on the UM2, the tension range is very small where it does not grind, though 2.85 is easier because you cannot deform the filament so easily like the 1.75. Didn't try the ABS on the Titan yet...
ya i will look more into it tonight. But well....., I may have to move away from the Titan if it wont extrude ABS....
The reason for grinding is always because the Titan is struggling to push (or pull!) the filament, or failing to grip it correctly. The absolute first thing to do is clear the hobb - I know you say that you have cleaned it before, but as soon as it grinds there is a risk that you get filament trapped in there (in spite of the debris-shedding design). Make sure all the teeth are free of material after any grinding event. Can you check for me that the filament path into the extruder is clear (i.e. no long runs of PTFE), and that when you pull the idler back you are able to easily grip the filament and extrude by hand? Once you complete both of those checks, do up the idler tension to about 1/3rd and turn the extruder gear by hand - you should be able to extrude easily. Looking at the photo of your extrudate, that pulsing is something I have never seen before! Are you able to share with me a video of the extruder operating in a way that exhibits this behaviour? The other side of it is that Titan is unable to grip the filament correctly - this could only be caused by a defect in the hobb and is very unlikely. Are you able to share a high-res photo of your hobb so that I can rule that out? Regarding ABS - we have tested it with loads of ABS, from experience you don't need quite as much force on the idler as it is a material that deforms quite easily. Can I ask which particular brand of ABS you are printing? Cheers, Josh
@Josh I will take a video tonight for you. Here are two more pictures as well. I checked and made sure the PTFE was clear inside the nozzle. I have cleaned everything multiple times. I took a "pick" to the hobbed gear to individually clean/verify there was no filament trapped inside the grooves. I will also take some better more high resolution pictures.
It's hard to say for certain, but I would say that the cause for the pulsing would be way too much idler force. When you watch the gear rotate, does it rotate smoothly? Or does the gear also move around with a "jerky" motion?
gear rotates smooth. the pulsing is from the huge teeth marks by having to turn the tension up on the idler arm so high. Because it either drives correct but needs such high tension and puts teeth marks which makes the extrudate all funky. or with not enough tension the filament doesnt move and just grinds away at the filament. There is no inbetween or sweetspot. I thought this was due to maybe temperature, but I have tried all ranges of temperature to make sure it wasnt restricting the flow of the material.
I think E3D or the BigBox team needs to assist with this issue. They should be well versed in any issues that could arise from the Titan. @Sanjay @Greg Holloway thoughts?