[Solved] Unable to print in PLA

[noname117]

I am unable to print things in PLA filament because it always gets stuck in the extrusion motor. I think problem has to do with the extrusion motor itself heating up and starting to partially melt the plastic to where its unable to grip it enough to push it through. Ive also had problems with PLA somehow getting caught just before it goes into the clear tubing and bunching up around the motor. I haven't had any of these problems happen with ABS. Any suggestions on how to fix the problem are appreciated.

As mentioned in several replies below the solution is to lower the voltage in the configuration.h page.

[Tincho85]

Hi noname117, how hot does the motor gets while it's printing?.
If it's very hot, to the point it burns, this possible situations comes to mind:

* There could be excessive friction somewhere in your filament path. Some people suggest canola oil, never tried myself.
* Check your motor label, they are Kysan? Wantai? Automation? You might be giving it more current than necessary. If so, you will need to reduce the motor current via firmware.
* Install a fan with a heatsink.

Also, if you can, measure the temperature with a thermocouple. 50ºc is ok, 80ºc no.

[Sheaffer]

I had almost exactly the same issue and received the following advice:

"Make sure you know what brand your stepper motors are. This happened to me and it actually says the fix for it in the manual. Kysan AND Automation Technology stepper motors need to have a small tweak in the firmware.

I don't have time to go crop an image with exactly what it says in the USER manual, but I know that it is on the bottom of page 12 (the manual version that I am using is Version: 1.15, published November 17th 2015)

I hope this helps!

Also, to find what brand your stepper motors are just look at the back of one of them and read the label
(note it's Kysan AND Automation Technology motors that need this change in the firmware)"

I had missed this in the manual and after making the required changes, was able to print with PLA just fine.

[noname117]

Hi noname117, how hot does the motor gets while it's printing?.
If it's very hot, to the point it burns, this possible situations comes to mind:

* There could be excessive friction somewhere in your filament path. Some people suggest canola oil, never tried myself.
* Check your motor label, they are Kysan? Wantai? Automation? You might be giving it more current than necessary. If so, you will need to reduce the motor current via firmware.
* Install a fan with a heatsink.

Also, if you can, measure the temperature with a thermocouple. 50ºc is ok, 80ºc no.

Unfortunately I can't tell you the exact temperature but it's too hot to touch for more than a second after it has been printing for a little bit. I have Automation motors.

[DeltaCon]

If you can't keep touching it because it's too hot, it is too hot...
Make the change in firmware like mentioned above.

[mhackney]

Over driving stepper current is not rocket science. The fix is simple. You can either find out exactly what the current rating for the stepper brand you have (label ID #, google it and find spec sheet). Or if you are lazy, just lower the current in Configuration.h. Lower it buy 20 and reflash. Let the printer run and see what happens. The danger of going too low is you loose torque and the extruder skips steps. Too high and you overheat. Just right and the world is good.

More than most people care to learn about steppers: https://www.geckodrive.com/gecko/images ... 0Guide.pdf

[Eaglezsoar]

Over driving stepper current is not rocket science. The fix is simple. You can either find out exactly what the current rating for the stepper brand you have (label ID #, google it and find spec sheet). Or if you are lazy, just lower the current in Configuration.h. Lower it buy 20 and reflash. Let the printer run and see what happens. The danger of going too low is you loose torque and the extruder skips steps. Too high and you overheat. Just right and the world is good.

More than most people care to learn about steppers: https://www.geckodrive.com/gecko/images ... 0Guide.pdf

Nice tutorial Michael, thanks for sharing it.

[noname117]

I had almost exactly the same issue and received the following advice:

"Make sure you know what brand your stepper motors are. This happened to me and it actually says the fix for it in the manual. Kysan AND Automation Technology stepper motors need to have a small tweak in the firmware.

I don't have time to go crop an image with exactly what it says in the USER manual, but I know that it is on the bottom of page 12 (the manual version that I am using is Version: 1.15, published November 17th 2015)

I hope this helps!

Also, to find what brand your stepper motors are just look at the back of one of them and read the label
(note it's Kysan AND Automation Technology motors that need this change in the firmware)"

I had missed this in the manual and after making the required changes, was able to print with PLA just fine.

This solved the problem. Thanks for the help

[Jimustanguitar]

As mentioned in several replies below the solution is to lower the voltage in the configuration.h page.

Current, right? Not voltage.