Extruder Stops Mid Print

[bpopilek]

So, I have a really odd situation with my printer all of a sudden. I'm wondering if any of you possibly have any ideas.

I'm currently working on printing out a bunch of components to build a CNC mill. I have attempted to print a couple of parts, three different times today. After approximately 3 to 4 hours into a 12 hour job, the extruder just stops working.

At first, I thought that it was a jam that was preventing the filament from extruding out. However, I just checked on another attempted print that was four hours in, and noticed that the extruder drive gear was not turning. The filament was fine and not ground down. It just randomly stopped moving the stepper motor on the extruder. Does anyone have any idea of what could be causing this? Prior to this, I just completed reprinting all of the parts for my Eclips3D in a translucent orange PLA, and I had no problems during any of those prints.

I'm wondering if it could be and stepper motor or controller. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[carlos]

If you're using S3d you might have to run the file through a cleaner. heard of issues like that on smoothie boards from last year, but I think it's been fixed. The other possible issue is if you have the metal washers on the end stops, the shaking from the printer might make contact on the endstops and it shorts out.

[theo1001]

Did your extruder stay hot when it stopped moving? I am working on a similar problem.

[bpopilek]

I'm pretty sure you've hit the nail on the head! I just did some research into this, and since I just ponied up the $149 and switched to S3D, this is when the problem occurred. I did find a test firmware file that I just loaded onto the Azteeg and am going to try this same print again. I think I will also contact S3D and see what they can offer up on the issue. I will put a link to the custom firmware below, in case anyone else has this same issue. Thanks for the reply!

S3D-Fix-Hack (Remember to rename it to Firmware.bin)

[bpopilek]

Feb 18, 2016 16:46:21 GMT theo1001 said:

Did your extruder stay hot when it stopped moving? I am working on a similar problem.

Yes! The extruder and heated bed stayed on. The printer also kept acting like it was printing, but the stepper motor for the extruder just totally stopped moving. I had to power the printer off/on to get it working again. Also, because it sat like that for so long, no moving any filament, I was left with a nice hard clog and had to disassemble the whole extruder to get it cleaned out. I was not very happy!

[jjlink]

Can anyone provide the settings for S3D? I'm just at the point where I need to home the printer. With the origin in the front left corner I move negative on the Y-axis and the gantry move towards the back of the printer. I have used S3D on another printer for well over a year but it had the origin in the back right corner. So I am trying to figure out how to setup S3D for the Eclips3D printer.