Sunday, August 07, 2022

Prusa extruder axle problems

I've been round the following issue several times now, and so I thought I would document it, even if only for my own future reference. If you find that a Prusa MK3 is manifesting problems like:

- blobs (like little nodules) on the surface of prints; see the right hand example below.

- under extrusion and poor layer adhesion, especially when there is a lot of retraction

- slight extruder clicking

- in extreme cases, extruder motor overheating

then the problem may be that the axle for the extruder idler has slipped. This has happened to me several times now. Open up the extruder cover and see if it turns freely. If it feels graunchy, see if you can push the axle in slightly. The movement may then get smoother. If you push it too far, you won't be able to close the door over the idler and can pull it back a bit. This has fixed the problem for me now at least three times, including one case where the axle was slightly bent and needed to be replaced.



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