The Extruder for the CR6 Max is crap they said...It breaks easily and is hard to service they said...upgrade it they said...

[notarat]

So I did. I got the gray one on Amazon everyone mentions and installation went very smoothly. However, now it doesn't print large parts. It prints small ones (kinda) but large parts are unsuccessful...to the point of being candidates for composting...

I did he upgrade, did the e-steps script, ran my PID check, Auto-leveled, and tried a small 27 minute print (successful!)

I started a 7hr print and got to layer 3 (.6mm) and it stopped extruding halfway through that layer.

Pulled the filament out, removed the section that had tooth marks from the extruder, reloaded it, and started the print again and it didn't even get through the first layer before it stopped extruding again.

The new extruder gear's set screws have been tightened so tightly that the allen wrench bent so I think it's not spinning on the motor's shaft. (I aligned one of the set screws on the gear with the flat section of the motor's shaft) yet it still fails to extrude completely at random and then it ends up grinding away half the width of the filament.

I've tried:

• Adjusting the extruder tension from 25%
• Adjusted tension to 50% on the arm
• Adjusted tension on the arm all the way to the maximum I can tighten the adjuster screw...no difference.
• Changing print temp from 205°C to 215°C to 225°C
• Tried a different spool of filament

I don't believe it's skipping due to printing at too cold a temperature because I'm using 5 day old Overture Matte White (190°C - 220°C according to the label) and I normally print at 215°C so it shouldn't be building up too much pressure to cause the extruder to skip...yet it does...totally at random.

I then tried printing my test discs (I print a 20mm circle at .2mm on each of the 49 spots used during auto bed leveling. The print job runs front to back (7 spots) , left to right) and it gives me horrible results with at least 75% of the discs looking like something that would be pixelated if it were in an anime.

Not sure what to do at this point but I ordered a replacement OEM Extruder assembly, a 15-pack of stainless steel extruder gears, and I bought a Microswiss Bowden dual-gear extruder as well. I'm hoping that one of these items should get me back to operational status again but I'm uncertain...

I've been 3d printing since the Makerbot Replicator 2 was "the new thing". I even built my Rostock Max so I have experience, but I haven't encountered an issue like this before so I am a bit stumped what to try next

I could use some help if you have a suggestion on what I can try next.

 

[NightReaver]

Only extruder upgrades I've ever done has been BMG clones. Can't go wrong with that design. I honestly think the micro swiss stuff is outdated.

 

[notarat]

Only extruder upgrades I've ever done has been BMG clones. Can't go wrong with that design. I honestly think the micro swiss stuff is outdated.

Outdated or not, it's bound to actually "work" so it'll be an improvement over my current situation.

I do have 5 other printers but I want to use this one because it's dialed-in like no one's business in every other respect.

 

[Darunion]

Is the extruder motor hot? if it isnt' i would try bumping its current up a little and see if that helps.

Honestly dont follow internet advice of 'upgrade something that isnt broken yet'. it is often a misguided path of wasted money.

A reason for skipping during extruding is a lack of torque from the motor for whatever reason. Could be that the filament is jammed, or tension is too high. In my printers cases what happens is itll just grind a divot into the filament strand before it skips, probably could turn the torque down a bit but meh lol.

Not sure how easy it is to change that on the cr6 but move the current up about 10%.

Also while its extruding, push on the filament manually, if that helps it feed and stop skipping youll know its lack of motor strength.

 

[Jelly]

micro swiss stuff is outdated

I won't disagree, because until recently it was just the same ol same ol.

I'm not sure of your exact needs notarat but I went with Microswiss.
I got the MS NG DD for the E3Max because I wanted an all metal hotend, and direct drive. I've had ZERO issues with this, despite the extruder motor being smaller now. It being machined aluminum helps with motor heat. Looks like they make a model for your CR6 as well. Pricey? Sure. But, American made, good support, drop in replacement.

Micro Swiss NG Direct Drive (CR6 Model)

 

[notarat]

Follow-up on this issue.

Nothing I could do with the parts on hand would fix the issue.

What I ended up doing is removing the Micro Swiss extruder and replacing it with the one I had on my CR10S4, as well as upgrading to the community firmware (v6,1)

I replaced the entire hot end (Yeah, the whole thing. I rarely allow myself to get frustrated and smash things because that's not a reasonable response to anything but...well let's just say the hot end needed to be replaced and leave it at that.)

I also replaced the stainless steel nozzle I installed because it was crap (I refunded it on Amazon), then replaced the Capricorn tubing a second time with known authentic Capricorn tubing from a different kit (I think I fell victim to fake Capricorn...the new stuff is slippery as hell, the old, well...not much at all, really)

I also replaced the brass extruder gear with a stainless steel one, then scrubbed the hell out of my TM Flex textured build plate with Formula 409, then doused it liberally with 91% IPA and scrubbed it some more. Then I repeated the cleaning process two more times.

Learning some of the nuances of the new firmware features has definitely had a positive effect because I've tweaked my settings in my slicer a lot and modded my Gcode quite a bit as well.

It's now giving me some of the best prints I've ever made in 8+ years of making things with 3D Printers. I'm running it now on a ~44hr job printing phone holders for work. Not a long job by my standards but more than enough to ascertain if it's back to where it was before this issue reared its ugly head.