Phantom filament jam on a Replicator Gen5

[Peter Richardson]

I'm having trouble with a 5th gen Replicator reporting apparently erroneous filament jams.

It had printed fine for awhile, then somebody else used it and reported jamming issues. It was indeed jammed up, and I reloaded it and it seemed to print fine again – but then while apparently printing with no trouble, the little alarm tune plays, and the printer halts the print, reporting Error 81 filament jam. If I hit "resume" it begins printing again immediately with no trouble – but then errors out again in the same way after anywhere from 5-30 seconds of apparently trouble-free printing.

My troubleshooting steps so far:

- I've unloaded and reloaded the filament repeatedly – it will extrude all day in the "load filament" mode.

- I've taken off the extruder tip and verified that it's not clogged with anything nasty – the filament looks clean and normal, not burnt.

- I've recalibrated it numerous times, including with a few sheets of paper on the build plate so there's definitely plenty of space for the filament to come out.

- I've updated the firmware and the Makerbot software on the computer sending the jobs to the printer.

…any ideas? 

[Jetguy]

Yeah, it's a 5th junk (I mean gen).

That's by design.

Welcome to the 3 smart extruder pack- MakerBot's solution to all your issues.

 

Not sure what you think we could tell you?? We are all screwed just like you.

They make a nice doorstop- not so much a good reliable printer.

[Brandon]

I think you can disable filament jam detection. Try under Device Preferences and then Notifications I think. I'm not near a bot right now.

Failing that, have you power cycled it? The ol' off and on technique?

[Peter Richardson]

Thanks Brandon, that's an excellent tip. (I'd power cycled it, but I hadn't discovered the jam detection toggle!)

[Jeff Davis]

Yes, I have turned off the filament detection as well.  It just gives too many false positives.

[Jake Clark]

Ya, turn off filament detection.

Also, check your version of the smart extruder, if you have 12.0 or lower get it in for warranty and get at 12.1 or higher.

-Jake

[Jeff Davis]

I have not seen anything different mechanically between the different versions.  It must be something in the small PC board then.

[JF Kansas]

wow version 12? lol 

[adam paul]

12.1

[Wim Vandeputte]

Hey Peter,

The current version of the Smart Extruder is 12.2.1 or higher

A lot of the problems are caused by the rotary encoder wheel, when it's mounted wrong during assembly or when it moves from it's position due to shipping or use it will cause false Error 81 filament jam notifications. This is a problem that needs to be fixed at production, of course.

you can get a free replacement SE from your distributor or Official Makerbot Service Center (cough ;-) or you can just get

a temp fix by moving the rotary encoder wheel back into it's place like this:

http://i.imgur.com/S4Hnlc5.png

With kind regards,

Wim.

[Peter Richardson]

Thanks all, here's an update –

In attempting to re-load the extruder to do more testing, it seems to have become hopelessly jammed for real, making a series of increasingly exciting noises. Since it's a company machine and out of warranty, rather than tear it down and spend more time trying to fix it myself I've decided to just replace the extruder via their "worn extruder" discount plan: $50 off of a $175 device, which is backordered 2-3 weeks. So we'll see.

Thanks again for the excellent tips, hopefully I'll have better luck soon –

P

On Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 12:57:46 PM UTC-4, Peter Richardson wrote:

[Dan Newman]

On 29/06/2015 8:20 AM, Peter Richardson wrote:
> Thanks all, here's an update –
>
> In attempting to re-load the extruder to do more testing, it seems to have
> become hopelessly jammed for real, making a series of increasingly exciting
> noises. Since it's a company machine and out of warranty, rather than tear
> it down and spend more time trying to fix it myself I've decided to just
> replace the extruder via their "worn extruder" discount plan: $50 off of a
> $175 device, which is backordered 2-3 weeks. So we'll see.

If you're in the US, you might see if any of their US distributors participate
in the "worn extruder" plan.

Dan

P.S. Kind of obnoxious that a part MBI claims is a consumable they don't
keep in stock....

[JF Kansas]

Can't keep up with demand.... lol

[Dan Newman]

On 29/06/2015 10:49 AM, JF Kansas wrote:
> Can't keep up with demand.... lol

Or maybe the Smart Extruders really are "smart" and have all run away :)

Dan

[tramalot]

when I bought one of the last rep1's produced I did not mind buying their filament at a slightly higher price, but could not put up with the 2-4 week shipping

On Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 12:57:46 PM UTC-4, Peter Richardson wrote:

[JF Kansas]

I wonder how many got smashed, like in the back field Office Space style. Is there an equivalent of "PC Load Letter" for extruder Jams? 

[Dan Newman]

On 29/06/2015 12:05 PM, JF Kansas wrote:
> I wonder how many got smashed, like in the back field Office Space style.
> Is there an equivalent of "PC Load Letter" for extruder Jams?

Well, "PC" meant "Paper Cassette". So, "SE Load Filament" perhaps?
But for jams specifically, maybe "SE Clear Booger" or "SE Re-order Soon"?

Dan

[JF Kansas]

So SE = Shitty Extruder?

[Jetguy]

I know my answer was harsh but let's really look at this.

 

The user could cut their losses- sell the machine on Fleebay, Craiglists, local newspaper, whatever. It would have sold by now, they could have a decent reliable printer for 1/3 of the cost and 3 times the quality.

It's just insane to wait around and keep putting up with what is a bad printer. There is a KNOWN limit as to how good it ever could get from the bad design it is now. The 5th gen is a joke. A joke MakerBot played on users and owners.

It's sad, but know when to say when.

 

Sure, you can use the workaround and turn off monitoring. But you PAID for monitoring. That was a MAJOR selling point for buying the machine- supposedly ultra reliable, ultra protected, ultimate failsafe extruder that could sense if it went wrong.

It's just insane to tell a user to turn off a feature intended to improve print quality and reliability- just to make the stupid thing halfway function like a printer.

 

I can say with great authority, I can make a printer with my own 2 hands that works better than this junk. So why pray tell do people still buy these, still buy into the BS support system and ultimately give MakerBot  their hard earned $$$

It's pathetic. It needs to end.

[Dan Newman]

On 29/06/2015 12:18 PM, JF Kansas wrote:
> So SE = Shitty Extruder?

Good one. I had meant SmartExtruder[tm], but I prefer your read.

Dan

[Dan Newman]

On 29/06/2015 12:33 PM, Jetguy wrote:
> I know my answer was harsh but let's really look at this.

Not really. It's far harsher to have bought one of these door stops with one's
own personal spending $$$. Thank goodness there's a public forum to express such views.
As we all know MBI shutdown their own public forums in a misguided attempt
to squelch negative reports, most from people who had purchased Gen 5 printers -- Jetguy
himself being an owner of a Gen 5 Mini.

> Sure, you can use the workaround and turn off monitoring. But you PAID for
> monitoring. That was a MAJOR selling point for buying the machine-
> supposedly ultra reliable, ultra protected, ultimate failsafe extruder that
> could sense if it went wrong.

Perhaps it's so smart, it's saved everyone grief by shutting itself down:
I cannot possibly perform my function well owing to my myriad faults, therefore
why bother, why not just shutdown now and be done with it?

Dan

[Ryan Carlyle]

On Monday, June 29, 2015 at 2:52:39 PM UTC-5, dnewman wrote:

Perhaps it's so smart, it's saved everyone grief by shutting itself down:
I cannot possibly perform my function well owing to my myriad faults, therefore
why bother, why not just shutdown now and be done with it?

Dan

Sounds like Marvin. "I'd give you advice, but you wouldn't listen. No one ever does."

[Dan Newman]

Unfortunately, I don't remember the title but Asimov or Clarke wrote a
short in which an AI is built and it remains fairly non-communicative
but builds some probes and explores the solar system and after a few
months (years) just shuts itself down with no explanation.

Of course, there's Multivac and the Last Question. We don't want
our extruders, smart or otherwise, coming emulating the answer
to the Last Question....

Dan

[Peter Richardson]

Update:

The replacement extruder shipped in 3 days (though it said it would take 2-3 weeks) and prints perfectly (for now). I do have jam detection disabled, so maybe that's helping. Attached is a photo of a model of a piece of lower Manhattan, made from a vector tile extracted from OpenStreetMap data and printed at low quality – it's 10cm square and printed in 2.5 hours (1/3 of which was the raft).

Thanks for all the advice, and good luck –

Peter

On Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 12:57:46 PM UTC-4, Peter Richardson wrote: