What does it mean?
When the Filament Maker emits a cyclic, loud, squeaky noise, it indicates that the screw is touching the barrel. Beside being quite annoying for the user, this phenomenon often indicates that the Filament Maker is operating sub-optimally, and that the extrusion results are being disturbed. This issue must be fixed before you can achieve good, reliable extrusion results again.
Cause
The screw can be misaligned when a particle is too large to travel through the barrel. The minor diameter of the screw increasing along the barrel, in order to apply a compression ratio and build pressure. For that reason, it is possible for particles to enter the barrel, but not necessarily come out. Sometimes, when a particle gets stuck and the pressure is sufficient, said particle can essentially push the screw away from the barrel, resulting in a contact on the other side of the screw.
The following particles can cause this issue :
- Unmelted particles from previous extrusion runs (in case the hopper wasn't empty or the transition was incomplete)
- Partially melted particles
- Debris dropped accidentally in the hopper
- Other contaminants (unpurged residue, degraded/burnt material...)
Please note that a particle can remain stuck for a long time, sometimes disturbing the flow.
Solution
The objective is to free the barrel from the stuck particle. Unless the item is huge and unbreakable (e.g. a metal bolt), you might be able to push it out by purging the Filament Maker.
We recommend a Heavy Purge, followed by a Quality Check.
Please also check out paragraphs 3&4 of our Maintenance Guide.
Contact Support
Lastly, if you have any reservations about carrying out a Heavy Purge, the purge was not successful, or you have any additional enquiries, please Contact Support.