"Motor current too high"

Why the Filament Maker shows “Motor current too high” error message and what can be done about it.

Motor

The core of the Filament Maker is the extrusion system. This is made up of a screw inside a barrel, that is being rotated by the motor and gearbox.

Reasons for error

This error message is displayed most likely because the screw is having difficulty rotating. This puts extra stress on the motor, which also cannot now rotate therefore causing a high current. The high current indicates that the pressure inside the barrel is too high, and there is something blocking the flow of material, or slowing down the the rotation of the screw, essentially sticking the screw and barrel together.

There are two possibilities for what is happening inside the barrel:

1. The material is not molten enough.
2. There is contamination that has built up inside the machine over time after repeated use.

Solutions

Level 1

Both of these issues can potentially be fixed by raising the temperature of Heaters 1 and 2 gently. Raising the temperature of the extrusion system close to the nozzle allows the stuck material to melt and hopefully unblock.

Level 2

If the heating doesn’t work, it will be necessary to do a thorough purge. Depends on the temperatures and polymers you are using, you can use DevoClean MT and do a Standard Purge, or DevoClean HT and DevoClean MT to do a Heavy Purge. Please read up on our Purging articles to better understand what these terms mean and how to use these processes.

Level 3

If neither options work, it is possible that the blockage is worse. If the pressure has been building for a while and the machine has worked a lot of hours, it’s possible that the barrel, nozzle and elbow is covered with solidified material. This is quite severe and can cause the screw to not rotate. You can check this by opening up the top hood.

If the material is only covering the nozzle, and has not reached the heaters; clean the solidified material off, if you have the means to, or Contact Support!

Level 4

If none of the previous solutions match your issue, then it is possible that there is a problem with the motor or gearbox. If you believe this is the case, Contact Support and send a DevoVision log. Analyzing the datalog will help give some clues regarding inconsistencies in the operation of the gearbox and motor. Once the issue is identified, we can ship a new gearbox and motor.