Grinding Filament

What’s the Issue?

Grinding or Stripped filament can happen at any point of the printing, and with any filament. It may cause printing stops, printing nothing in mid-print or other issues.

Possible Causes

∙ Not Feeding

∙ Tangled Filament

∙ Nozzle Jammed

∙ High Retract Speed

∙ Printing Too Fast

∙ Extruder Issue

Troubleshooting Tips

Not Feeding

If the filament has just started not to feed because of grinding, help to refeed the filament. If the filament is grinded again and again, check for other causes.

PUSH THE FILAMENT THROUGH

Push the filament with gentle pressure to help it through the extruder, until it can feed smoothly again.

REFEED THE FILAMENT

In some cases, you’ll need to remove and replace the filament and then feed it back. Once the filament has been removed, cut the filament below the grinding and then feed back into the extruder.

Tangled Filament

If the filament is tangled that can not move, the extruder will press on the same point of the filament, which can cause grinding.

UNTANGLE THE FILAMENT

Check if the filament is feeding smoothly. For example, check that the spool is winding neat and the filament is not overlapping, or there is no obstacle from the spool to the extruder.

Nozzle Jammed

The filament can not feed well if the nozzle is jammed, so that it can cause grinding.

Go to Nozzle Jammed section for more details of troubleshooting this issue.

CHECK THE NOZZLE TEMPERATURE

If you have just fed a new filament as the issue started, double check that you have the right nozzle temperature.

High Retract Speed

If the retract speed is too high, or you are trying to retract far too much filament, it may put excessive pressure from the extruder and cause grinding.

ADJUST RETRAC SPEED

Try reducing your retract speed by 50% to see if the problem goes away. If so, the retract speed may be part of the problem.

Printing Too Fast

When printing too fast, it may put excessive pressure from the extruder and cause grinding.

ADJUST PRINTING SPEED

Try decreasing the printing speed by 50% to see if the filament grinding goes away.

Extruder Issues

Extruder takes a very important part in grinding filament. If the extruder is not working in good conditions, it strips filament.

CLEAN THE EXTRUDING GEAR

If grinding happens, it is possible that some filament shavings are left on the extruding gear in the extruder. It can lead to more slipping or grinding, so that the extruding gear should have a nice clean.

ADJUST EXTRUDER TENSION

If the extruder tensioner is too tight, it may cause grinding. Loose the tensioner a little bit and make sure there is no slippage of the filament while extruding.

COOL DOWN THE EXTRUDER

Extruder over heat can soften and deform the filament that causes grinding. Extruder gets over heat when working abnormally or in a high ambient temperature. For direct feed printers, of which the extruder is close to the nozzle, nozzle temperature can pass to the extruder easily. Retracting filament can pass heat to the extruder as well. Add a fan to help cooling the extruder.