Stepper motors heating up



  • I have run into a problem with my prints completing. After the first 10-20 layers, the printer (Pulse XE) continues to move on every axis, however, it is not extruding any filament.

    The first time it happened, I tried to manually extrude but it wouldn't. After I was able to get the filament out of the Bowden, I noticed the pinch marks in the filament which seemed normal, but about every 100 mm there were flat spots on opposing sides of the filament.

    I tried it again and stayed with the printer, and when I noticed that it wasn't extruding I paused the print. I reached in to check the tensioner, and happened to touch the stepper which was extremely hot. I felt the Y axis stepper, and it was just as hot. I could only keep my finger on it seconds hot!

    I've only done a small amount of research on this, and thought that I would ask here before tearing into it. Is it possibly a setting? Also, this printer was purchased in March of this year, and has maybe 72 hours of print time on it.

    Thanks in advance for any tips.
    Lee



  • If it is that young a printer I suggest you call support. The extruder stepper gets pretty hot on mine too but not so much the other motors. I know from general experience that a belt that is too tight can put an extra load on the motor and make it hot. As for your extruder the marks are from the gears. The flat spots from the gears skipping gears will skip (and also make the motor hotter) if there is something holding things up. It can be before the extruder like an improperly wound spool where the filament is crossed and then it once in a while tries to pull filament out from underneith another and that can cause that problem. Or an obstruction in the hotend maybe you are printing at too low a temperature or too high a speed or there actually is an obstruction in the nozzle. All it takes is that during filament production a foreign body like dirt or dust got into the filament. But as you still should be under warranty contact support



  • @lpinney motors (all of them) generate heat from being powered up.... BUT they cool off when moving due to air flow past the moving parts.

    unfortunately if they stop moving the heat cannot dissipate and they heat up.... a problem with this is that the hotter they get the lower the coil resistance, more heat = lower ohms = more heat = lower ohms etc etc... otherwise known as thermal runaway.

    ok so that explains the over heating... now its simply(???) a case of why has it stopped turning... something jamming it? friction or foreign matter in the extruder feed/ gearing?....

    the flattened filament is probably simply due to the overheat which coupled with no movement causes heat deformation.

    likely causes are blockages, foreign matter in the motor/ extruder interface (good posh word that is) or an underpowered motor.....

    good luck with the search

    malcolm


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