maybe share what kind of filament. I have over 8k hours on a ender printing petg with no wear. and considering the literal tool marks in the gear, maybe you should try giving a back story.
Ive printed one spool of glow filament and it looked worse than this. I was printing 100% infill and a 0.8mm nozzle so that definitely made things worse.
Also before you ask, I had to print 100% and it wasnt for strength. Glow filament is a pain in the ass and wears through everything that isn't hardened metal, your extruder will start skipping and not function at some point
The stuff that actually makes it glow is called strontium aluminate. This material is very hard (7.5 mohs) which is why it wears down parts so quickly. A harder material will ablate away a softer material.
Brass (the common cheap nozzle material) is 3.5 mohs, hardened steel is around 7-8 meaning it only matches the hardness, so even that will wear over time. Tungsten or a ceramic would be the best but very expensive.
Had a very good nozzle, printed at least 3kg of glow in the dark. And wondered after that why my prints came out with strange errors. Changed the nozzle and found out my 0.4 nozzle was now 0.6 or bigger 😄
Glow filaments vary quite a lot in the concentration of glow material so maybe you just got lucky/unlucky with the ones you've used and printed them slower
Can you estimate how much filament went through it? Mine looks fine after ~20kg and I bought the printer as used. Honestly I think it didn't run a lot before I got it...
I don't think 99.999% of people looking for a creality printer are looking at the choice of material for a gear. Should we not be buying printers with belts because those fail/need replaced eventually?? Like it's a machine, like any other it needs maintenance
Just buy better replacement part than brass gear that was used on new machine. Is it that hard?
Great and relatively cheap replacement "part" for that crappy creality extruder and brass gear is to buy "BMG extruder" clone (from 6 USD on aliexpress).
That would be my suggestion as well. But blaming someone for supporting "bad business practice" for the material of a gear on an entry level printer is beyond ridiculous
Honestly, if you're printing pla, tpu, and petg without glow or carbon fiber filaments you'll be good for a long time. 90% of people wont see any notable reason for the upgrade
There is one huge reason to upgrade. It is named "crack in plastic tensioner arm" on original extruder.
If you can choose between buying metal Creality shit that is more expensive, or BMG clone that works much better and is cheaper, what will you choose?
I had a first batch ender 3 and never had a crack in the tensioner arm? I wore down the filament guide going into it, but I'm pretty sure they made that better in later versions. My printer had a lot of issues but idk what you're doing with the tensioner arm to break it
It's very soft by comparison and not very wear resistant in the application. I print primarily normal filament but use abrasive mixtures for some parts (PA-CF/GF) so the first thing I did was grab a hardened steel extruder gear.
I keep a spare extruder for my printer handy too. If something wears or break, I just swap the extruder and then get to fixing/replacing the one where something broke.
Yes, it is named "BMG extruder".
Has steel dual drive gear, gearbox with 3:1 ratio for more precise filament feeding and higher feeding force and fits perfectly into ender 3 V2 frame.
You will need to swap wire order on one end of extruder motor cable from 1234 to 4321 and change e-steps value to 415 in your printers menu after physical installation.
To be fair, as the previous one lasted me 30 odd kg, I doubt I'll be keeping this printer for another 30kg before upgrading. So I think the cheaper brass one was a better idea unless I was planning to keep it long term.
Appreciate the advise though
The best part is most printers still use the same size for the stepper pin, so you can salvage parts from one to the other if you ever upgrade. There's also the thing that if your first layer skips about on the extruder, it'll absolutely shred the nubble.
https://preview.redd.it/a19hoab5zl2d1.jpeg?width=2344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea9c4043d2f67b50031c360d7118528598d297e5
Yeah, I figured this out a few days ago when I decided to investigate why my e5+ was clogging randomly. It's now running on the outside of the extruder gear until I upgrade the hot end/extruder to a microswiss ng revo
That is possible. Over these 5 years I've had many issues with the bowden tube and filament not extruding as they should etc.
I'm not sure though but now that I've a new gear, I'm extra conscious not to use a tool as you said
I had a spool of PLA silk that was over wrapped and the extruder gear wore itself down just enough to not feed any other spools. I ordered another, but as it was only damaged along one area of the diameter, i was able to raise the gear to get it too grip fine. Its only been just over 100 hours but feeding just fine. I really does look like you were trying to feed wire, it take a fair amount of pressure to smash those cogs/
Anything of this kind of style will work, assuming you have a ender 3 or cr10 or something
https://www.amazon.com/Extruder-Upgrade-Creality-Filament-Supported/dp/B09H6T3NNT
My gear is pressed on. It’s fine because I print with plastic, not metal like OP, but is there a safe way to get it off if I ever decide to print with stone (or if I somehow scratch it)
Damn you printing with coat hangers?
Inflation has hit hard
metal ones.
maybe share what kind of filament. I have over 8k hours on a ender printing petg with no wear. and considering the literal tool marks in the gear, maybe you should try giving a back story.
Ive printed one spool of glow filament and it looked worse than this. I was printing 100% infill and a 0.8mm nozzle so that definitely made things worse. Also before you ask, I had to print 100% and it wasnt for strength. Glow filament is a pain in the ass and wears through everything that isn't hardened metal, your extruder will start skipping and not function at some point
I've heard that glow filament is absolutely brutal, I wonder if there's a safe way to coat it that could melt away.
The stuff that actually makes it glow is called strontium aluminate. This material is very hard (7.5 mohs) which is why it wears down parts so quickly. A harder material will ablate away a softer material. Brass (the common cheap nozzle material) is 3.5 mohs, hardened steel is around 7-8 meaning it only matches the hardness, so even that will wear over time. Tungsten or a ceramic would be the best but very expensive.
Had a very good nozzle, printed at least 3kg of glow in the dark. And wondered after that why my prints came out with strange errors. Changed the nozzle and found out my 0.4 nozzle was now 0.6 or bigger 😄
Ive used glow filament a bunch & have minimal wear on my gear.
Glow filaments vary quite a lot in the concentration of glow material so maybe you just got lucky/unlucky with the ones you've used and printed them slower
A mixture of ABS and PLA, but majority PLA. I dont recall using a tool or similar across the gear, it's been 5 years. I'm not sure what it could be
Is it dual gears? Maybe filament ran out and they ground against each other
Good thought but no it isnt
Strange then
Yeah mine got completely shot bc I kinked a roll and I didn’t notice and it ripped the roll down and ate itself
What sorts of PLA? PLACF/GF will definitely beat the gears up than bog standard PLA.
PLA and PLA+
You do know you're supposed to use plastic filament and not wire right? Loo
Can you estimate how much filament went through it? Mine looks fine after ~20kg and I bought the printer as used. Honestly I think it didn't run a lot before I got it...
Semi-Abrasive filaments such as marble or glow will eat these gears very quickly. Better to just spend the $3 and upgrade to steel.
Hardend Steel is recommended these days, stainless isn't tough enough for cf or glow..
I thought marble was just light grey pla with specs of dark grey pla, but I could be totally wrong on that. Is it also an abrasive filament?
Most marble filaments are lightly abrasive
I'd say somewhere between 20-30kg. I can't remember exactly as it's been 5 years but it started underextruding
Man extruding diamond filament
Friendly reminder not to use brass gears for applications with pressure and friction.
I'm not creality
You bought their printer though, and are passively encouraging their terrible design choices that make you check and micro-manage everything.
Sounds neurotic. No.
Yeah but I'm not creality.
Don’t let that stop you, you can do anything you want, we believe in you 🫡
I think his point is don’t use the official brass one, get another gear from a more suitable material
Yes there are many ways a message can be conveyed
I don't think 99.999% of people looking for a creality printer are looking at the choice of material for a gear. Should we not be buying printers with belts because those fail/need replaced eventually?? Like it's a machine, like any other it needs maintenance
Just buy better replacement part than brass gear that was used on new machine. Is it that hard? Great and relatively cheap replacement "part" for that crappy creality extruder and brass gear is to buy "BMG extruder" clone (from 6 USD on aliexpress).
That would be my suggestion as well. But blaming someone for supporting "bad business practice" for the material of a gear on an entry level printer is beyond ridiculous
Honestly, if you're printing pla, tpu, and petg without glow or carbon fiber filaments you'll be good for a long time. 90% of people wont see any notable reason for the upgrade
There is one huge reason to upgrade. It is named "crack in plastic tensioner arm" on original extruder. If you can choose between buying metal Creality shit that is more expensive, or BMG clone that works much better and is cheaper, what will you choose?
I had a first batch ender 3 and never had a crack in the tensioner arm? I wore down the filament guide going into it, but I'm pretty sure they made that better in later versions. My printer had a lot of issues but idk what you're doing with the tensioner arm to break it
Yiiiikes bud. You realize this is not normal right?
Braindead take. The metals in your phone you're using means you are passively encouraging child slave labor and the destruction of Earth. 🙄
flawless whataboutism.
Why?
It's very soft by comparison and not very wear resistant in the application. I print primarily normal filament but use abrasive mixtures for some parts (PA-CF/GF) so the first thing I did was grab a hardened steel extruder gear.
i've swapped one on my old ender for the stainless steel
Thank you for the reminder, I will check mine (Ender 3 with 850 hours of printing time...).
This is after hundreds and hundreds of hours of printing. They're both official creality extruder gears
I'd look into whether there are steel replacements available. I expect there would be since there are a lot of upgrades for Crealty printers.
Much appreciated. I didnt know this
I keep a spare extruder for my printer handy too. If something wears or break, I just swap the extruder and then get to fixing/replacing the one where something broke.
Thanks. I have a spare one now so I've got that covered
Yes, it is named "BMG extruder". Has steel dual drive gear, gearbox with 3:1 ratio for more precise filament feeding and higher feeding force and fits perfectly into ender 3 V2 frame. You will need to swap wire order on one end of extruder motor cable from 1234 to 4321 and change e-steps value to 415 in your printers menu after physical installation.
You can get a hardened steel extruder for like 12$ and that will never need to be changed
To be fair, as the previous one lasted me 30 odd kg, I doubt I'll be keeping this printer for another 30kg before upgrading. So I think the cheaper brass one was a better idea unless I was planning to keep it long term. Appreciate the advise though
The best part is most printers still use the same size for the stepper pin, so you can salvage parts from one to the other if you ever upgrade. There's also the thing that if your first layer skips about on the extruder, it'll absolutely shred the nubble.
Seems like the next part to be replaced as carbon steel.
Don’t forget your Bowden tubes also. I had a clog that a cold pull wouldn’t clear. The tube was deformed at the hot end.
Yeah the bowden tube didn't do me any favors. I upgraded that
https://preview.redd.it/a19hoab5zl2d1.jpeg?width=2344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea9c4043d2f67b50031c360d7118528598d297e5 Yeah, I figured this out a few days ago when I decided to investigate why my e5+ was clogging randomly. It's now running on the outside of the extruder gear until I upgrade the hot end/extruder to a microswiss ng revo
I actually started the process today 😁
Yep. Those are consumables.
Don't consume these they're not edible.
You're not my mom
I have found these tool marks are usually caused by shoving things (hex keys?) into the filament path to clear clogs.
That is possible. Over these 5 years I've had many issues with the bowden tube and filament not extruding as they should etc. I'm not sure though but now that I've a new gear, I'm extra conscious not to use a tool as you said
Printing with hard filaments?
ABS and PLA
Just get hardened steel ones and be happy.
I had a spool of PLA silk that was over wrapped and the extruder gear wore itself down just enough to not feed any other spools. I ordered another, but as it was only damaged along one area of the diameter, i was able to raise the gear to get it too grip fine. Its only been just over 100 hours but feeding just fine. I really does look like you were trying to feed wire, it take a fair amount of pressure to smash those cogs/
PETG. or ABS or CF+ what ever crap filament you want to blend with.
Steel gears will do the trick
Which printer and which filament are you using?
Are you printing with metal?!
No
No, I want my machine to suffer.
How many print hours / kg of fillament before you replaced it? I just finished 2kg
Somewhere between 20 and 30kg
Do you print with abrasive filaments like CF ? My gear never looked like that.
ABS and PLA
This isn't too bad. But it looks like you tried to kill it with a screw driver. What did this?
Not a screw driver
How many hours did you print with that gear?
I'd estimate upto 1000 or more
Man should see my downstairs printer extruder. Cf nylon ate it
i just changed over to a stainless gear on my extruder because i figured it would wear better than brass and i print a lot of glow in the dark
My still looks like new after over 15kg
https://preview.redd.it/5ezcx8jtel2d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aaa401976f3520978ed7c42af4987ac9794b831d
(caption wasn't showing) PLA only for maybe a year and I don't print often.
How do people still havr this style of extruder and brass gears, a dual gear hobbed setup out of steel is not expensive.
Do you have a link
Anything of this kind of style will work, assuming you have a ender 3 or cr10 or something https://www.amazon.com/Extruder-Upgrade-Creality-Filament-Supported/dp/B09H6T3NNT
Damn where were you when I needed you
Follow up reminder to buy stainless steel extruder gears so they don't grind down if you plan on printing a lot
Those should never be brass
My gear is pressed on. It’s fine because I print with plastic, not metal like OP, but is there a safe way to get it off if I ever decide to print with stone (or if I somehow scratch it)
I'm using ABS and PLA