Feeder Cleaning on the FABtotum CORE

On the FABtotum CORE and CORE PRO the feeder compartment is removeable and can be inspected.
As a result the feeder can be replaced, upgraded and -most importantly- accessed for maintenace cleaning.
Cleaning is a necessary process should the filament be grinded as a result of a problematic print or clogging.
Before attempting a feeder cleaning we suggest to troubleshoot other possible problems on the 3D printing troubleshooting guide.
Symptoms of a messy feeder are filament slipping, feeder clogging or filament stuck in the feeding gear.

This guide will help you cleaning the feeding mechanism from filament residues.

Tools

Safety

Notice

First Thing first: unplug the FABtotum and make sure to follow common safety rules.
We will start by removing the feeder back panel.
This panel keeps the feeder attached to the FABtotum chassis.
make also sure to uninstall and remove the filament from the head… BUT keep a little bit of excess filament sticking out, just like in the picture, in order to help yourself when reintroducing the feeder in the back panel once you are finished with the cleaning process.
With a T8 screwdriver, unscrew all the external screws. leave the 3 internal untouched for now.
Extract just a few centimeters and take a peek inside, you should see the motor assembly and the motor connector.
With a screwdriver gently disconnect the motor.
Now pull just a bit the cable in order to avoid to loose it inside the back panel.
Do not pull the cable too much.
The feeder can now be pulled out.
cut the filament inside the feeding tube (leave 10-15cm for later convenience). The filament coming from the spool compartment must not be respooled at this point.
You should end up with a back panel with the motor cable and the excess filament sticking out. Leave it this way for now and make sure those are not moved until further instructions are provided.
Lets move back to the feeder. Pushing down the feeder release lever (just like in the photo) now we can extract the filament.
for better access you must remove the feeder plate by unscrewing the 3 screws. Make sure to keep them safe.
Remove the screw with a HEX driver
Now you can extract the screw. Look inside and extract the bearing wich was held by this screw.
Inside you can see the feeding gear with some green filament residue.
With canned air , a brush or a compressor you can clean the feeding gear.
When you are done, put back the bearing in the feeder and screw it securely but not too tightly.
Before putting everything back clean the filament sticking from the unit as it could have become greasy by touching the librificated leadscrew inside the back of the unit.
by pushing the release lever on the feeder, you can now insert the filament again up until the feeding gear.
By gently pulling the filament from the filament compartment you can retrieve the feeding tube and have it sticking in the filament compartment as it was originally.
Now screw everything back on the feeder.
the screw indicated by the tweezers is the shortest one of the bunch, in case you wonder.
just like it was before, insert the feeder in the feeder hole in the back of the unit, insert the motor cable connector on the motor and secure the connector on the clip.
Put it back together by screwing the external T8 screws Gently.
Avoid excessive torque as it can eat the plastic away.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Feeder Cleaning on the FABtotum CORE

Search FABtotum

Sign up to our newsletter