My auto 3d clippy is failing to cut through my inland pla filament but succeeds with other brands. Is this normal? It is just regular pla. What can I do to resolve this? Any help is appreciated.
Failing to cut through usually indicates one of three things. But it depends on what the actual "Fail" is... is it stalling the servo? Or is the unit flexing? Is the unit moving it's full travel, but just not cutting through?These are all different issues... Stalling? Power Isn't Enough. Is your voltage at or above the rating of the servo... if not, turn it up. Is it flexing? The unit can not tolerate flex in the chassis... reprint with a stronger material. Lastly, is it not moving the full travel? Look down filament path to make sure the blade is actually moving all the way through the PTFE tube... not just stopping near the inside edge... it needs to pass all the way through the filament to cut it... if it's not, readjust the cutter's lever one notch closer.
Under all "normal" circumstances, it will easily have the power to cut through any material, including some of the hardest materials.
The servo is indeed stalling. It is not moving its full travel. It is receiving the top of its rated voltage range (7.4v) from a buck convertor. I used a multimeter to confirm that it was receiving that much power on the servos side. In addition this is a 40kg servo so I shouldn't have any issues there. I'm thinking I may need to reprint in a stronger material. I see servo ever so slightly shift when it triggers, but it barely moved so I figured that wouldn't be an issue. The clippy mount and blade holder are printed with PLA. Is this not sufficient? If so what do you recommend? PETG? Thanks for your help Bill!
I'd turn up the voltage even higher than the 7.4 listed... it'll run just fine at 8v. If that doesn't work, I'd suggest using the servos we spec'd... as I suspect yours isn't actually working correctly. (You could also try a higher amperage power supply... maybe it's too low???)
Secondly, a minor bit of flex isn't going to prevent it from working, PLA or PETG is good... PLA is actually stiffer than PETG, so you should be fine.
You didn't fully address the other questionable area... could simply be that you have lever arm too far away... and it's actually moving the blade as far as it can... rotating it by one notch on the spline shaft could be the difference it needs. Otherwise, it is indeed the servo or power supply being too weak.
This is the 5th servo I have tried and this one has worked the best so far. I did try the servo spec'd before and it failed within a day. That servo will not rotate at all anymore. As for the lever arm being too far away I do not believe this is the case. It is fully pushing forward, and in all cases except for my inland brand PLA it has been cutting well. I am currently reprinting the clippy mount with PETG at 100% infill. I realized I was printing at 15% infill before. I will also trying turning the servo up to 8V on the next test. Will update you if this resolves the issue. Thank you.
Updating here. That didn’t help. I think I am going to give the original mechanical clippy a try instead.
Failing to cut through usually indicates one of three things. But it depends on what the actual "Fail" is... is it stalling the servo? Or is the unit flexing? Is the unit moving it's full travel, but just not cutting through? These are all different issues... Stalling? Power Isn't Enough. Is your voltage at or above the rating of the servo... if not, turn it up. Is it flexing? The unit can not tolerate flex in the chassis... reprint with a stronger material. Lastly, is it not moving the full travel? Look down filament path to make sure the blade is actually moving all the way through the PTFE tube... not just stopping near the inside edge... it needs to pass all the way through the filament to cut it... if it's not, readjust the cutter's lever one notch closer.
Under all "normal" circumstances, it will easily have the power to cut through any material, including some of the hardest materials.
Bill