I’ve just received my A1 and set it up, following all instructions in the setup leaflet to the letter.
As instructed I then went to print the sample boat, and all seemed to be going well until I realised it was printing with air. The yellow wheel was going round but the spool wasn’t moving, so no filament was being pulled in.
Looking through the options on the A1 screen I found Load Filament (this wasn’t mentioned at all in the setup guide). So I tried running this. The yellow wheel turned, the spool again didn’t move, and it kept asking me if any filament was coming from the extruder. It wasn’t, no matter how many times I retried.
So then I tried running Unload Filament. Again, the yellow wheel turned (this time in the reverse direction). It then kept telling me to remove the filament manually, which I did. Removed the spool and took the filament out completely, but it’s still telling me to remove it.
I imagine people will tell me to check for clogged filament, but this is literally a brand new machine. No filament has been loaded, nothing has been printed. I really don’t want to start taking it to bits when it’s just arrived.
Am I missing something obvious here?
I’ve done a factory reset, and tried loading the filament.
Again, the yellow wheel is turning but the filament is not being drawn in. Almost as if whatever is meant to grab the filament isn’t working? I tried removing the PTFE and just pushed the filament in as far as it would go, but still nothing.
The screen just a keeps asking me if the filament was extruded, which it isn’t, so all I can do is Retry, but the same thing happens again.
Keep lightly pushing on the filament when you press the “not extruded yet” prompt. You will feel it when the extruder grabs the filament.
Btw, cutting the end of the filament at an angle makes it a bit easier to get it going
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I am assuming that you are loading from the external holder and not the AMS. If there is cut off filament inside of the hotend and cut off, there would be a little bit sticking out of the top of the hotend about 5mm. I think that blocks the new filament from being pushed into the hotend. I will take out the hotend, cut off that little piece of filament flush with the top of the hotend, put the hotend back into the printer and start the load process over again. follow the instructions on the load screen, Don’t push the filament into the hotend until it is called for on the load screen, and when you do, do it firm but gently untill you feel it being pulled.
I’m having a similar problem with the A1 Mini. It doesn’t have a clog, not in the nozzle or in the extruder. The gears are turning, the temperature is maintained yet the filament will not load or unload. I’ve tried remind the filament sensor to ouch filament in but that doesn’t work. I removed the extruder cover to view the gears which is clear. Don’t know what’s left to check.
Thanks so much, didn’t know what to do, BUT this worked
