I have one of the Kickstarter X1C printers with a later-release AMS1. The AMS works just fine.
My problem is that the printer itself cannot extrude. I found that with some “assistance” from me pushing in the filament, the printer “works” again, albeit with poor print quality.
So I hooked up the AMS, and it printed again, but I think it was using the spring tension from the buffer to compensate for the reduced extrusion ability. Soon after, that setup stopped extruding well.
I used a stronger spring to see if that worked, and it did, but even that is starting to degrade in extrusion quality.
I have already replaced the motor, but that did not change or improve anything. I thought that I could swap out the toolhead board, but I see on the website that there is now a dual red laser system, and it’s not compatible(?)
Respectfully request assistance on this matter.
First, the buffer does not contribute to filament feed pressure in any way, at all. It’s purely a switch that tells the AMS motor when to feed more filament. You should return it to the stock configuration. Remember, the machine used to work in the stock configuration, the goal should be finding the root cause and correcting it, not making changes.
Next, we need to diagnose and correct the actual feed issue. Do you have a nozzle blockage? You can swap a nozzle to find out. I would remove the PTFE from the top of the toolhead set the nozzle temperature manually and then try to feed the filament through using the feed control, to see if that feeds. If it doesn’t, that may indicate a hotend problem, you can unscrew the hotend and leave it hanging, and try feeding filament to see how easily it moves. If it doesn’t feed easily, meaning you can resist the feed force easily by hand, that may indicate a dirty or excessively worn extruder gear.
If it can feed fine at the extruder, inspect your PTFE tube between the inlet at the back of the machine and the toolhead, it could be worn and is causing excess drag.
No nozzle blockage, but just to be sure, I swapped it out. PTFE was swapped out for fresh 2.5 ID from Inside AMS to hot end. Disassembled the extruder gear and cleaned out. I did not see any wear on it.
As for the buffer feeding, normally yes, but like I said, I used a stronger spring in the buffer to “assist” with feeding and it worked, but I still couldn’t print without the AMS. Underextruded when I tried to print without the AMS and buffer.
OK, I want to respond to this clearly so we’re not confusing people who read this in the future.
The AMS buffer is only a spring-loaded switch that tells the AMS when to push a little more filament and when to stop pushing filament. It does nothing itself to aid in filament feeding.
A stiffer spring in the buffer has the effect of making the AMS feed motors work harder, which is compensating for the extruder feed motor not working properly - but at the same time, we absolutely need to get to the bottom of your extruder feed motor not working properly, because it’s needed for things like retract and pressure advance.
I think we have our trouble narrowed down to the extruder gear and idler at this point.
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Check that the idler tension spring is tightened all the way. It’s on the end here, in green.
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With your nozzle heated up and PTFE removed from the top of the extruder, is it possible to physically push filament through the motor to the nozzle? This would suggest the extruder gear filament contact surface is worn - you can post pictures of that if you want us to confirm.
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With a hot nozzle and PTFE removed, feed a length into the extruder and hit the feed button, but hold the filament back - you’re trying to resist the motor. It shouldn’t be possible to stall the motor entirely (keep an eye on the yellow gear, is it still moving?) and I would expect the motor to keep going and to grind the filament flat at the drive wheel if it’s working right. If you can stall the motor, that would suggest the motor itself is bad.
