Broken idler assembly

After about 2 years of printing very happily I started to get a lot of stuck filament - not feeding properly into the extruder. A closer look quickly revealed the problem: the idler assembly (this bit: https://www.lulzbot.com/store/parts/beefy-idler-assembly – but the original version that came with my TAZ5) had cracks all over the place and one side was completely detached. That means not enough pressure on the filament (or worse, pressure by the plastic rather than the rotating wheel) and the filament gets stuck and doesn’t feed right.

After playing around with it a bit it more or less disintegrated into 4 or 5 parts. I thought - ok, it got a lot of use, many filament changes, so fair enough and anyway no problem, since had I ordered a dual-extruder 6 months ago and have been waiting to try it anyway. So, exchange the extruder, calibrate (some effort on the TAZ5, a lot more fiddly than the single extruder), and I’m ready to print… so I thought.

While putting in my filament I noticed that both idler assemblies on the dual extruder we already cracked, the back one quite severely, even though I’d never even used it! Aargh! And sure enough, when testing the printing, the PLA won’t feed well into either extruder :frowning:

So, now I have 3 questions:

  1. does this part: https://www.lulzbot.com/store/parts/beefy-idler-assembly fit both the original TAZ5 extruder and the dual extruder (V2)?
  2. it it really more beefy than the original?
  3. can I send in my dual extruder for replacement? It doesn’t seem fair to have to repair it before even getting to use it…

Regards from Vienna,

Richard

  1. Yes. Every Taz ever made, all the Wade style extruders, and all of the mini extruders
  2. Yes, it’s twice as thick front to back. If you are cracking around the bearing area, it’s an improvement. You also have your idler tension too high.
  3. That’s a warranty question, call support.

You can also temporarily glue the idler using acetone, plastic model airplane glue, or prefferebly plastruct plastic weld. That should last long enouhgh for you to print your own if you don’t want to wait for one to ship.

I’ve already ordered the replacement idler based on your answer, and will get in touch with support about the warranty issue.

As for the idler tension being too high, that’s definitely possible for the single extruder, but on the double extruder I never changed it from the the way it shipped. It also shipped with some filament in the extruders (from the test prints, I guess), and the idlers in the closed position. So if the tension was too high there, it shipped that way…

Anyway, thanks so much for your quick response! It really makes me feel like a valued customer when someone gets back to me so quickly!

Regards from Vienna,

Richard

You’re welcome! I’m just some random person that posts here too much, I don’t actually work here. The people with the Red names are the official peoples. But they do value customers as well. A support phone call usually will get you quicker official responses.