I am having problems with the auto filament loading on my CFS
Filament roll positions 1 and 4 work fine.
Filament roll positions 2 and 3 will not auto load.
If I push the filament into 2 or 3 all the way through to the hub, eventually the red lights on positions 2 and 3 come one and give me an FR2385 “Feed issue error”.
I have opened up the entire filament path way and there is nothing stuck or in the way of these two filament paths.
As I push the filament into the loading position on roll positions 2 & 3, I can hear the sensor on the autoloaders click but neither sense the filament and start autoloading. Have searched various site and there’s a lot on the hub and extruder sensors getting blocked but nothing I can find about the autoloaders.
I have flagged this with Creality but in the meantime I was thinking of swapping the autoloader 1 with 2, and 3 with 4 to test if the fault is with the 2/3 autoloaders but just wanted to check if this would be a waste of time and if any of you know of this problem and can suggests a solution.
Thanks
Swapping the autoloaders would definitely help you isolate the problem.
I resolved a similar issue with mine just by disassembling the autoloader and thoroughly cleaning and reassembling. My issue occurred after trying to run PA-CF through the CFS (never again) the filament path was clear but the there was a lot of grind and dust in the auto loader.
Check out this youtube video below for a problem to look for in case you have stripped one of your gears.
I’ve had to completely dismantle my CFS and remove “filament dust” from the gears in the underneath 4-1 motor/gear assembly…
Some filaments just get chewed up too much by the CFS to be reliability usable…
Stick to external/side spool for exotics
I contacted Creality and they requested a video showing the problems and sequence of CFS indicator lights and errors. This proved tricky as my emailer can only handle about 10s of video and the time from when I attempt a fil load and error reporting is many minutes . I ended up recording snippets and putting them on YouTube and sending then the sequence of video links highlighting things. <24 hours later I get a email they’re sending me 4 loaders / motors. I’m not entirely convinced these will solve the problem but we’ll see.
There is a sensor just under the PTFE tube entry to the loader that can be seen without taking the ladder apart. It shows up as a blue LED which can be seen by pushing filament into the loder. If that doesnt come on it wont load. FWIW that is not my problems as I can clearly see the blue sensor light come on. My 4 new loaders arrived within a week of me reporting my problem (each in its own foam padded box) but I have not had time to fit them yet - maybe today.
Does anyone know if the video linked above in this thread, in any way invalidates the warranty…
I.e Im now sure I’ve developed loader issues, but is that a support ticket, or just follow the vid to self resolve
New loaders installed but problem remains with loaders 2 and 3 (1 and 4 working). I removed the plastic cover covering the loaders so can clearly see the blue LED filament sensor and motor and confirm for loaders 2/3 when filament inserted the Blue LEDs come on but motors do not turn.
I tested the wiring by plugging loader 3 sensor and motor cables at the junction board (in between loader 3 and 4) into loader 4 sockets and then loader 3 (plugged into loader 4 sockets) worked. Suggests motor power not switching at junction board or further back. Have logged all this with Creality.
I’ve replaced the feeding and retracting component for#2 (bot off Amazon - figured it would be faster than waiting for Creality support) and it seemed to behave better at first.
I performed 1 successful print.
The next print - for some reason - decided to retract slot 2 (not used in the successful print nor selected for the next) and fully retracted it out the tube.
Now, it’s claiming a jam in the 4-way and won’t even load any filament.
Thoroughly frustrated with this. I bought this machine because I was tired of fiddling. I want to design and print!
I’m still exchanging emails with Creality over this unresolved issue (filament loaders 1/4 working, 2/3 not loading) . This morning they are sending me a bunch of parts ( including a new CFS motherboard) to try.
How did you get on ?
I had a problem with 1 loader, where the filament detector was not working, always showed as filament loaded (blue light from the loader while empty), a replacement loader fixed that particular issue.
The parts still have not arrived. All 4 loaders show the blue LED OFF when there’s no filament in the sensor path ands the Blue LED ON when there is filament, but the loader motors only start up and draw filament in on loaders 1 and 4.
Have you tried swapping a good for a bad loader, that will at least tell you if it’s isolated to just the loader vs cables or anything else upstream of the loaders
You mean the cfs slots ar locked ? You cant puss the fillament in without using the little thing to force the fillaments in ? I have had something same like that i have forced in every slot fillament then turn on that the cfs do the check when starting up. Then i powered everything on and then it worked again. Hope this helps in anyway for your problem. In the mean time i had ordered new parts did not needed them anymore.
Couple days later i had problems with the 4 way splitter under the cfs grinding my fillament but thats a story for another time
Chris, Yes I have tried swapping around the existing working loader s (1 and 4) with the non working ones originally in positions 3 and they still work.
ie
original loader in posn #2 relocated into position #1 works fine
original # 1 loader put into position #2 does not work.
original loader in posn #3 relocated into position #4 works fine
original # 3loader put into position #3 does not work.
I have also tried swapping cables around
Position #3 loader cables swapped to posn 4 on the loader daughter board works.
Martin, loaders 2 and 3 dont grab the filament when inserted, (1/4 do) . If I push the the “little thing to force the fillaments in” and insert the filament nothing happens even on restart.
Hmm, if you swapped the entire loader for a good one and it doesn’t feed/load , then that would indicate its the controlling circuit board not the loaders,motors, loader circuit board or the loader filament detector ..
I’ve only dismantled mine enough to swap out a faulty entire loader assembly… Not opened up fully to follow the cables…which you might have to do to find what controls the 4 loaders… To find the board that needs replacing
Thanks Chris - yes have looked there several times.
In this photo (I point to via a red arrow I show the small connector board.
When I swap the plugs on that board for loader 3 (normally not working) with 4 over then loader 3 works and loader 4 does not. This suggests the problem is on that bird or further into the CFS.
Today Creality sent me 2 new loaders despite me saying theres nothing wrong with any loader, rather it’s the connections or electronics further in.
