I had a couple of prints fail practically immediately, so I did the usual like checking for blockages and so on, but nothing.
I took the extruder assembly off the stepper and found that the gear that is driven by the stepper is missing teeth, so it will turn only until it gets to the missing teeth, then it fails ans it can no longer extrude - the stepper turns, but there are no teeth to mesh with so it fails.
Is this a common issue with plastic drive gear? Is it a warranty issue @colin ?
It seems the plastic gears are a weak link in that extruder…
I had to buy a set of metal gears to replace those plastic ones and keep some for spare parts… Mine were wearing out.
It does help to check the gears periodically and clean them. From your picture it looks like those have a lot of miles on them… 
You could address a warranty issue to @CREALITY or go to the support page.
Also write to cs@creality.com with the proper warranty information on you machine.
1 Like
G’day @jimandyen
Yep, it has many k’s on it, and surprisingly is the first iteration of the extruder without the springs, so I’ve done well. Just looked at the terms of the warranty, and my machine is well out. It frustrates me that this extruder was replaced for free with the upgraded one for many owners, but I was missed. I know that’s not the reason for this failure, but I would have liked to have had the “more betterer” one!
I will try to get the official new one, and change out the gears for metal ones. You don’t happen to know where they are available from? I’ve looked on Amazon, Aliexpress and eBay, but which of the “official” creality sites is actually the official one?
For now I’ve just swapped the gears over, so the one with a full set of teeth is being driven, and the other will have the movement of the filament to pull it past the missing teeth every revolution. Working so far, but clearly a temporary measure.
It looked like the older extruder but I couldn’t tell for sure in the pic… In my experience buying a few for spares as long as it has the white fitting on top and the matte finish release lever it should be the newer version. These newer versions still have plastic gears.
Amazon is quicker and easier to return if there is an issue but the prices are not that much different than the Ali or Temu stores take a lot longer to ship.
As far as your question about official sites I believe all the extruders come from Creality and so it shouldn’t make a difference in quality where you buy it…
1 Like
Just ordered a new one, and a set of metal gears. Added a heatsink for the stepper just because it was cheap. Aliexpress, 9 day delivery.
For now it’s printing with the swapped gears, but for how long…?
Thanks for your input - Legend!
You are welcome. I’ve actually learned a lot from other members of this group who are quite knowledgeable about this hobby so feel free to ask anything or help someone else who needs it… 