Extruder Gear Grinding (6 replies)

Hello,

I've started using a new extruder - one of the Greg's Wade extruder variations - on my printer a couple of days ago. So, this is the second set of extruder I've used/am using.

The first one was made by someone else using ABS. I printed this new one myself, used ABS on the motor mount - in case the motor got too hot - and also used ABS for the small gear. The big gear is printed with PLA, and my thought was that since gears will wear out, I would make one of them with a softer material (ABS) so that one would wear out while the other one stays sharp. Then I would only have to reprint this small gear piece very now and then and replace.

Anyway, after only a couple of days of use, I already see some "dust" around the extruder gears. I believe it came out of the ABS gear. I had a similar experience with my previous extruder which was all ABS.

I'm just wondering, is this common to have small/fine dust like this, which comes from grinding of the extruder gears? Or is it an indication of poor fit of my gears, some misalignment, or things being tighten too much, or something like that?

Would this dust problem go away if I use PLA for both small and big gears?

Thank you!