Ender 5 + extruder dies yet again

1

Hello, Having issues with my extruder again…about 2 months ago my extruder stopped working. (microswiss direct drive) I tried everything I could think of and eventually had to bring it in…discovered that the board had a fault and I replaced it.

Printed fine for about a week…stopped extruding again…this time I discovered the problem fairly easily…the wire from the extruder had not been secured and it was touching the plate and it melted and shorted out…fairly easy fix…I replaced the wire…then…sigh…still didn’t work but I learned that sometimes with these wires the polarity is reversed so I realigned the wires and viola it worked finally and beautifully

I’ve been printing a fair bit for the last 2 weeks, working fine. A print finished this am…came out great. Tonight i tried to do a print…and same problem is happening again…the extruder gears were initially jumping and then not just not moving at all…

I disconnected the wire…checked it was intact and reconnected tightly…nothing at all…no movement on the extruder gears

This is beyond the point of frustration now. I can go and buy ANOTHER wire and redo the polarity and reconnect it…but why would this happen again so fast? Its been fine for the last 2 years.

The new board could have a problem with this wire plug again but seems unlikely…what are the odds of that happening again and only to that wire.?

2

if the gears were “jumping” it’s almost 100% the short extension wire from the original harness to the motor failed again. You do have to rewire the new ones but they are a pretty simple fix although frustrating yes. If you are able to pick up a 2M stepper motor wiring harness and replace it from the mainboard straight up to the extruder. The better quality wiring (thicker) will last pretty well forever. Ensure it’s secured at both ends and I generally zip-tie my harness to my Bowden tube just to control its excessive movement.

3

It is so frustrating. My sidewinder has had extruder (and everything else) issues. It is absolutely unreliable. My advice is not related to the problem at all.

Take a breath, set it aside for a while and then come back to it with fresh eyes. Frustration is expensive intellectually and depending on the person money wise. (I get frustrated I order what ever it might be…)