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MMU2S idler unable to move freely

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MMU2S
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If your Original Prusa Multi Material idler barrel has some issues moving, makes clicking noises, or gives the error #04125 Idler cannot home, something is preventing the full movement of the idler barrel.

Loosen idler cover

First, check the idler screws' tightness. Too much tension can prevent the motor from turning the idler barrel. You can try completely loosening the tension screws, and allow the MMU to finish the homing. If it passes, then the idler cover is too tight.

To find the perfect tension, tighten the screw about 0.1 mm to 0.4 mm under the edge of the hole on both sides of the idler body. All 5 filaments have to be loaded to the hobbed pulleys position. Then move with the selector to the far right (5th filament position) and back and observe. If you hear clicking, loosen the screws a bit and try to move with the selector again until there is no more clicking.

Check the idler barrel path

If the idler does not rotate freely with the spring screws loosened, you can open the idler completely and verify that nothing's blocking it, like the remains of filament or dirt. Check if the idler is centered and if the edges of the idler don’t grind the idler body.

Check the idler barrel connection with the Idler motor. The plastic around the motor shaft cannot be broken or worn out, which can happen due to heat. Move the barrel across the whole axis by hand, and make sure that during the whole range of rotation, the barrel does not touch the cover and does not scratch against the sides.

If the barrel is bent in relation to the rest of the idler, try loosening the two screws that connect it to the Idler motor, and tighten them again gently. Make sure that the two screws are tightened evenly against the flat part of the motor shaft.

 

Change Stallguard threshold

If you are getting the #04125 Idler cannot home error, the printer will give you two options. You can either click to Retry or Tune. If the issue is persistent even though you checked all the items above, you can lower the Stallguard value.  If the threshold is too high the MMU will not home. Therefore, start from the default value of 7, and decrease the value by 1.

 

9 comments

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tigertrainer
mine screwed up after update to printer. I just took it apart and see nothing wrong . It was working great ten minutes before update . Don't understand why after every update something screws up.
3lobit print
In my case, checking the alignment of the idler motor and idler bearing helped. Poor alignment was causing more resistance when the motor was turning. The idler must rotate without any play.
Jason White
Second this. When first assembling, it was unclear to me what level of resistance I should experience moving the roller. Answer: very little. 
dEviant
For months now I've had issues with filament loading being very inconsistent/unreliable due to the idler sometimes being positioned wrong. Even though the title of this KB article suggests that it has nothng to do with this problem, tightening the two screws did solve it. This KB article should be labeled as also being appropriate for the inconsistent filament loading (due to idler selecting wrong filament) issue. 
Sebk
I had this issue. Sometimes the idler would move freely and sometimes it would not. What did the trick for me was to screws for the stepper motor were too tight. Unscrewing them a bit helped a lot !
Jari Keinanen
Thank you! Too tight stepper motor screws were my problem too. Loosed them and tighten half a turn was enough. Also I made sure the middle part run as smoothly as it can and tighten the top screws firmlyMMU2+ is a picky device
Jason White
+1 for stepper motor screws being too night. Loosened all four a bit and problem solved. Doesn't even make the "grinding" sound anymore. Nice and smooth.
nathanw
This is also very useful information if your idler moves TOO freely. My MMU2S idler had loads of slop, which was causing unreliable loads/unloads. I was holding the idler by hand to make it work properly. The situation was far from ideal. Tightening the two screws to hold the idler onto the motor shaft solved my problem.