I am adding a paste extruder to the Maker Select Plus. I no longer need the hot end or fans. I just need the extruder stepper. However, I can’t activate the extruder stepper without having the hot end attached to the printer because the extruder stepper won’t activate without the hot end reaching a temperature of 180C. Is there a way around this?

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Hi Ryan,

Yes you can change the thermal setting in your firmware. You will need to find a config file for your printer and commenting out the line “PREVENT_DANGEROUS_EXTRUDE”

You can read more here - Marlin Firmware "cold extrusion prevented" and other Problems

Hope that helps.

Best,

Jack - 3D Hubs

Another way to accomplish this would be to substitute a fixed resistor for your hot end thermistor. The firmware will see that the hot end is always at high temp and will allow the extruder to operate.

The typical thermistor used in hot ends is a 104GT-2. These have a resistance of 100,000 ohms at 25C. At 180C the resistance is approx 670 ohms. You can also go higher but you need to stay below the firmware MAX_TEMP setting (something like 250C). See datasheet at: http://www.atcsemitec.co.uk/gt-2-glass-thermistors.html

If you don’t wish to muck with the firmware this might work for you.

John