<p>From the comments/answers to your main question, the likely culprit is the hobbed wheel not catching the filament firmly enough.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/LQtso.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/LQtso.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The hobbed wheel I am referring to is the yellowish one at the centre of the picture.  The problem could be due to:</p>

<ul>
<li>the wheel being of poor quality, with blunt teeth</li>
<li>the wheel being of the wrong diameter (too small)</li>
<li>the spring squeezing the wheel against the filament being too weak</li>
<li>[judging from the picture, I don't own the A8] it could even be that the nut on the lever that is pushed by the spring (top right of the picture) is too far down on the threaded rod, and prevents the lever to move far enough to push effectively.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-03T09:59:14.627Z
@MF did you add the fan on the extruder ? I had a hard time setting the spring correctly in place with the new screws when assembling mine. This could be the reason why the 'steel guide wheel' isn't pressing enough the filament against the hobbed wheel.
Tensibai
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-02T03:30:22.977Z
2018-01-02T03:30:22.977Z
mac
<p>Our Anet A8 seems to be working but the filament won't come out of the extruder.  We can manually push it through though.  The gears seem to be working fine and it's warming up.  I have read the other answers on this site but none seem to fix our problem.  </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-01T21:05:54.273Z
Is it a direct drive or geared driver? I guess it's a non-bowden? Does the extruder grinds the filament / does the extruder turn at all?
Valmond
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-01T23:41:40.850Z
Yes, the extruder grinds the filament but nothing/very little comes out.  Not sure about your first 2 questions.
M F
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-02T09:20:04.677Z
So your filament can be pushed by hand? E.g there is molten plastic coming out of the heat end if you do so? If so, has the hobbed bolt grind a big mark on the filament?
Valmond
<extruder><filament><anet-a8>
Anet A8 filament not coming out
M F
# Anet A8 filament not coming out

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-01-01)

Our Anet A8 seems to be working but the filament won't come out of the extruder. We can manually push it through though. The gears seem to be working fine and it's warming up. I have read the other answers on this site but none seem to fix our problem.

**Tags:** extruder, filament, anet-a8

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Is it a direct drive or geared driver? I guess it's a non-bowden? Does the extruder grinds the filament / does the extruder turn at all?  
> **username_0**: Yes, the extruder grinds the filament but nothing/very little comes out.  Not sure about your first 2 questions.  
> **username_1**: So your filament can be pushed by hand? E.g there is molten plastic coming out of the heat end if you do so? If so, has the hobbed bolt grind a big mark on the filament?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-01-02. Score: 1

From the comments/answers to your main question, the likely culprit is the hobbed wheel not catching the filament firmly enough.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/LQtso.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/LQtso.jpg)

The hobbed wheel I am referring to is the yellowish one at the centre of the picture. The problem could be due to:

* the wheel being of poor quality, with blunt teeth
* the wheel being of the wrong diameter (too small)
* the spring squeezing the wheel against the filament being too weak
* [judging from the picture, I don't own the A8] it could even be that the nut on the lever that is pushed by the spring (top right of the picture) is too far down on the threaded rod, and prevents the lever to move far enough to push effectively.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: @MF did you add the fan on the extruder ? I had a hard time setting the spring correctly in place with the new screws when assembling mine. This could be the reason why the 'steel guide wheel' isn't pressing enough the filament against the hobbed wheel.  

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