Is my extruder jammed?
Lately my printer has been "under-extruding" or missing layers. I am doing a first layer calibration below and as you can see some of the sections are missing. I have cold pull numerous times and nothing looks to be jammed. I have also hand pushed filament through and it comes out good. I don't know what this could be unless that there is something jammed inside the extruder and i would have to take it all apart. Please help me out. I appreciate everything.
RE: Is my extruder jammed?
Are you hearing clicking from the extruder? If not, it's probably not jammed.
My guess:
- Give the PEI sheet a good clean (warm water and dish soap (with no additives or scents) and give it a good wipe down with 90+% IPA).
- Drop your Live Z a fair bit more.
- Maybe tighten your idler tension a bit.
What I'm seeing suggests that the Live Z is too high and your sheet may not be clean and these are causing adhesion issues.
It's also possible that the idler is too loose and its not feeding consistently.
RE: Is my extruder jammed?
Snap a photo of the filament end after a jam: do a normal UNLOAD and post a photo of the tip. A photo of one of your cold pulls may also be helpful.
I disagree a bit with Gnat on Z-offset; it's probably okay for now, at least until you get the extrusion issue resolved, then you can work on tuning Z. I agree with him on idler tension: there seems to be a sweet spot: too little and you get skips; too much and you get skips.
Also - it helps to know which printer you have, and whether you also have an MMU attached.
RE: Is my extruder jammed?
So i found what the culprit was...the bolt with the spring that tightens the extruder was too loose. Tighten it up, and it works great