Difficulties with PLA extrusion on Mini+
Hi everyone, I’m dealing with a persistent extrusion issue on my Mini+ and I’m running out of ideas.
The filament has a very hard time coming out of the nozzle, even after doing a needle cleaning (I also cleaned inside the heatbreak). Eventually the drive gear grinds the filament. When I pull the filament out, the tip looks malformed — almost like it has a notch or an uneven “shoulder” — and it’s difficult to slide it back through the PTFE tube when removing it.
I replaced the PTFE tube above the heatbreak, thinking that heat might be creeping up the heatbreak and creating a soft pocket above the PTFE, causing the filament to swell. But even when pushing filament manually, it feels unusually hard to push and it comes out looking “beaded” or irregular.
At this point I’m not sure where the issue is coming from. The materials I print the most are carbon‑fiber PLA and PETG. On first picture the strange shape of PLA after unload, the second picture, you can see the point where the PLA appears to get stuck.
Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated 🙂!
If you have been printing CF filaments there is a high chance of wear inside all your PTFE tubes; worn tubes can become rough and the increased friction will cause effects similar to a partial clog and the added resistance to pushing you experienced.
Cheerio,
RE: Difficulties with PLA extrusion on Mini+
Hello!
It looks like your Mini+ is suffering from heat creep or nozzle wear. The filament softens too high up, causing jams and malformed tips. Since you’ve already replaced the PTFE tube and cleaned the heatbreak, the next steps are to swap in a fresh hardened nozzle (carbon‑fiber PLA can erode brass quickly), check that the cooling fan is clean and running well, and test with standard PLA at moderate temps. If extrusion smooths out, you can then fine‑tune for CF‑PLA and PETG with hardened components and proper temperature settings.