Ruled out clog and extruder, but I still can't push filimant
Been dealing with this for a week now. I've been pringint with PETG for over a month straight and when I shifted back to PLA, I suddenly have problems. About 4-5 layers into a new print, I have underextrusion issues which eventually leads to a stripped extruder. I originally thought it was a clog, so I did a cold pull, but problems persisted after three of them. Then I replaced the nozzle - still problems. I checked the temp with a heat gun and estimated the temp was low but it's tough to tell tbh. I swapped out the heat block, thermistor and heater element, just to try ruling something out. Problems persisted...
Digging deeper, I tried just pushing filament through manually and had no issues. But if I stopped even slightly, I noticed it was extremely hard to push the filament through the nozzle. And if I pulled back a little bit and tried again, it would stop up completely. Then I can pull the filament all the way out, trim the end and then reinsert it just fine.
So what the heck is this? I did close that gap with the heat block when I reassembled it, but did that make my problems worse somehow? I've replaced everything but the heat break at this point and already ordered the bondtech extruder and heatbreak. Will that solve my issue? I don;t even understand what my issue is - I'm just replacing parts left and right it seems...
RE: Ruled out clog and extruder, but I still can't push filimant
So quick update. I swapped out the heat break and everything works great now. It's hard to believe that the undercut section makes that much of a difference on heat creep but it does. Sucks that I had to buy all those other parts just to find out it was a $15 fix.
As for the new extruder, it works great. I installed it separately after swapping the heat break so I could be sure what the cause of my problems was. Can't say if it's worth the price yet but it's definitely better quality than what comes with the mini. It's quieter to load and unload filament, not that it really matters.
RE: Ruled out clog and extruder, but I still can't push filimant
Be warned the heat creep problem came back for me even after the bondtech heatbreak. I ended up putting a Mosquito Hot end and problem was solved.