Filament stops loading mid-print
For the past few prints, I've noticed that after about 30 minutes of printing, my extruder just stops feeding PLA filament. The print will be perfect until that point, but then it just seems to jam and stop feeding filament. I'm usually notified of this by a clicking sound from the printer indicating the filament isn't feeding. If I then pause the print, unload the filament, and reload it, the problem goes away and it will print the rest of the design with out issue.
If I finish printing a design, and then go to print another directly after, no filament comes out. I have to unload it and reload it again.
When I stick a acupuncture needle up into the extruder there doesn't seem to be any blockage and the little white tube can pass the filament fine.
Any idea why it would just periodically stop feeding like this?
Here is a photo of what the filament looks like when I unload it after a jam--note the wispy bit of PLA there...
Re: Filament stops loading mid-print
Sometimes this is cause by the PTFE tube not fully inserted into the heat break, or it's end is damaged.
On the MK2, it was also sometimes due to incorrect tensioner spring tension, but it seems the MK3 is much more tolerant in that respect.
Re: Filament stops loading mid-print
UPDATE: So after troubleshooting everything I could possibly think of, I tried the most intuitive solution--getting new filament. The problem instantly went away. I suspect my vacuum bags for storing filament weren't air tight and the humidity ruined the PLA I was using. Weird how these sorts of problems always seem to have the simplest solutions....