What changed? Extruder skipping

Hey guys,

I have been printing flawlessly with 0 problems for several months. However, yesterday my extruder started skipping out of the blue. It doesn't seem clogged, and the problem goes away with higher temperatures, but something changed.



Where would you guys start looking?



Thanks,

-Brendan

What type of extruder?

Is it skipping as in the stepper does that bounce back and forward thing when it can't complete a step,
or is it that the filament stops feeding although stepper continues to run?

I've had the latter when the hot-end was too hot (PTFE barrier jamming), when it's too cold (hob stripping filament),
(could make a very un-PC comment here and wonder "are hot-ends female?" )
but also when the nut on the extruder big gear came loose (Doh!)

Any change in the surrounding environment which might cause the hot-end to be cooler?
Anything passing a "breeze" over the printer (like a room fan) - or maybe colder weather where you are in the world...

You haven't perchance just recently started a new spool of filament - any possible change there?

Some people have reported the hot end itself got clogged and needed to be cleaned out.

The stepper bounces back and forth. It is a pretty weak stepper for the application; I should really order a higher torque version.

I have just recently (4 or 5 prints) started a new spool of metallic gray filament that seems much stiffer and more brittle than anything I have previously used.

I'll take it apart and see if I can figure out what is going on.


Thanks guys!

I have heard that different colors of filament require different temperatures (even if they are the same material) also ones that come from different manufactures.

It could also have accumulated tiny fragments of solid material that will not melt. Try heating up the hot end and using a hand drill to purge the barrel and nozzle.