Ok, so i can only assume its heat creep but i'm looking for a second opinion. I bought a (Geetech?) hot end.

I have a fan on the heatsinks and it seems cool to the touch. Even when the the extruder is hitting 230c (I extrude at 190-200).

I walk away for a while to come back and see it has been printing air, I push the filament down and it feels stuck and it's hard to pull out as well.

Any thoughts?

Prusa I3
Repetier Host
PLA - 3mm
Temp 190 - 200
Retraction - 1mm (3mm was good for my crapy fake j-head with a 5mm nozzle and going to zero is out of the question)

Thanks, Adam

Did it have a steel or stainless steel heat break? It's a knock off E3D hot end so they might have cheaped out and went with a steel heat break which conducts heat much better than stainless. It's also possible there was some contamination or buildup that caused the nozzle to jamb.

Disassemble and clean the entire hotend. Those E3D clones are often rough inside.

So, it turns out that the heat sink is mad of aluminum. I guess the little fan on it can't disapate the heat fast enough. Will clean it out and try and see if that's it. Don't seem to have much time on my hands for this anymore.