<p>I recently purchased some MatterHackers Quantum PLA and began printing on my Ender 3 Pro. I successfully printed three times with no problem, on the fourth print about 2 hours in, the extruder started to skip and make knocking noises. The filament completely stopped extruding. I originally thought it was just a basic clog and I took steps to fix the problem:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I disassembled the print head and found a small bit of filament in the Bowden tube and cut the clogged piece off.</p>
</li>
<li><p>I cleaned out the heat sink and aluminum block of any debris</p>
</li>
<li><p>Replaced with a new nozzle</p>
</li>
<li><p>Tightened the spring on the extruder</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>I’ve checked the teeth on the extruder gear and they didn’t seem to be worn down</p>
<p>After all of this, I tried the same print again but printed at a nozzle temperature of 225 °C instead of the 215 °C I had it at originally, and it failed again near the same spot about 2 hours into the print.</p>
<p>Is there any advice I can get from anyone in the community as to why I’m having this problem?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-28T04:38:50.207Z
Does another filament do this?
Dennis Williamson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-29T05:24:29.990Z
@DennisWilliamson no this was the first filament that it had happened on. Yesterday I tweaked the retraction settings and was able to successfully print the model with some stringing. I think the problem was mostly the model I was trying to print having far too many retractions in a certain stage of the print causing the filament to clog.
Ethan Child
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-29T05:35:38.630Z
OK, I just wondered whether the filament had too much moisture.
Dennis Williamson
<creality-ender-3><pla><extruder><extrusion><print-failure>
Ender 3 Pro extruder skipping and knocking, tried multiple things
Ethan Child
# Ender 3 Pro extruder skipping and knocking, tried multiple things

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-11-27)

I recently purchased some MatterHackers Quantum PLA and began printing on my Ender 3 Pro. I successfully printed three times with no problem, on the fourth print about 2 hours in, the extruder started to skip and make knocking noises. The filament completely stopped extruding. I originally thought it was just a basic clog and I took steps to fix the problem:

1. I disassembled the print head and found a small bit of filament in the Bowden tube and cut the clogged piece off.
2. I cleaned out the heat sink and aluminum block of any debris
3. Replaced with a new nozzle
4. Tightened the spring on the extruder

I’ve checked the teeth on the extruder gear and they didn’t seem to be worn down

After all of this, I tried the same print again but printed at a nozzle temperature of 225 °C instead of the 215 °C I had it at originally, and it failed again near the same spot about 2 hours into the print.

Is there any advice I can get from anyone in the community as to why I’m having this problem?

**Tags:** creality-ender-3, pla, extruder, extrusion, print-failure

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does another filament do this?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 no this was the first filament that it had happened on. Yesterday I tweaked the retraction settings and was able to successfully print the model with some stringing. I think the problem was mostly the model I was trying to print having far too many retractions in a certain stage of the print causing the filament to clog.  
> **username_1**: OK, I just wondered whether the filament had too much moisture.  

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## 0 answers

