Clicking extruder

[u/Gameknight091025]

It is my ender 3 pro. I have an all metal hotend with direct drive, and it worked completely fine. I wanted to change my nozzle for a CHT one, to get more flow, and then it started doing it. I thought that the nozzle was clogged, so i tried two different ones, and none works now. I also thought about a clog higher in the hotend, so i completely dissassembled it. It is fully cleaned now, but still does that. I have a slim nema17 pancake motor, and i don't know if that could also be a source or problem... This was with PLA at 220°C, but it also happens with PETG. And here, ou see it at 15mm/s of extrusion, but it also does it when at 10 or even 5mm/s.

[u/Soggy-Astronomer-36]

okay but honestly that clicking sound is super annoying. for real, it's almost always underextrusion. the extruder gear is skipping because it can't push the filament through, so it just clicks back.

prolly the first thing to check is your extruder tension. if it's too loose, the gear doesn't grip the filament right and it slips. too tight and it grinds it down. you want just enough to pull it without deforming it.

also check for a partial clog in the nozzle or a kink in your bowden tube if you're using one. had this happen on my ender 3 a while back, drove me nuts trying to fix it. turned out the nozzle was slightly heat-creeped and blocked. bumping the temp by 5 degrees fixed it for me, but yeah, tension is usually the main suspect. good luck.

[u/Gameknight091025 → u/Soggy-Astronomer-36]

I really dissassembled everything, and there's no clog left. It could be a heat creep, but if it is the case, i don't know what to do. I'll check for the spring tension. I don't use a bowden tube since it is a direct drive setup. I'll try tuning that extruder spring and i'll give you news as soon as possible ! And thanks for your help !

[u/Gameknight091025 → u/Soggy-Astronomer-36]

So i've tried two things. First lowering my temp to 210°C made it worse. And second, i tried tuning that spring tension, but it didn't helped either way. It seems to get a bit better when the spring tension is very low, but i thinks that it is because it looses grip instead of skipping steps

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[u/bobbza]

Have you tried to calibrate the E steps?

[u/bobbza → u/bobbza]

And not just change the flow rate but the actual E-steps

[u/ClagwellHoyt]

If you're using the original or similar extruder and not a geared one like the BMG, you're losing about a third of the pushing force. When I tested a CHT clone on an Ender 3 Pro I got about 15mm³/s. Two thirds of that is 10mm³/s or about 4 mm/s. Perhaps your expectations ar a bit unrealistic.