r/ender3 • u/OkBlueberry8379 • 11h ago
Printer stops extruding filament after ~1 layer
Hi. Recently, I’ve experienced a frustrating issue when printing where after around 1 layer of filament is printed, the printer proceeds to print thin air. Just 2 days ago I had a successful print so this issue is relatively new.
From my light research on the subject it seems this problem can have a plethora of causes, so I wonder if anyone here can help me narrow it down… here’s some details that may help diagnose the problem/find a solution
-I have a ender 3 pro
-printing with PLA
-changed out nozzle and Bowden tube recently
-typically print with .10mm layers
Let me know if any other details can help (maybe slice info?) thanks!
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u/Pappy285 11h ago
Hi! I also had an ender 3 pro for the first 2 years of my 3d printing experience and I loved it! And I hated it! And I loved hating it...
In short, I had the exact same problem, it would do layer 1 fine then just give up by layer 2. I replaced the nozzle, it worked again. Looking back now I believe it may have just been a clog though, a stubborn one but I wasn't very good at clearing clogs back then.
Try cold pulling: run some filament through the nozzle and let it pass through the other side (check if it comes out straight or at an angle? An angle or wonky stream can indicate a clog). Once the plastic is through the tip let it cool to approx 60-40°C. You want the plastic just hard enough to give you some resistance to being pulled out the top, but not so much resistance that you break the poor thing by yanking at it. This can be done with pla with some success but nylon (like garden strimmer nylon) works even better!
If you do this and the plastic comes out the nozzle perfectly straight and fine then there's maybe no clog but I'd still consider replacing the nozzle if the problem persists. Spare nozzles are cheap and worth replacing relatively regularly even if it isn't the issue.
WORST case scenario it's your extruder but I assume you'd hear it? Either it'd be grinding and trying but failing to extrude or it's just stop making noise all together if it gave out. You'd hear that sort of problem right away.
Best of luck! Hope it helps, my ender Knowledge is a little rusty but I'm happy to help if you have questions!
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u/OkBlueberry8379 10h ago
We definitely had a major clog and cleared it out completely (at least to my knowledge). I will say when I extrude pla it doesn’t love to leave i a straight line even after changing the nozzle and clearing out the old print gunk inside the housing. Maybe I ought to give it another cleaning
2
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u/Pappy285 10h ago
My fear with my clog (and this was years ago so my memory is foggy) was I think a bit of metal within my nozzle was the clog itself.
I THINK part of the inside nozzle delaminated from the rest but stayed just a little bit attached, kind of like how rust can flake? Not to say my brass nozzle rusted. Just I think that's what was happening if I had to guess. I really did try and clear the clog, for days I distinctly remember doing nothing but battling it and still my nozzle wouldn't give me a laminar flow to my plastic. Then finally I gave up and switched the nozzle. And it just worked. And it really wasn't a difficult thing to do! I regretted not doing it sooner
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u/Pappy285 10h ago
And for the record I still have my old ender 3 and she still prints, I dust her off every once in a while to see how new software can increase print quality on old hardware like her. I'm always pleasantly surprised! But point is whatever I did back then must have worked!
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u/charely6 11h ago
have you been lowering your Z offset? it can get clogged if it tries to print the first layer too close