/diy/ - Do It Yourself

First big problem. Monoprice Mini Delta. Printing gray PLA no problem. Switch to gloss red PLA for a few prints, no problem. Switch to gold PLA, have some layer adhesion problems, crank temp up a bit, gets real stringy but prints fine (1). Switch back to gray, reprint same model at same elevated temp for direct comparison. It fails(2). All indications are the filament stopped advancing. Everything looks fine (3) but the extruder is clicking and the PLA is bouncing and not advancing. Preheating and manually feeding it as if changing filament only extrudes a bit but nothing else. Pull back filament a bit, nothing. Use nozzle tool for first time and poke back to filament. Seems clear for several inches (back out filament and needle advances). Remove filament, end is melted, looks normal (4). Cut at 45º and reinsert. There is a slightly tough part to get it through a few inches back from head, like I'm pushing through wet paste maybe, but the filament advances without much force so I don't worry. Did this while preheating, at temp manually feeding does nothing even when pushing hard enough to bend filament only releases the tiniest bit of PLA. There seems to be filament in the tube (6) and nothing foreign. Remove and the end is melted but frayed (7) not smooth.

Preheating and advancing the extruder via menu just makes extruder click, the filament jumps but doesn't advance and PLA doesn't extrude. Upon manual inspection the tip is hot. Printing goes through the motions but deposits nothing. I returned to my normal heat setting (190º, had been printing gold at 200º but the gold extruded fine at 190º)

So I'm pretty sure the filament is hung up but it seems worst than is possible, comes back out fine and is heating but won't extrude. No visual problems, I just wan to know what to start tearing into or testing instead of just beginning to remove things hoping I'll find something obvious.

What are my steps to determine the problem? Where do I start?