Hi,
I’ve been trouble-shooting this damn thing for about a half a year, in which time it printed maybe 3 acceptable prints, and did so inconsistently.
I know people always say “it’s not the printer it’s something you’re doing” but I have no idea what that might be at this point.
Currently I upgraded to a bi-metal heatbreak and metal extruder (thought I was experiencing heat creep, the extruder gear was slipping). Now, it simply won’t print because the filament is occasionally deformed by the new extruder, which means it gets stuck in the heat break. The filament is 1.79 or so in diametre. The extruder’s tension is set to minimum. Does PLA expand when it’s exposed to the air? Would direct drive solve this problem, since there’s less resistance and presumably less bite due to resistance through PTFE etc? I don’t know!
PLA loves to slurp water out of the air - that’ll give you some interesting pops and snaping sounds while it’s printing, esp. if there’s lots of water in it. That probably will cause the unused filament to swell a bit - I’ve never bothered to measure dry vs. wet. You can dry it again, but it won’t be as good as fresh. Those rolls become my quick and dirty printing ones where I don’t care as much or I’m testing something before final print.
Otherwise as soon as I’m finished a print using new filament, it goes back in a resealable, vacuum food bag with silica gel, and I pull the air out using a battery powered vacuum for that purpos.
My house runs humid (pasta lovers) so, I have a lot of “scratch” filament.
My eldest’s first 3d printer falls into the same cursed category you’re describing tho. I’ve done a lot of work on it and just as I was getting close to acceptable prints, Murphy showed up, and I’m back to square one. It’s sitting on my desk gathering dust - about 3 yrs worth now. I simply went out and bought the CR 10 Smart Pro - It still drifts over time, but nothing like the Geetech I3 Pro W that my daughter was gifted.
Thanks for the info. I’ll maybe try drying it, but it’s getting hard to keep dumping money and time into this thing since I have no idea if it’ll work after I spend the next 50 bucks. I don’t know if I’d buy a creality again tbh, so you’re braver than me there.
When you hear the extruder slipping it usually means that the filament is jamming in the hot end. If you are still using a boden tube which it sounds like you are the the tubing nut on the hotend is probably not holding the tubing properly, as the filament moves forward and retracts the tubing slips back and forth and allows molten filament to leak between the tube and the heat break.
This is a common problem although it is less likely with a bi metal heat break but still possible. This video shows how to fix it and should work with the heat break you are using.
P.S. the end of the boden tube MUST be cut square or it will also leak around that.
Thanks for the reply. I wasn’t clear, I’m using PTFE. Once I upgraded the heatbreak it didn’t seem necessary to swap the tube. I’ve made certain the tubing is tight on the heatbreak. I’ve also checked to make sure it’s snug on there and there is no molten material so high up. If I take sections of filament that have gone through the extruder, and guide it through the hotend by hand, it either has some resistance due to deformation, or just sticks because it’s too flat now. This is something I need to figure out before I can troubleshoot anything else, just not sure how to correct it yet.
The solution in the video is interesting, I’ll consider doing it if I pull my new heatbreak 
It could be a bad roll of filament (inconsistent diam. or off spec. filament), this was a common problem in the past but seems to “mostly” been solved. Filament has improved but some cheap lower quality stuff still gets made.
It might be a bad piece of tubing with inconsistent ID diam.
If it is well worn then the tubing will get a groove formed in it from the filament rubbing against it and that can cause drag on the filament. This seems doubtful unless you have been printing a lot for some years with it.
Double check the tube movement during retracts and really make sure it isn’t shifting, it doesn’t take much to cuse a problem.
My filament isn’t super cheap and I’ve used it before with very few problems, so I dunno. I’ve checked the tubing, it really seems to come down the the filament struggling through the heatbreak at the moment, once the extruder deforms sections. I’m drying the filament atm but I’ll double check connections when I put it back together
What filament are you using if you dont mind me asking?
Have you changed the heat setting on the slicer?
It’s Polymaker Polyterra PLA
Do you mean in Cura? I usually print at around 220.
Cura. You could try dropping the temp to about 200C and give it a try.
Grasping at straws now but what if the heating element or thermistor is going bad and the temp that you are setting at is not what you are actually getting. I am not familiar with the failure mode on these IE: do they fail slowly or just quit. 
I have tried many different temps, this seems to have been the sweet spot so far.
And I have no idea, on the Ender 3 it’s anyone’s guess if the components came half-functional or not. Which is why I’m considering just replacing the entire cold/hotend with a sprite or something.
This be strange. My Ender 3V2 has the same hotend and I never have rouble with it, at least since I made the mod from the video I showed you.
Gremlins?
Gremlins are always a distinct possibility!
Print a direct drive upgrade. There are many out there and very easy to install with all stock hardware.
