I have a ender 3(2021 I think) and I was doing a print it got like 5% done and then stopped extruding but continued acting like it was printing, it did this twice. not sure what to do. it was like 2hrs into the print. I was using esun pla+ 230extruder 60bed 30% fan. Cura was set to 50mm/s the printer at 100. I was following the instructions from the print file. Thanks for any help!
The most common cause is heat creep. This is where the hot end heats the heat break up and softens the filament at the extruder gears.
Remove the filament after a failed print and examine to see if there are notches or wear marks upon it.
Also you should check the filament path to be certain it is free at all heights. sometimes filament can jam physically.
Do you have a cat? lol they too can cause jams…
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okay I’ll try lowering the temp and turning up the fan. The weird thing was both times it was at the same spot in the print. Also my cats are outdoors.
I agree with @kitedemon. Most likely to be heat creep. Check the hotend cooling fan for dust and fibres, and clean the heat sink fins. Also, ensure the hotend cover is open and heat-tight the nozzle. Check if there’s a gap between the nozzle shoulder and the heater block to ensure it is tightened and locked against the heartbreak. Look at the very tip of the Bowden Tube; sometimes it gets worn, but cutting 5mm of it will fix the problem.
I’m not sure I agree with the diagnosis of “heat creep”.
With heat creep, I would expect the next print to fail basically at the beginning due to the filament solidifying above the heat break.
As @GabeBjerk reports, “The weird thing was both times it was at the same spot in the print.”, I would expect this to be a gcode problem.
What is the source of the gcode file and what happens when you try printing something else that takes at least 2 hours?
I tried lowering the temp to 210 and turning the fan to 40% and it did the 26hr print fine. I guess it was just chance that it stoped in the same spot. Thanks for all the help!
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