My husband helped me get it out. He yanked it very hard, and when it came out, it was all black and gunky where it met the nozzle and smelled burnt. I do believe we had it at 200 degrees, because I then fed some raw filament down through the hot end (with the nozzle off) and you wouldn't believe the gooey gunk that came out (wouldn't have been gooey if it weren't heated). It just kept coming and coming. I believe the entire hotend had backed up filament in it.

Well and good .... however, I couldn't get my nozzle to "bite" when I tried to put it back in. I thought maybe there was some goo in the female threads, my husband thought we'd maybe stripped the threads. Whichever ... I still can't get the nozzle back on, so I've ordered a new hotend. 2 of them, as a matter of fact. Now I'm watching videos on how to swap that out. <sigh> One thing leads to another, and one fix broke something else. I might get me a working printer by the end of the month. <thud>

Thank you for answering. I haven't had much luck getting answers here on this forum. I sure do appreciate it.

Newbie question .... what is pronterface? I added the codes to my start and stop gcodes from within Cura slicing software, and it works great.

I've had the problem .... spotty ... not always. I just pull the card out, reinsert it, and my files are there. I assumed that I hadn't inserted it correctly or fully.

Best of luck.

I'm still trying to diagnose my extrusion problems. I'm having the exact same problem on 2 different printers (identical printers - CR-6 se).

I've ruled out the nozzle. I've ruled out the extruder mechanism (at least as far as there being dust or dirt jamming the cog). The extruder wheel does spin when I do a "feed" from the LCD panel, but it does it very slowly ....maybe it's supposed to move slowly.

I couldn't check my bowden tube, because I can't get it out of the hot end. Maybe this is a clue (end melted/warped?).

Specifics: 1.75mm PLA (does it with any brand).
Cura 4.9.1 slicer software

I did an extrusion calibration by marking the filament 100mm from where it enters the extrusion box, then doing a 100mm "feed" from the LCD panel. It's only extruding 25 - 45 mm of filament instead of 100. A definite problem!

2 problems really .....

1. inability to get the bowden tube out. I'm removing the blue cincher thing, pushing down on the black thing, and tugging with all my might. Even used needle-nosed pliers to try to pull it out, but was afraid of crimping or deforming the bowden tube, so didn't pull so hard with that. So I need advice on how to get that out. I not only want to check the Bowden tube itself, but I also want to see if there's something going on in the hot end, above the nozzle. Can't do that just yet.

2. I don't know how to check/change the E steps. Any instructions I find online assume I have some familiarity with various softwares, terminology, and/or processes. I don't. This is a completely new problem to this newbie.

I need help! I run a small business, have 3 printers going just about 24/7, a 4th printer on the way (shipment delayed a week .... figures!), and I'm starting to get backlogged. This is stressful and I feel totally stupid.

Someone ... please help me.

I had similar issues. It started when I changed the initial layer height from .12 to .3 in my slicing software. I changed it back to .2 and then .12, and it stopped doing it. You might want to take a look at that.

These are 1mm vertical walls. I've been printing these for months without any issues, but a week or so ago, this started happening (see image).

I swapped out filaments .... same results with each.
I changed the nozzle .... same results.
I leveled my bed.

I can only imagine that it's an extruder mechanism problem, or maybe something in my slicing software.

Can anyone help me? I'm a relative newbie (4+ months).

Walls are thinner than they should be (has printed fine a bazillion times), and layers are not sticking together.

What causes this?!

@ccox
Delayed response:

Is there a non-technical (motherboard, electrical, etc - too inexperienced to tackle those) way to fix this? I returned the one printer that was doing that. I never could get a good print out of it. I've started having the issue intermittently now on another printer (I have 3 of them - all CR-6 se). I'm scared of adding/changing parts, and I don't know how to calibrate my extruder.

Is it easy to fix? If so, how?

TIA,
Pam

What causes this type of blobby/wavy line? This is the initial layer. Other layers do it, too, but sporadically. One entire layer might be like that, the next one fine. Or one area of an item be like that for one or more layers, other areas fine and smooth.

Any help appreciated.

This screw is loose. I can't tighten it, can't get it out - even with a magnet.

I started a smaller print job on printer #3. I noticed while watching it put down the first layer, that it was sort of "skipping" small areas and it sounded like there were air bubbles in the filament in the hot end.

Thinking it might be the filament feed, I checked that and found the screw loose (no jokes, please <g>). What to do to tighten this?