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My Flashforge Adventurer 3 is not printing properly. Filament feeder makes repetitive loud thumping noise and not enough filament is extruded. Resulting print (if completed) is not solid.

Results vary with filament. Flashforge brand (red) PLA works best. Any other filament fails completely unless I print at High quality, with head temperature at 235 degrees. Nozzle has been un-clogged repeatedly, but right from the start, when feeding filament in, it does not flow through properly.

I had used the included tool to clear blockages in the extruder several times before now, but after posting this question I tried again. Ordinary use of the tool made no difference. So I applied more force, and, pushed filament through by hand directly into the extruder and used a pin to try to clear the extruder. It now appears to be working adequately Not perfectly. I am able to print with default settings. It still thumps -or ticks- a bit. I am alarmed at the amount of force I had to use to clear the extruder blockage.

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    $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of Extruder clicks and Extruder clicking Tronxy x5s. $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Commented Dec 17, 2018 at 22:45
  • $\begingroup$ Wait, you print PLA at 235°C?! That is ridiculously high for PLA. $\endgroup$
    – Trish
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 5:00
  • $\begingroup$ Had same issue, did a color transfer with same reel but cut off the filament that was in the printer, worked fine after that. $\endgroup$
    – james
    Commented May 13, 2020 at 20:35

9 Answers 9

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Advice from another source suggested thoroughly cleaning the feed gear on the bowden extruder. When I looked closely there were plastic flakes all over the mechanism. I used compressed air and a brush to clean it. I also discovered expert mode in the FlashPrint software, which enabled me to slow down the speed at which fill is laid down. Now I have good printing results with any filament.

EDIT AND UPDATE:: I have continued to have problems with PLA. For most of the last year I printed using ABS with no similar problems. I guess that PLA is simply rougher, scratchier than ABS and catches in the tube. I found a comment that putting olive oil on the filament fixes it. I used Vaseline. Things were fine for a while, but a retailer said this would lead to other problems.

So far, no permanent answer to this question.

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    $\begingroup$ @0skar Thanks, but in fact my answer to my own question turns out not to be complete. I have since worked out that PLA filament is rougher than ABS and seems to catch in the tube. I have printed with ABS with no similar problems for most of the last year. I found some advice suggesting to put olive oil on the filament. I did not do this, but I did use a bit of vaseline. I was then advised this was not a proper way to deal with the issue. So the question doesn't have a suitable resolution. However, I will close the question. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Barrows
    Commented Jan 28, 2020 at 19:26
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I had this problem and thought I'd put my solution here.

The nozzle (at least my nozzle) is not actually an 0.4 mm nozzle. You can tell just by comparing it side by side to another one. Mine seems to be a 0.3 mm nozzle, despite being sold as 0.4 mm.

Once I set the Path Width in FlashPrint to 0.3 mm, my thumping noise (extruder skipping) and subsequent under-extrusion were completely gone.

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  • $\begingroup$ This solved my problem. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Hargett
    Commented Jul 9 at 1:08
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My Flashforge Adventurer 3 showed similar symptoms at the start of a print. I found that the z-axis was out of calibration, causing the print head to touch the platform, meaning that the filament could not extrude. The solution was to calibrate by slipping a piece of paper under the extruder and adjusting the z-offset until it was just touching. Worked fine after that. Hope this helps.

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  • $\begingroup$ This has also solved my "thumping" issue in the past as well. I use a thin piece of packaging tissue for it. $\endgroup$
    – gattsbr
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 5:02
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After a couple of hundred hours of successful (mostly) prints, I heard weird thumping of the feeder and though it fed filament it would not extract it completely for a color change. Tried a number of tricks to fix that without success. Then I read here about just using compressed air to clean the wheels and the feed channel. Voila! Success. Maybe that won't solve it the next time but it cleared this problem.

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PLA should not be printed at 235 °C. If your printer requires such high temperatures to make the filament very fluid, you have too much friction in your system, e.g. this can be caused by clogs or too low layer height printing the first few layers. Note that such high temperatures are also a cause for obstructions as the filament can carbonise creating clogs. On the other side, too low temperatures also cause too much friction or resistance.

The sound you are hearing is often referred to as "clicking" and can be caused by steps being missed or the extruder hobbed gear to skip back as a result of the friction/resistance.

Now that clicking is introduced, please look into this answer and this answer to answer your problem.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for this information. It confirms I was not missing something basic. I had done everything I could to address the problem. That being the case, I took it back to the store and exchanged it for another one. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Barrows
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 0:49
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I had an identical problem, flashforge provided me with a setup that helped (mostly going much slower) but I still needed high temperature and had a lot of failures.

Eventually I dismantled the extruder hot end and found that there is a tiny metal ferrule that secures the plastic tube the filament feeds through to get to the hot end. This had failed and been drawn into the tube. The high temperatures and slow speeds were basically just softening the PLA enough to squeeze past the blockage.

I cut the piece of metal out of the side of the plastic tube and reassembled without it.

The printer now works fine at high speeds and with any filament :)

I’ve not yet seen adverse any effect from removing this ferrule, I guess the extruder may fail eventually at which point at least I know I just need a new extruder.

There are four plastic clips you need to push in with a screwdriver if you want to try this, I was able to open it up without causing any damage as the clips are quite strong.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi and welcome! $\endgroup$
    – Davo
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 14:22
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for that information. Since I posted the original question, my printer developed more problems. The plastic tube was no longer being held in the collet. And of course, the thumping ('clicking' if you will) and blockages. Now I see the ferrule had failed on mine too, and probably had been dragged into the tube. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Barrows
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 20:01
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I had a lot of thumps lately after I moved my printer location.

Turns out my printer wasn't level and the extruder was pushing harder (further down) on different places, causing thumps. This really shows because the calibration is only in 1 spot.

I used some printer paper and a bubble level then recalibrated. Not a single thump since.

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    $\begingroup$ Note that bubble level says nothing, it is all about levelling the bed with respect to the X-axis. But indeed, an inconsistent bed shape and a nozzle close to the build plate can cause this. $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 22:48
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Your nozzle might be blocked. Check that.

My printer worked fine for the first ~500 g ABS. Then I started to hear the clicking/popping when the print required high material flow. The hose connector that attaches to the top of the extruder ended up giving up the ghost and it released the PTFE tube, creating spaghetti in the printer before I got a chance to stop it.

So, I replaced the hose connector, but the printer was still popping when material flow was high. I followed the steps for clearing out the nozzle. I wanted to clear it until I could see light coming through the nozzle, so removed the nozzle and used heated needles to poke through. This is where I figured out that there was something stuck in the nozzle...

I looked at my broken hose connector, and sure enough, the clamping/retaining ring inside of the hose connector was broken and fragmented. It would appear that a chunk of the ring got lodged in my nozzle. I couldn't figure out a way to clear the nozzle so I just bought a new one.

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I have had the same issue with mine. And the clicking was indeed calibration. When you're doing the paper part, I make sure I move the axis up one point from the bed allowing enough room for the filament to lay and adhere. If it still thumps after, check for a clogged nozzle (which you’ll have to do anyway if you have attempted countless failed prints from not being calibrated correctly) I can guarantee there’s a blockage at that point it’s just a given if you think about it. Also, I did read above that someone experienced the nozzle being in fact .3 mm instead of .4 mm.

I believe this to be true as well. All of their models seem to not be sized right. Therefore, path extrusion needs to be adjusted as well when all is said and done. Good luck

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    – agarza
    Commented Dec 16, 2021 at 21:13

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