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I’ve a Flashforge Adventurer 3 which I’ve found to be a fantastic out of the box ready to go printer. I’ve clocked up 500 hours on it.

I’ve had issues where the nozzle was too close to the print bed, making it impossible for the extruder wheel to force filament down the bowden tube. With harder filaments that results in clicking as it’s cog is skipping. With softer, usually matte PLA it’s just wearing a groove and no longer pushing. I have to take the then baked filament and manually push it out of the nozzle, then bed recalibration.

I have a filament dryer, and use it every time I’m printing as it’s a perfect dispenser with it’s roller bearings.

I recently keep getting prints where they start out perfect, but then after about layer 10, the extrusion simply stops. The printer obviously carries on like all is ok, but there’s not even spaghetti.

What could this be? Do I just need a new nozzle? I don’t understand how a metal nozzle printing plastic can deteriorate it. It’s not the same as pitting you get in a soldering iron tip surely…

Edited with photo of hobbed gear as @fred_dot_u suggested

Failed print. I’ve had several fail the same way. It’ll start out ok then the extrusion seems to fizzle out

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  • $\begingroup$ Did you replace anything in the extruder path during the last 500 hours? E.g. the nozzle assembly is sold separately. Could be, depending on the filament you printed, that the feeder gear has worn. $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 12:58
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, I think you’re onto something. I had a few weeks ago a filament which at it’s recommended temperatures was unprintable. You’d hear the feeder gear clicking as it’s skipping trying to force the filament through. I remedied that by printing at 240C by trial and error and have had successful prints with that filament since, but maybe that skipping on this really hard filament worn it before I noticed and stopped it. I’ll see if I can dismantle the feeder assembly and check. $\endgroup$
    – i-CONICA
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 16:28
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    $\begingroup$ You may not have worn the hobbed gear so much as loaded the teeth with the debris from the previous problematic filament. That's an easier fix, as well. $\endgroup$
    – fred_dot_u
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 16:49
  • $\begingroup$ @fred_dot_u Thanks, I’ll look out for that. The problems did seem to start when printing with a really soft filament, and also I had the nozzle too close to the print bed so it couldn’t extrude and the gear worn a U shape into the filament as it couldn’t move it along, so your suggestion could be the answer. I’m going to investigate in a few minutes. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – i-CONICA
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 17:49
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    $\begingroup$ The teeth appear to be in good shape. It also does not appear clogged or otherwise restricted. At least you can tick off one possibility. $\endgroup$
    – fred_dot_u
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 19:12

2 Answers 2

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Nozzles do degrade with use. That is why they're made to be easily replaceable.

Your problem may be a worn nozzle or incomplete cleaning or something with the bowden tube etc,. but an easy troubleshooting step is just to replace the nozzle.

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  • $\begingroup$ Like the Ultimaker designs, this nozzle features a core concept, I don't think you can easily replace the nozzle itself, you can change the assembly quite easily though! $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 13:04
  • $\begingroup$ @Oscar looks pretty easy to me, they just call the whole assembly 'nozzle', no point confusing the OP with other definitions flashforge.com/faq-detail/20 $\endgroup$
    – Kilisi
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 13:10
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    $\begingroup$ More confusingly, some websites call it the extruder... $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 13:20
  • $\begingroup$ @Kilisi Forgive my ignorance, but I don’t understand how a nozzle can wear out. It still gets to the requested temperature, and it’s made of metal. None of my filaments has any abrasive additives like glitter. If it was to wear wouldn’t that mean the 0.4mm hole would increase in size? That’d make it less likely to clog surely? :/ $\endgroup$
    – i-CONICA
    Commented Jul 21, 2022 at 16:30
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    $\begingroup$ I don't know how they wear out, perhaps pitting catching stuff on the inside? No real idea, I just know that changing a perfectly good looking nozzle solved my problems once. $\endgroup$
    – Kilisi
    Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 0:41
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I have had this happen at times. I finally got it to go away once I fixed my bed adhesion.

By chance is your print curling up near the edges? If it's popping up and exerting backpressure on the extruder, that can be enough to cause an internal jam and the extruder "clicking" (which is itself just a sign that the plastic isn't feeding).

There might be additional problems or other causes, but this was what fixed my issue.

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