New Ender 3 E-steps off by 367?

Question

I usually see Ender 3's set at 93 for the E-steps which is still too low, and require adjusting to around 99 steps/mm, but a brand new Ender 3 (base model), running 1.1.6.2 firmware, was extruding at approximately 20 % when doing a calibration test.

It wasn't until I set the E-steps to 460 steps/mm that it extruded correctly.

The test file is the same file I use for all Ender 3's so I know there were no slicing errors to blame (flow, etc).

I swapped extruder motors with a working printer to rule out the motor and ensured there was no nozzle clog. It was not the wrong motor (I know the Z motor is set to 400 for example, but this was not a Z motor, it was the proper E motor) and the 20 % extrusion was consistent with the swapped motor.

Clearly, it came from the factory like this. But this is the highest adjustment I have ever heard of.

Has anyone experienced this before?

Answer 1

a brand new Ender 3 (base model), running 1.1.6.2 firmware, was extruding at approximately 20% when doing a calibration test.

This doesn't mean the esteps are wrong. There is no physically possible way the actually-needed esteps value can be off by more than a few percent from the nominal value of 93, which is linked to the motor step size and extruder gear diameter.

If you're only getting 20% of the desired extrusion, your extruder is broken (likely the tension arm is physically broken or the spring is missing or incorrectly installed or of the wrong length) or you have some sort of blockage in the hotend causing the extruder to slip.