Filament jamming

Hi guys,

I know this issue has been covered far and wide on different forums but I am having a hell of a time just getting my i3v to extrude on pronterface, let alone actually make something! With a pair of pliers I can feed the filament and it extrudes fine. I have to apply a decent amount of pressure but it comes out ok. It doesn't act like the tip is clogged. But- when I screw the two bolts so the bearing presses the filament against the hobbed bolt and try say 10 mm @ 40 mm/min I don't get jack. I usually do the first time but repeated attempts fail. The hobbed bolt either grinds into the filament or it just kind of spins (slightly grinding), regardless of how many times I try to adjust the tension. It's well over 100 + tries. I'm printing with abs and I've tried temperatures ranges from 210c - 230c moving up a few degrees each try. With that range of temperatures you'd think I'd find a sweet spot if it were heat creep? The large and small gear seem to be working fine and I've checked the voltage of the extruder motor which is set at .39v. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Sounds like one of two things, the thermistor is reading the wrong temperature, or you have a clogged nozzle. In my experience, you shouldn't have to use a huge amount of force to push ABS through a .4 mm nozzle at 210c. These are the conditions I have and I can push filament through when the tensioning screws are off.

How is your thermistor attached to hot end? I had shotty contact with mine for a while, which caused my extruded to stop extruding mid-print (because the measured temperature dropped below minimum)

I just verified that my hot end readings are accurate. I have a multimeter with a thermometer and they basically read the same values sticking the thermistor in the slot and the multimeter in the actual hole. I'm just going to order some new parts and install them one by one and see which part caused the problem using the process of elimination.

In the case If your disassembling your extruder anyway, I'd check that the internal tube leading to the hot end isn't damaged.