Quote Originally Posted by gmay3 View Post
Usually when my nozzle is close all the way around a print, nothing ever comes out. Instead, the hobbed bolt grinds a groove in the filament and the only way to fix it is to pull the filament out and clip off the grinded down portion.
That's what typically happens to me as well. There are a few variables though.

1) If there's any play in the nozzle (hot end loose in the extruder, X-carriage not tight on the rails, etc.), it might be possible for the extrusion to vary as pressure builds and pushes the hot end up. It's easy enough to check for this - raise the carriage up and see if there's play when you try to move the nozzle around. I remember going back through my extruder assembly to eliminate some play mine had.

2) I've had problems start appearing after applying multiple layers of the glue stick. It builds up pretty fast, and it's fair to assume the print surface can get uneven really easy since it's hard to hold the stick exactly perpendicular to the surface. Now I mainly reuse the same glue layer a few times and then clean it off and apply a fresh layer. In a pinch, I'll wetten the surface and reapply some glue, but I think that starts to pull fibers out of the paper towels I use since that seems to not hold as well.