WTF is wrong with my printer???

[Crt]

It's fairly new. Did lovely prints, then I didn't use it for a couple of months (will now).
Note the missing filament on the bottom layer. It didn't have the problem the last time i used it. I'm honestly not sure if it's a leveling problem, extrusion, cura problem,...
It seems to sometimes just skip printing. The head moves, but the filament feeding stepper doesn't spin or try to spin. The head isn't clogged, at least not 100% clogged. I did try a cold pull with the filament I had, just to be sure.
I did notice that it doesn't push the filament out, so I'm guessing it's not a sticking problem.

[Roberts_Clif]

I had a problem like this, found it was my fault I had inadvertently Sliced the model at 3MM.
Attached is a Picture

3mm - 1.75mm.jpg

Now the fact that I was able to finish the print was a complete surprise to me.
Believe me it floored me when I found the solution was setting the correct filament diameter in Cura's slicer.

I have also experienced under extrusion because the Teflon tube inside the throat deformed.

Nozzle & Throat.jpg

These nozzles are plugged this the deformed Teflon tubing.
Guess I should have stated I have them sitting in my old Lead screw nuts.

[Crt]

I started a new print and kind of got it to stick, however now it seems to just skip layers. I did a print from some previous gcode that came out super smooth previously and the same thing happened. I really don't know what's going on. Should I just take apart the nozzle and clean it?

[curious aardvark]

what printer is it and when did you last level the bed ?

[Crt]

what printer is it and when did you last level the bed ?

Ender 3, I leveled it just before the print. Im fairly new at this so I might not have the feel for it yet, however...could this even be caused by bad leveling?

[curious aardvark]

the first few layers can look like that if the nozzle is too close to the bed.
But in your case it's more likely a physical blockage or constriction.

Have you changed or cleaned the nozzle yet ?
if not - do that :-)
you've definitely got under extrusion. nine times out of ten it's a feed issue or a partially clogged nozzle.

On bowden printers you can get constrictions in the bowden tube feed system which cause this kind of issue.

what slicer are you using ?

[Crt]

the first few layers can look like that if the nozzle is too close to the bed.
But in your case it's more likely a physical blockage or constriction.

Have you changed or cleaned the nozzle yet ?
if not - do that :-)
you've definitely got under extrusion. nine times out of ten it's a feed issue or a partially clogged nozzle.

On bowden printers you can get constrictions in the bowden tube feed system which cause this kind of issue.

what slicer are you using ?

I cleaned the first nozzle then when it didn't help, I switched it with a new one, which also didn't work.
I used a thingiverse that worked before. I also tried an online slicer (astroprint) and Cura. they all gave me the same result.

i also thought it might be a Z axis problem so I undid the bolts holding it a little...then I tried tightening them and there's not much difference in either case.

A friend suggested that the stepper drivers might be partially blown and that I should switch the Z one with one of the other two. However I have an Ender 3 and the drivers are attached to the board.
Maybe it's just a current problem on the motor drivers, I honestly have no good idea as to what it could be.

What are my options?

[curious aardvark]

(looks at picture of printer)
okay so you've got a weird bowden setup.
Quite why anyone would make an i3 clone that didn't have a direct drive extruder - is beyond me.
But they did.
Heat the hotend up to about 220 and Push the filament through the tube manually and see if there's any resistance at any point.
Also check the feed cog and wheel on the extruder itself.

People always leap to the 'it's buggered electronics' when usually it's something a lot more mundane.

[Crt]

I already tried pushing the filament out manually to check if there was any resistance and it seems to be fine. The feed cog/wheel also look fine and spin. What exactly am I looking for?

EDIT: Ok, so I tried pushing the filament through the extruder again and I couldn't, then I detached the tube and there was a clump of filament at the bottom (while hot). Maybe the tube wasn't pushed in far enough so that happened?
I cut the clump off and tried pushing the filament through the tube only and that was a bit harder to push thought at some points but not so hard that it would cause problems. When it was all the way through the tube, moving it was quite easy aka it don't get stuck at any point. Maybe it's the tube that's giving me problems?

I'm doing another print as we speak and I pushed the tube down into the head as far as I could get it. Hope it helps.
I'll post an update on the print in a couple of min, when it finishes. Btw, I'm using a 220C temp for PLA and heating the bed to 60C.

[curious aardvark]

clogging in the feed cog, move the printhead to different positions and chack the filament goes through with the tube in different positions.

If none of this makes any difference buy a new board. A mks gen is about $20
Or you can get a direct replacement for $50

Looking at the creaity board - it's pretty basic.
The mks gen L has all the same connectors, but no card reader. presumably you're using the card reader on the screen ? in which case it doesn't matter.
Oh yeah and the gen -L also uses replaceable stepper drivers.

Never hurts to have a spare board around the place :-)