Frequently Asked Questions

spinning, it can grind away enough plastic from the filament so
that there is nothing left for the gear teeth to grab on to. Many
people refer to this situation as the filament being “stripped,”
because too much plastic has been stripped away for the extruder
to function correctly. If this is happening on your printer, you will
typically see lots of small plastic shavings from the plastic that has
been ground away. You may also notice that the extruder motor is
spinning, but the filament is not being pulled into the extruder
body. We will explain the easiest way to resolve this issue below.
(1) Aqgressive Retraction Settinas
One of the first things you will want to check are the
retraction settings for your extruder. If the retraction speed is too
fast, or you are trying to retract far too much filament, it may put
excessive stress on your extruder and the filament will struggle to
keep up. As an easy test, you can try reducing your retraction
speed by 50% to see if the problem goes away. If so, you know
that your retraction settings may be part of the problem.
(2) Increase the extruder temperature
Increase the extruder temperature If you continue to
encounter filament grinding, try to increase the extruder
temperature by 5-10 degrees so that the plastic flows easier. You
can do this by clicking “Edit Process Settings” and selecting the
Temperature tab. Select your extruder from the list on the left and
then double-click on the temperature setpoint you wish to change.
Plastic will always flow easier at a higher temperature, so this can
be a very helpful setting to adjust.
(3) Printing too fast