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Sep 2016

So your extruder should have a drive gear mounted on the motor (something like this http://e3d-online.com/Extruders/Hobb-Goblin-5mm 6) and the idler is the part, that presses the filament from the other side (http://bikealive.nl/tl\_files/3D\_printing/Creatr/Spring\_loaded\_idler\_v1/IMG\_4367.JPG the part on the right of the drive gear).

On most printers this can be tightened (it’s most commonly tensioned by a spring mechanism with a screw). You could try adjusting the tension, maybe it’s too loose.

Thanks for the advice, here is a pic of my current extruder. It does not seem to have a spring I can change settings with. I have however made sure it is spinning freely, and seems to spin ok.
31s4qfLEY3L.jpg

And what are your speed and layer height settings for this. Also, what material are you using?

Hi there,

I am using PLA my layer height is 0.2

and have attached my speed settings

Thanks again
Capture_15.PNG

I assume nozzle diameter of 0.4mm. So you’re printing at 60mm/s, which may be too fast. Most printers give best results quality wise at about 30-40mm/s (in your case just multiply this by 60). If what I suspect is true - some bottleneck either in extruder setup or maybe your hotend, your feed rate (the speed you try to extrude your filament with) might be just too high, especially when you confirm that you hear clicking sounds during print (which indicate filament slipping, and thus, underextrusion resulting in worsening of print quality). I’d experiment with print speed, starting from halve value and going up by small (300mm/min maybe?) increments.

If you want to print faster, you should consider changing the extruder assembly to something that will grip the filament better. One last thing - there might be people that help you with your current setup, more knowledgeable than I am. You could try postng all you Simplify3D setting for their sake, maybe someone will spot something else to tune :).

Cheers.