<p>Looking at the tread pattern on the filament, I think it's getting stuck. Note that the teeth marks get closer together as you go up the fillament, and the last one is a big divot, that looks like the gear trying to grab at it, and being unable to move it.</p>

<p>Are you seeing any drops in nozzle temp? I had a cooling fan kick in and drop temps low enough to prevent extrusion before.</p>

<p><em>Edit</em></p>

<p>From the discussion in the notes, heat creep was identified as a possible culprit, and seems most likely.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:12:02.320Z
good point... clog?
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:24:38.590Z
@Trish clog wouldn't have the consistent behavior of working for some amount, then stopping. It's something about the printer's behavior that kicks in.. there's nothing repetitively cumulative about what it does otherwise.
kolosy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:25:52.643Z
true... a broken nozzle that generates blockage (similar to a clog) or bad heating behavior?
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:27:15.493Z
No temperature drops that I was able to notice. It stayed pretty consistent while I was doing the test.
Nate4436271
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:27:21.173Z
My money's on the heating behavior. A nozzle that misbehaves wouldn't generate FOD, so it should still continue to extrude.
kolosy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:28:19.467Z
Alternatively - it could be heat creep. If the filament gets too soft by the gear, then it gets harder to push the filament down, and at some temp, impossible.
kolosy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:29:37.783Z
so, i might have just fixed it. Im doing a test print to see. I think the culprit is heat creep. When I put the print head back together I put the heat sync on backwards. (smart, i know). I think because the heat sync was on backwards it wasnt dissipating the heat as well, so i was getting melt higher up the PLA, which made it too fat to be able to continue extruding. This explains the pattern on the PLA as well.
Nate4436271
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:41:13.357Z
That would definitely do it.
kolosy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T20:56:06.840Z
Did a few test prints and they came out successful! Thank you so much. I guess the heat creep softened the PLA which made it bunch up on one side and made it so that the teeth couldnt push the PLA down.
Nate4436271
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T19:46:37.677Z
2019-02-12T20:41:56.070Z
2019-02-12T20:41:56.070Z
kolosy
<p>I've done a fair bit of looking around for an answer and have yet been unable to find one.</p>

<p>So here is my problem, after about 200-300&nbsp;mm of extrusion, the PLA stops coming through the nozzle. When I pull the PLA out it looks like <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/piSWO.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>. There are teeth marks going up the PLA and end with a small divot. The head of the PLA is slightly thicker than the rest of the PLA; approximately 1.9&nbsp;mm.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/li46S.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/li46S.jpg" alt="Filament shape after taken out of hotend"></a></p>

<p>I first noticed this when I thought that only the bottom layer was being printed. I moved to printing a small <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:56142" rel="nofollow noreferrer">bullet</a> and I got about halfway through the print before it stopped extruding. </p>

<p>Next I raised the Z position to about 100&nbsp;mm to give me some room to work and I manually moved the PLA through the extruder with the dial. No problems until I hit the 200&nbsp;mm mark or so. I've done this test 4 times now and failed at the approximate locations: 208&nbsp;mm, 280&nbsp;mm, 250&nbsp;mm, and 325&nbsp;mm.</p>

<p>Settings:</p>

<ol>
<li>Nozzle: 200&nbsp;&deg;C </li>
<li>Bed: 60&nbsp;&deg;C</li>
<li>Layer Height: 0.15&nbsp;mm</li>
</ol>

<p>Other things I have tried with seemingly no effect:</p>

<ul>
<li>Turning off/on print cooling</li>
<li>reducing retraction to 2&nbsp;mm from 6&nbsp;mm </li>
<li>yelling out in frustration</li>
<li>reformatting the SD card (because who knows?)</li>
<li>brand new filament, older filament, middle aged filament</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T18:00:40.313Z
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Definitely a +1 for yelling at your printer/print :o)
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T18:12:57.873Z
Good that you have told us how much you managed to extrude each time... When you pushed to these points, what did happen? Can you show us a photo of a print-result where it?
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T18:17:22.357Z
Does the extruder stepper try to move? Did you try to push the filament by hand?
jkavalik
<extruder><troubleshooting><extrusion><monoprice-maker-select>
Monoprice Maker Select v2 stops extruding after about 200-300 mm
Nate4436271
# Monoprice Maker Select v2 stops extruding after about 200-300 mm

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-12)

I've done a fair bit of looking around for an answer and have yet been unable to find one.

So here is my problem, after about 200-300 mm of extrusion, the PLA stops coming through the nozzle. When I pull the PLA out it looks like [this](https://i.sstatic.net/piSWO.jpg). There are teeth marks going up the PLA and end with a small divot. The head of the PLA is slightly thicker than the rest of the PLA; approximately 1.9 mm.

[![Filament shape after taken out of hotend](https://i.sstatic.net/li46S.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/li46S.jpg)

I first noticed this when I thought that only the bottom layer was being printed. I moved to printing a small [bullet](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:56142) and I got about halfway through the print before it stopped extruding.

Next I raised the Z position to about 100 mm to give me some room to work and I manually moved the PLA through the extruder with the dial. No problems until I hit the 200 mm mark or so. I've done this test 4 times now and failed at the approximate locations: 208 mm, 280 mm, 250 mm, and 325 mm.

Settings:

1. Nozzle: 200 °C
2. Bed: 60 °C
3. Layer Height: 0.15 mm

Other things I have tried with seemingly no effect:

* Turning off/on print cooling
* reducing retraction to 2 mm from 6 mm
* yelling out in frustration
* reformatting the SD card (because who knows?)
* brand new filament, older filament, middle aged filament

**Tags:** extruder, troubleshooting, extrusion, monoprice-maker-select
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Definitely a +1 for yelling at your printer/print :o)  
> **username_2**: Good that you have told us how much you managed to extrude each time... When you pushed to these points, what did happen? Can you show us a photo of a print-result where it?  
> **username_3**: Does the extruder stepper try to move? Did you try to push the filament by hand?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-02-12. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Looking at the tread pattern on the filament, I think it's getting stuck. Note that the teeth marks get closer together as you go up the fillament, and the last one is a big divot, that looks like the gear trying to grab at it, and being unable to move it.

Are you seeing any drops in nozzle temp? I had a cooling fan kick in and drop temps low enough to prevent extrusion before.

*Edit*

From the discussion in the notes, heat creep was identified as a possible culprit, and seems most likely.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: good point... clog?  
> **username_4**: @Trish clog wouldn't have the consistent behavior of working for some amount, then stopping. It's something about the printer's behavior that kicks in.. there's nothing repetitively cumulative about what it does otherwise.  
> **username_2**: true... a broken nozzle that generates blockage (similar to a clog) or bad heating behavior?  
> **username_0**: No temperature drops that I was able to notice. It stayed pretty consistent while I was doing the test.  
> **username_4**: My money's on the heating behavior. A nozzle that misbehaves wouldn't generate FOD, so it should still continue to extrude.  
> **username_4**: Alternatively - it could be heat creep. If the filament gets too soft by the gear, then it gets harder to push the filament down, and at some temp, impossible.  
> **username_0**: so, i might have just fixed it. Im doing a test print to see. I think the culprit is heat creep. When I put the print head back together I put the heat sync on backwards. (smart, i know). I think because the heat sync was on backwards it wasnt dissipating the heat as well, so i was getting melt higher up the PLA, which made it too fat to be able to continue extruding. This explains the pattern on the PLA as well.  
> **username_4**: That would definitely do it.  
> **username_0**: Did a few test prints and they came out successful! Thank you so much. I guess the heat creep softened the PLA which made it bunch up on one side and made it so that the teeth couldnt push the PLA down.  

---

