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OK, this is getting annoying. Every other PLA filament color I have -- all apparently the same batch from the same manufacturer, print between reasonably to great. But my first spool of black PLA is possessed. Every time I try to print, it's OK for 3 or 4 layers, than I start to get stepper skips. Just a few at first, then more. At that point it's started to clog, since if I raise the extruder it clicks even far from the bed. AFAIK my bed leveling is decent -- at least it keeps the other colors happy. I usually end up clearing this with a bunch of cold pulls, but ... jeez. I've tried varying the temperature when this occurs. My usual PLA temp is 205 -- I've varied from 190 to 220. My normal speed is 50mm/s -- I haven't experimented with changing that much so far. Any suggestions? And by the way, how bad for the extruder gear or stepper are these skips -- obviously they can go on for quite some time if you don't happen to be present when they occur. Thanks!

What brand PLA?

Unbranded but medium grade, and came recommended.

All sellers recommend their products. Where'd you get it?

T02900 wrote:OK, this is getting annoying. Every other PLA filament color I have -- all apparently the same batch from the same manufacturer, print between reasonably to great. But my first spool of black PLA is possessed. Every time I try to print, it's OK for 3 or 4 layers, than I start to get stepper skips. Just a few at first, then more. At that point it's started to clog, since if I raise the extruder it clicks even far from the bed. AFAIK my bed leveling is decent -- at least it keeps the other colors happy. I usually end up clearing this with a bunch of cold pulls, but ... jeez. I've tried varying the temperature when this occurs. My usual PLA temp is 205 -- I've varied from 190 to 220. My normal speed is 50mm/s -- I haven't experimented with changing that much so far. Any suggestions? And by the way, how bad for the extruder gear or stepper are these skips -- obviously they can go on for quite some time if you don't happen to be present when they occur. Thanks!

The answer is "How hot is the extruder motor getting" I cranked the stepper current and didn't realize that the bond tech stepper didn't want anything over 1750ma. When I set it to 2250ma like the XYZ axis the motor get hot that heat went thru the shaft into the drive gears, it got hot enough to soften the PLA and cause massive issues

Wow, if you're making a bondtech skip steps, something is seriously wrong. What are your retraction settings?

For the record, the vendor of this filament has declared the entire batch of black to be bad (it wasn't only me having problems with it) and has shipped me a (different color) replacement.