Taz 6 suddenly grinding filament instead of extruding

I have had my Taz 6 about 11 months now. I do keep it printing so it rarely goes unused. I have replaced the extruder idler assembly with the beefy version. It kind of printed fine for a bit but now it grinds a notch in the filament after a few minutes of printing.

I tried adjusting the retract speed but I went so low that it’s crazy slow before it would finally print correctly but long prints it still manages to grind a notch!

So, is this because the humidity skyrocketed (I am in Georgia)? Did the hobbed bolt finally wear out? Or is the beefy idler assembly the problem?

Any suggestions would be great!

I am thinking its humidity which is why I put this under filament. The filament is PLA.

When my TAZ 5 starts grinding filament the problem is usually the extruder idler tensioner. You should have a 4mm spacing (washer to washer)

Its could be humidity exposure over time… the latest humidity spell may have just done it. How long has the PLA been out? A week or two of non-use shouldn’t hurt, but any longer probably needs to be in a sealed container (get one of those 5 gallon buckets with a screw on lid) with some silica gel (or dried our kitty litter).

Try the tightening the idler screws as suggested by Rp1030… it might get you through a few prints. Also search for directions to dry out PLA (it involve sticking it in the oven, but I’m not sure what temps). Then get yourself a dry box and a hygrometer.

Could it also be a partially clogged nozzle? When I have trouble feeding or grinding on filament it tends to be related to partial clog in the nozzle. If you push the filament by hand dose it have issues extruding?

So now I know why this happens!

This is because of wet filament.

I have a PrintDry and I use it to not only dry my filament but I leave it turned on and print directly from the PrintDry. My printing quality has improved so much its almost like a new printer!

Now I have to figure out how to still use the PrintDry with my other new cool tool; Nylon LulzBot 3D Printer Enclosure by galaxG Design World

https://www.amazon.com/3D-Printing-Filament-Dryer-PrintDry/dp/B073YJKCLB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516207870&sr=8-1&keywords=printdry
https://www.lulzbot.com/store/parts/nylon-lulzbot-3d-printer-enclosure-galaxg-design-world

–jb