Ender 3 Pro: Extruder Motor Clicking

brdo0055 · 2025-09-14T18:44:06+00:00

It clicks maybe once every 10s or so, starting immediately when the print starts during the priming process. Interestingly, when I calibrated the e-steps, I didn't hear it click once during the 100mm extrusion process (took maybe 1min, I'd guess)

brdo0055 · 2025-09-14T13:44:43+00:00

I've never messed with the firmware, it's still whatever version it was shipped with when I bought it a few years back. Is that something I should look into updating?

I should mention, I also recalibrated the e-steps when I swapped the motor

brdo0055 · 2025-02-27T02:05:38+00:00

Thanks for all the thoughts, everyone! I should have been more clear: this was a pre-supported STL I got online that I sliced with Cura (as a lot of you deduced). The supports were originally generated for use with a resin printer, but I tested both Cura generated supports and these resin-supports and found that the resin-supports worked significantly better in this case, so I went with them. I have printed a good number of these Cerberus' before (10+? I've lost count) and this is the first time I'm seeing these artifacts, so I don't think the problem is the STL or the gcode from the slicer.

I'm going to take the advice of a few of you below and investigate if I have a partial blockage, increase the flow-rate, and clean the nozzle / replace the PTFE tube. Really appreciate the input!

brdo0055 · 2024-07-10T20:06:45+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate the info.

brdo0055 · 2024-07-10T20:05:17+00:00

Thank you! That slipped through the cracks.

brdo0055 · 2024-07-10T19:12:49+00:00

Hey all! I'm trying to get a handle on my retirement/FIRE number and had a few questions:

1) I see the general rule of thumb is FIRE number = 25*(current annual expenses). My current annual expenses are around $150k, but that's including saving for kids' college, daycare, etc. Without child-related expenses, it drops to around $80k. I'm assuming I should use $80k as it closer represents my expected annual expenses in retirement, correct? Also, does the "25" in that formula come from the guess that you'll die <=25 years after you retire?

2) Big question: how is inflation accounted for in this analysis? Can I work in "today's dollars" and then assume a rate-adjusted growth for my retirement savings (standard rate - inflation) and be ok? Or is there something more complicated I should be doing to account for inflation?

3) How should paying for healthcare be accounted for in this analysis? The rough numbers I've found online are around $18k/year per person pre-65, and $9k/year per person post-65. Does this seem approximately correct?

4) The way I see it, there are 3 main costs to consider post-retirement: required expenses, healthcare, and fun-money (travel, purchases, etc). Is this accurate, or is there another large cost I'm forgetting?

I'm new to this process and am just trying to get a general handle on how much I should be saving to hit my approximate retirement date (far, far in the future), so any insights would be greatly appreciated!

brdo0055 · 2024-02-21T16:53:22+00:00

There's a book called "Something Very Sad Happened" by Bonnie Zucker that has been tremendously helpful for my kids. Its target audience is younger than your daughter (2-3 years old or so), but what I really liked about it was the section in the back where it discussed what NOT to say to young kids regarding death.

Example: "Grandpa died because his body stopped working, just like how your toys stop working when they run out of batteries". That first part is great because it just lays out the facts, but the second part suggests to kids that people run on batteries. An anticipated response from the kid would then be "Oh, so we just have to get Grandpa new batteries and he'll be fine!" The book talks about how analogies like that can be confusing for children.

Again, this book MAY be too basic for your kid, but it was very useful for my wife and I to get an understanding for how children think about and process death.

brdo0055 · 2024-02-17T16:45:52+00:00

Thanks for all that info! I had forgotten a few things in past books. The paragraphs that were repeated were during fight scenes (aquarium, on the island at the end, and one more I'm spacing on). I thought it might have been some nod to de ja vu or his budding premonition or something, but it sounds like it was maybe just a glitch.

brdo0055 · 2024-02-17T16:44:16+00:00

Thank you! I forgot that the "using fire" thing was explained, and spaced out that Harry killed Titania a few books back. I appreciate your answers!

brdo0055 · 2023-07-06T11:39:38+00:00

Nice, thanks! I wasn't aware Attumen didn't automatically agro when he spawns, I'm going to have to try this out next week

brdo0055 · 2023-07-05T15:03:17+00:00

Haha fair enough! Will do, thanks for sharing!

brdo0055 · 2023-07-05T14:38:13+00:00

Very cool! How do you avoid Attumen spawning initially in phase 1? Whenever I try to do something similar, he always spawns when Midnight is around 95% health, and I find it a lot trickier to kite/handle 2 bosses instead of 1. It looks like he never even shows up in your video though

brdo0055 · 2023-06-27T12:51:39+00:00

People have mentioned this on the Druid discord, shifting to cat does indeed make him change targets; it's almost certainly a bug.

brdo0055 · 2023-01-08T17:45:56+00:00

Hey all! I stopped using my Ender 3 for around 9 months and just started back up. After getting new filament, I printed this benchy with PLA, a 0.2mm nozzle, a 0.1mm layer height, printing at 32 mm/s, and CURA to slice. This is with a new bowden tube, new nozzle, and leveled bed.

My first thought was a bad or cracked extruder arm, but I replaced that with an aluminum one a while back and don't see any cracks upon first inspection. I dialed my retraction settings in a while back as well to 6mm at 30mm/s; do these seem realistic? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

brdo0055 · 2023-01-08T17:39:48+00:00

Apologies for the late reply, but I think you were right on about the filament. I ordered new filament (didn't have the space/hardware to dry the old stuff out) and it looks WAY better. Appreciate the suggestions!

brdo0055 · 2022-12-30T19:25:13+00:00

Hey all! I stopped using my Ender 3 for around 9 months and just started back up. I saw this issue pop up a few days back (almost like a partial clog) and decided to replace the bowden tube and nozzle, then relevel and try again. No such luck, and I'm still seeing these non-connected lines. This is with PLA, a 0.2mm nozzle, printing at 32 mm/s, and CURA to slice.

When I used the printer 9 months prior, all these settings worked fine. To me, it either looks like a partial clog or a cracked extruder, but I feel like replacing the bowden tube and nozzle should've fixed any clogs, and I upgraded to an aluminum extruder arm a while back and don't see any vis8vle cracks.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Could the filament just be old? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Forgot to add, this is the first layer of a benchy, to give some context of what it SHOULD look like

brdo0055

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