At the moment I have just warmed up my nozzle and tried feeding filament in starting at 175C and progressing my way up to 210C but have not got it to feed so that anything is coming out of the nozzle end even after some help. I tried poking it from above yesterday in case there was a clog but it didn't feel very liquid and was quite thick and sticky so I still think that the reported temp is much lower than the actual. I've never had a block before so this could be a possibility but it just seems to be a coincidence that I just put my own glass fibre cover on the nozzle after using it for a long time without any cover on it.

This could be unnecessarily long so I'll cut it down:

1. My nozzle cover melted off during newbie-dom around a year ago but I didn't notice any unusual behaviour and hadn't replaced it.
2. Generally fine for the best part of a year printing PLA at 175C (it was probably hotter as I didn't have the cover to insulate against ambient temp).
3. I install the new Solidoodle software, tried it, went back to Repetier.
4. When attempting to print, my temperature get's to target and once printing begins, temperature falls and falls until cold extrusion warnings start coming through.
5. I play with some settings and it seems OK again.
6. I finally install a fibreglass weave cover secured with insulation tape to my extruder and recalibrate the PID temp settings.
7. Extruder is getting to 175C stable for a while but then falls off when I click print. When I can get it back up to temp, 175C does start to extruding at the beginning of the print but then the filament stops (as it is probably not hot enough). I take it up to 210C and it still is not extruding and I don't seem to have a block but the PLA inside the extruder only feels spongey and not melted - again pointing to the extruder not being as hot as it is displaying on Repetier and a gap opening up between displayed temp and true temp.

So I think I have two separate issues:
The temp not holding once I hit print (my filament settings are fine), no idea why it is dropping.
The extruder's true temp being much cooler than it is reporting.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Check your power supply. It could be dropping out once everything including motors is pulling from it. Check for a bad harness that opens during motion but is ok in park.

1. My nozzle cover melted off during newbie-dom around a year ago but I didn't notice any unusual behaviour and hadn't replaced it.
2. Generally fine for the best part of a year printing PLA at 175C (it was probably hotter as I didn't have the cover to insulate against ambient temp).
3. I install the new Solidoodle software, tried it, went back to Repetier.
4. When attempting to print, my temperature get's to target and once printing begins, temperature falls and falls until cold extrusion warnings start coming through.
5. I play with some settings and it seems OK again.
6. I finally install a fibreglass weave cover secured with insulation tape to my extruder and recalibrate the PID temp settings.
7. Extruder is getting to 175C stable for a while but then falls off when I click print. When I can get it back up to temp, 175C does start to extruding at the beginning of the print but then the filament stops (as it is probably not hot enough). I take it up to 210C and it still is not extruding and I don't seem to have a block but the PLA inside the extruder only feels spongey and not melted - again pointing to the extruder not being as hot as it is displaying on Repetier and a gap opening up between displayed temp and true temp.

So I think I have two separate issues:
The temp not holding once I hit print (my filament settings are fine), no idea why it is dropping.
The extruder's true temp being much cooler than it is reporting.

Any suggestions are welcome.