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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Solidoodle Discussion → Extruder motor not working?
I am not sure what's wrong with my printer but it is not extruding properly when printing. When I press the Extrude button it extrudes fine. But when I print the extruder motor goes forward and backward almost like two steps forward and one step backward!
So when it prints very little ABS is coming down and also causing the ABS to jam between the two extrusion wheels.
I am not sure what happened! Any ideas? Help, please!
What slicer are you using? I have had that happen with Skeinforge
Slic3r. 
Assuming it worked in the past... what's changed?
That's what I am trying to figure out.
I did try to print at 0.1mm a couple of days ago then went back to 0.3mm and that's when I noticed it is not working printing properly any more. Do you know what setting I should look at?
It depends on what settings you changed. I can't think of any setting that would cause what your describing. Are you sure your not accidentally using Skeinforge?
Will it work if you go back to .1mm?
I am sure I am using Slic3r. Also, for some reason the filament keeps jamming between the extruder wheels. I don't know what happened that is causing this.
I even cleaned the wheels thoroughly this evening but it is not helping--the filament keeps getting jammed there. It is as if the filament is getting pushed back, like its path in the heated nozzle is blocked or something. But that doesn't explain why when I click on the Extrude button it works fine.
how's the extruder motor sound when it is extruding in the air?
could be a partial clog what temp are you using?
Try lowering your bed enough that a print wouldn't stick so there is no pressure on the nozzle. If it extrudes that way then at least you know it isn't a software issue and more a hardware issue.
Ok, I think I found out what's wrong but it's too late to test it now!
I am going to tell you what I think is wrong but don't laugh at my stupidity! :\
Two days ago I got a new glass for the bed because the old glass broke. I think this new glass is thicker so it is not allowing the ABS to flow out freely and pushing it back into the extruder! Why do I think it is the reason? Well, I just did like you said: I printed the part in the air and it seems to print fine (the ABS is not getting jammed between the extrusion wheels and the motor is not going 2 steps forward and 1 step back and it is not making funny noises!) Also, the last part I printed on the new glass (it was a small part) was almost impossible to peel off of the glass without breaking the part...now I know it was because the ABS was extruded hard into the glass which means the glass is slightly thicker!
I will recalibrate the Z-axis tomorrow on the new glass and will let you know the results!
Thank you VERY MUCH! 
Your very welcome hope that's all it was. Sometimes it's the simple things that get overlooked.
Yep, that's all. As soon as I calibrated the z-axis it worked fine. Thank you very much. 
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