<p>I had a new Extruder tip on my Ender 3 3D printer. the tip looked like the left tip in the below image. After I have been using it for about 5 months, the tip got dull/flat, like the tip on the right in the below image.</p>
<p>The only filament I have used is a spool of  PLA (from hatchbox) and a spool of PETG (from sain-smart)</p>
<h2>About the Filament</h2>
<p>From the time that I replaced the tip, to now, i have only used my 1 spool of <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/B00J0ECR5I" rel="nofollow noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PLA filament</a>.</p>
<p>I don't believe it has any carbon-fiber in it, the only other things I can think of, are that the filament has a tough time sticking to the bed, so I have to print pretty close to the bed.</p>
<p><strong>Image of my 3D prints using my PLA filament</strong>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ntcad.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ntcad.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Image of my PLA filament</strong>
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/O3PGS.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/O3PGS.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<hr />
<p>I don't 3D print a terribly large amount, Is it normal to have to be replacing the pen this often?</p>
<p>How do I prevent my extruder tip from getting dull so soon? Is there a way to prevent the pen tip from getting dull at all?</p>
<p><strong>Actual Images:</strong> (Sorry for all the edits, I’m trying to add the images on my phone and it’s not working)
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/lP0Vu.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/pboTZ.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></p>

[{'answer_id': 14784, 'author': 'R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE', 'author_id': 11157, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/11157', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Correctly level your bed. Seriously, that's the answer. PETG does stick well, but it only gets difficult to remove if you're smashing the first layer against the bed with a nozzle that's way too close. With the bed leveled properly - using feeler gauges or test prints and a sub-0.1-mm-precision caliper - I have no trouble taking PETG prints off a buildtak-clone bed. Glass should be easier.</p>\n<p>If you already have PETG stuck to a build surface you care about and don't want to risk destroying it, try heat, or alternating heat and cold.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 14785, 'author': 'blihp', 'author_id': 25234, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/25234', 'pm_score': 3, 'selected': True, 'text': "<p>Playing around with the nozzle height will help: back it off until just before you have first layer adhesion issues.  Don't jam the filament into the bed as you might for ABS.  This helps with small prints.  However, my experience has been that if you have a large enough continuous contact area (i.e. more than a few square inches) with the print bed, there will be problems getting the print off.  So I still use painters tape (in case I have to rip the print off with force) and glue sticks (so that I don't often need to) on my aluminum print bed as I've found that makes it much easier to deal with without damaging either the bed or the print.</p>\n<p>You can also try dialing back the heated bed temperature a bit (I think I've got mine set to 70-75c for PETG) but that also doesn't eliminate the issue with larger prints.  Also, if I lowered it too much I had problems with first layer adhesion on any size print.</p>\n<p>I also have a glass plate that I use for ABS, which I don't use with PETG.  I've read too many accounts of it sticking too well to glass as well (to the point of the plate being destroyed) and didn't want to try using the amount of force on it that I sometimes have to when removing a PETG print.  I also considered trying BuildTak but read accounts of similar issues with it and PETG.  So I stayed with what's been working for me: tape and glue sticks.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 14836, 'author': 'Charlie', 'author_id': 25384, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/25384', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Try to lift the nozzle more than you'd do even for PLA. PETG sticks really well to the heated bed. If your bed is already well leveled you can adjust the nozzle position in Z by using Z offsets directly in your slicing software (AFAIK, Cura needs an extra plugin for it, Prusa Slicer has it built-in).</p>\n<p>If you have done everything correctly, the PETG model should come out almost by itself just by letting the bed to cool down naturally to 40ºC approx. Be patient.</p>\n"}]
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