<p>I've had the Ender 5 Pro, as is, for 3 months.</p>

<p>After I tried a cheap PLA filament (maybe too cheap), it clogged the nozzle. I cleaned it, but any other filament I have would have similar problems from then on. After some days doing test prints, it clogged again. This time, I heated it up to 240&nbsp;ºC, I unscrew the nozzle, cleaned it up, chopped the Capricorn tube (it had clear symptoms of a previous tube not reaching the bottom of the hotend and leaking material around it), perfectly aligned, cleaned the heating block with a brass brush, started screwing the nozzle… and it never reaches the end. It even jiggles a little bit (by "jiggles", I mean that when the hotend is hot, you can push the nozzle back and forth, and it does move... like it was a joint, and not a threaded bolt), like it was too small for the block. I try screwing a new nozzle. Same happens.</p>

<p>To me it looks like the heating block thread broke, but I can't be sure. I tried a thicker nozzle (0.8&nbsp;mm, but same thread in the end) and it worked. I could feed filament and it wouldn't look like clogged (at least for 15&nbsp;cm of feeding filament, when in previous cases it was almost instantaneous).</p>

<p>Time to get a new heating block? Any recommendation?</p>

<p>Would another kind of heating block be better?</p>

<p>Edit: Here's a picture of the bottom of the heating block. Now it's clear there's a metal chip glued with material, and almost (if any) no thread at all.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gt8Cb.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gt8Cb.jpg" alt="broken heating material"></a></p>

<p>Another question. Could it have been that cheap material that caused the clogging, or was it just a lack of proper maintenance?</p>

[{'answer_id': 13643, 'author': 'Shupper', 'author_id': 20704, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/20704', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Clearly you\'re having an extrusion problem. Extrusion problems usually come either from a clogged nozzle (as @Adam S. said) or from the extruder it self. To determine where the problem is located I would first do a flow rate test using <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWBkPIXTOlo&amp;feature=emb_logo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>. When doing this test you can determine if the extruder is grinding the filament or if it\'s not grabbing it too much. After the calibration of the flowrate you can be certain that the printer is (by .gcode) pushing the correct amount of filament. If the problem persist I would first do an unclogging (since it\'s cheaper than the following option) using something like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR7tUVLku14" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>. </p>\n\n<p>If both previous options do not solve the problem, I would highly recommend you to by a mk-8 like metal extruder. After a while, the plastic one that comes with the printer loses force and you\'ll lose steps. Personally, I had a similar problem where the first layer was printed in a droplet pattern and was solved by changing the extruder to a metal one.</p>\n\n<p>Try these options and if the problem persist you could upload some pictures of the first layer or a video. Other possibilities I think of are that the filament is having trouble passing through the Bowden tube or maybe you\'ll have to reasemble the hotend.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 18185, 'author': '0scar', 'author_id': 5740, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/5740', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Without images of the problem it is difficult to diagnose, but, the described symptoms sounds as if the nozzle is too close to the bed. If the nozzle is too close to the bed, and the extruder not strong enough, the filament flow is very limited due to pressure caused by a very small opening between the nozzle and the bed. Skipping of the extruder may wear out (grind) the filament and stop extrusion altogether.</p>\n<p>Re-level the bed with a (thicker) piece of paper or with a feeler gauge. Alternatively, increase the height of the nozzle by re-defining the height or add an extra Z raise in the slicer (see question: &quot;<a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/13330/how-can-i-add-an-offset-to-the-first-layer-to-increase-clearance/13334">How can I add an offset to the first layer to increase clearance?</a>&quot;).</p>\n'}]
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