Extruders will be the death of me. My e3d is STILL plagues with 30-45 minute clogs. (PLA 205, blah blah blah) The Fan is on full and properly positioned, when new, fresh, PLA runs through at 205, it’s smooth and easy flowing, the Bowden is gripping the filament well, I just have dozens and dozens of prints that look like this:
More retraction, lower the temp.
Did you season the e3d first? That’s completely solved my PLA jams. I went from jamming in 30 min to successfully completing 4.5 hrs prints w/o a problem.
Seasoning: no, what’s involved in that? @Wayne_Friedt I’ve tried as low as 190, it seems like the extrusion effort is a LOT higher at that temp…and it still clogs.
Do you have a laser temp gun you can check the temp with to confirm the actual temp.
Seasoning is the same method as seasoning your cast iron pans.
I would actually try bumping the temp up a bit and allowing more time to completely warm up. I was having a similar problem and I solved it by setting the temp 5 degrees higher and letting the extruder sit at the temperature setting for 5-10 minutes. Don’t hit print as soon as it says it’s up to temp.
@Mike_Miller @Tim_Rastall rastall mentioned about seasoning using virgin olive oil. dip a piece of filament in the oil and run it into the hotend cold then back out turn it up to temp and let it burn in a little while. then run filament through until the color normalises
Some PLA is 4032 instead of the normal 4043 or 4042 and needs higher temps… worth trying 225-235 if you haven’t? http://reprap.org/wiki/PLA
pla is a starch based filament and since starches at high temps try to cling to stainless steel (think caramel being made in a pot) a non stick surface is needed. A well seasoned (and well taken care of) cast iron pot is one of the best non stick surfaces to cook on. this concept can carry over to printing. the oil clings to, and fills, the small pores in the metal. the burn in turns it from a liquid to a solid coating. the pla doesn’t stick to the coating and therefore reduces the possibility of jams immensely.
Is it a hobbed bolt thats doing the driving or direct drive?
If its direct drive their maybe to much heat getting to filament from the stepper.
Have you checked the diameter of the filament.
As above. Season your hot end! Solves all pla problems. Ask @Eclsnowman if you don’t want to take my word for it.
Yep, I solved this by redirecting some of the air from the fan towards SS barel. I belive this also brakes the convection from the heater. Since this is only needed with PLA its perfectly fine if it works with PLA cooling fan only.
Well there’s clearly two new things to try here, I’ll try 'em and report back (and consider the mods to the fan shroud upthread) Thanks guys, it’s just so frustrating being this close, and the hoops being jumped through to tune one printer. (I can see why you’d want to sell these things, after the effort to get one dialed in, the 2-XXX couldn’t be as difficult).
@Devin_Grady I have both…this one is clearly the lower temp filament…if I get the clogging sorted, I’ll retest with the higher temp Makerbot stuff.
@Tim_Rastall is correct. Back when I started a few drops of canola oil in the hot end took my e3d from making countless failed prints to a month of zero jams with 1 application.
A few things to try. A larger fan or a second fan blowing on the barrel. Printing at a faster speed. Printing at a lower temp. Ensure there is very little play in your extruder or bowden. Make sure the extruder is placing the proper amount of tension of the filament. I’ve heard of the oil thing but never tried it myself on any of my hotends. Might be worth a try. Check hotend temp with a thermocouple or laser temp sensor to ensure you are getting accurate temps. Lower your print temp, this is filament dependent but the PLA (natureworks resin) I sell prints between 180-200 depending on the color . It’s possible to print hotter but there isn’t any need to. Oh and one last thing, check to make sure your hot end is assembled correctly and is tight while warm. And one last last thing, check what level of power is going to your extruder motor. If the motor is jamming it may need to be turned up. If the filament is grinding it might be ok.
Using a little Canola oil, what temps did you turn it up to? (Seaoning pans it was “Run the piss out of it til it started smoking, then leave it for a bit”)
Normal extrusion temps for me. It would help to have the hot zone clear of plastic first so you’re not frying pla 
I didn’t bother and allthough it worked fine, it smelt strongly of donuts for a while. Perhaps not a bad thing.