@Ernesto_Martinez Yep. Just tossed a roll because of periodic bulges just over 2mm in diameter and spaced about every 15 feet. Highly annoying.
“popping” - if your filament transport is good (or your stepper weak), this popping could be your extruder stepper motor loosing steps. normaly i would expect with PLA that it will just grind away. I wonder a bit about the dark parts as they are a sign of pyrolisis - could be residue froming outside the nozzle or to much heat causing the pla to degrade.
@Jeff_Parish that makes some sense. I will be taking my calipers home with me from work today and do some measuring.