Ender 3 Pro, Slicr, retraction: 6mm; temp: 215; PLA+.
The pin feathers usually happen in the upper layers. Cura doesn't do this, but it's so desperately slow as an app (to load, to slice, to preview) that I'm trying Slicr, (which does everything almost instantly.)
Any advice how to avoid them?
(The top surface is another issue I can't seem to solve, but one thing at a time.)
I saw the last update on Slicr, and five years old is really long in the tooth for software. Switched to Prusa. I printed a temp tower and the filament seemed to really like 215° - I got curious last night about my esteps, wondering if that might also be a factor. I'll check that this morning.
I haven't been able to bring myself to muck about with the Ender firmware. I've got an FLSun that I built from scratch and I've been all over its firmware so probably the Ender version isn't that different? I just don't want to brick the machine and fight for a day to recover it.
Thanks very much for taking the time to write all that. Looks like I'm making a pot of coffee and rolling up my sleeves.
If you have the stock extruder, check if the drive gear is slipping. Mark the filament and extrude it. If it moves intermittently, you have an extruder problem. In that case you should replace it with a dual gear extruder. I found one recently with bondtech gears. Depending on how your drive gear is mounted (pressed or grub screw) you might need a hammer :). The procedure should not be complicated.