Yeah, and sorry for the delayed reply. KZfaq notifications are odd. The issue was the gear box shroud wasn’t fully seated around the stepper’s center. The manual they provide was written based on a different production method for the gear box and it didn’t have to snap in place. The new gear box is injection molded and does need to snap into place. So it was a tiny bit cockeyed which is why it felt so tight and skipped steps so early. I think I upset the peeps that designed this because they didn’t have any appetite for updating the manual and still haven’t. I can seem far more abrasive than I intend, or at least that’s what I’m told…and I don’t mean to be. But it’s a nice extruder.

But this other issue here, when it croaked was a worn out heater. I replaced it with a new one and it did better.