step motor over drive

I am wondering, the extruder motor on my Reprap i3 sometimes after prints a few layers, the start making clicking noise, Further investigation, I found out the the filament goes reversed for a few moments, as if it is trying to extrude but gose reverse instead. A search on line people say the the extruder motor is being being over-driven. What does it really mean by over-driven? Does it mean the motor driver potentiometer needed adjustment to lower voltage? Thanks.

Sounds like a calibration issue.

If I had to guess, you either have not properly set your nozzle height in relation to the print surface or your extruder steps are set too high in your printer configuration.

Edit: Is this a new problem, or have you always had this issue with your i3?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2018 01:30PM by obelisk79.

Quote
obelisk79
Sounds like a calibration issue.

If I had to guess, you either have not properly set your nozzle height in relation to the print surface or your extruder steps are set too high in your printer configuration.

Edit: Is this a new problem, or have you always had this issue with your i3?

Thank you for the reply.
It is not a new problem. Most of the time the extruder motor works nicely, for some unknown reason(s), it would act up. from time to time it takes in the filament smoothly the all in a sudden it will start making the clicking noise. Really not sure why it happen. As far as the print gap, I had set it about 0.1mm from the print glass, doesn't seem to be an issue. Sometime it happens when I change to a different color of filament, perhaps the diameter slightly different? most PLA filament I have says 1.75mm, does it have anything to do with it? I just adjusted the extruder driver, turned the voltage down a bit, seem to work better. But will see. I wonder if I need to replace the extruder?