Prusa Mini Extrusion Fix

A print for a Raspberry Pi 5 case went wrong at the first layer. Bed level, cleanliness, and Z offset all checked out, so attention turned to the filament path. Evidence of debris in the extruder pointed to the real cause.

Extruder

Debris reduces how effectively the extruder pushes and retracts filament, which explains thin or missing lines on the first layer. Rather than document the teardown, the Prusa Knowledge Base covers it clearly. See the Mini extruder maintenance guide.

Nozzle

A quick purge test suggested the nozzle was not obviously blocked, but a cold pull was still worth doing to rule out a partial clog. It pulled debris, confirming the suspicion. Guides: cold pull on the Mini in the Prusa Knowledge Base.

Fine tuning and result

Post maintenance, the usual checks followed: square the axes, set belt tension, then redo Z offset. With those done, yellow silk PLA went down cleanly and the case printed successfully. References: squaring the Mini and belt tension in the Prusa Knowledge Base.

Thanks for reading. If you have a reliable order of operations for Mini maintenance that saves time, share it so others can try it too.