extruder continuously skipping

[lance-greene 7]

so I have a geeetech G2 delta printer here that prints mostly fine aside from 2 issues i cant seem to solve.

1. the extruder motor constantly skips back while printing. this generally happens with the motor is putting too much pressure on the filament so it slips back to prevent damage. the skipping causes almost no actual degradation to the print surface and the machine prints mostly fine even with the constant skipping. I've adjusted all possible slicer settings to help reduce this back stepping but it wont stop. ive adjusted the voltage on the motor controller as well and it didnt seem to help

basically im wondering if perhaps i can adjust the firmware controlling the motor to help it? but its the only idea ive come up with as ive tried all slicer adjustments i can.

2. each horizontal layer has about a layer wide gap between each other horizontal layer. so if i print with 3 perimeters each layer has quite a large gap between it and the layers beside it. ive tried adjusting all the slicer settings i can including nozzle settings and nothing has helped. so i assume this is a firmware issue as well? any help?

[gr5 2,172]

Both symptoms sound like underextrusion. Either you are printing too fast or too cold or your nozzle diameter is smaller than you think (maybe a layer of baked on PLA making it smaller).

Try printing at 1/4 the speed and see if that helps. Also raise the temp by 10C.

If cura nozzle size matches your nozzle and shell width is a multiple of nozzle size then it should be printing lines of nozzle size width and spacing. But if you mess with it - e.g. nozzle=.5 and shell width=1.2mm then you get results as you describe.