@mpirringer Thanks for the suggestion. I am a long time user of Simplify3D and was bummed when I first got my Pulse to realize the Pulse was not natively supported in Simplify3D. I found this article detailing how to set up different slicing software for the Pulse, but the article explicitly states that it is applicable to D model Pulses. I am running Smoothieware on my Pulse so I assume it is an S model and thus I am supposed to use different instructions for setting up a slicing profile. But I cannot find an appropriate guide for S models anywhere. Do you have any suggestions? I also reached out to Simplify3D to see if they have a profile I could use.

Sorry, the image did not come through. Trying again...

Finally had a chance to dig into this a little bit. I confirmed my nozzle was tightened properly. I have an all metal E3D V6 and the Bowden tube looks to be OK. I ran several hundred mm's of MatterHackers' cleaning filament through the hotend, and about every 100 mm I would pause, cool the hotend, and then perform a cold pull. I repeated this process a total of five times. Each time I extruded cleaning filament it seemed to extrude without issue. When I performed the cold pulls I would typically see a small amount of dark debris come out with the white cleaning filament, but each successive pull resulted in less and less dark debris. By the fifth pull there was just a small hint of dark stuff in one tiny area.

I then proceeded to load some Hatchbox PLA and printed a Benchy. The results were about the same as before all of the cleaning. I next changed to a different nozzle (first print was with a 0.3 mm nozzle, second print was with a 0.4 mm nozzle). The second print looked nearly identical, so the issue is not with a clogged nozzle. But the prints had flaws and defects in nearly the same spots, which to me indicates that it is not a hardware or clog issue with the hotend, but rather something weird with software. That is my inclination at least. Below is a photo. The left image is with 0.3 mm nozzle and the right is with 0.4 mm nozzle. Does anyone have any additional thoughts?

Thanks for the suggestions, mpirringer! I do indeed have an E3D V6 hotend. A while back I did come in to find a massive blob of plastic covering the entire hotend up to the heat break (I work in a makerspace) which required a new thermistor after the original was lost to the plastic blob. I'll have my techs follow your suggestions and I will report back here.

For several weeks my Pulse XE has been printing with sub-par results. Prior to this I considered it my highest resolution printer, capable of producing really nice detail and high quality prints. But something has changed and I am not sure what caused the change. Prints now have, for lack of a better description, "gaps" in them. See images below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r362mTMgYpYEh_4FPV42YLMLUFcmZ26Y/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r7azRjVTZ_1uxweKlXcWSsm6kSmhb18u/view?usp=sharing

Both prints in these example images were done with Hatchbox PLA. The printer typically is used exclusively with Hatchbox PLA. Several months ago someone did use wood filament with the printer so perhaps some residue is remaining in the hotend or nozzle that is causing clogs? Although to me it seems like if that were the cause of the issue the imperfections would be more random. But it seems like there is some consistency between the same print in the different colors of filament shown in these images.

I have tried uninstalling the MatterControl software and reinstalling, using the stock MatterControl profile for PLA but that has not resolved my issue. Perhaps this is a common issue and there is a solution out there I am missing. If that is the case I apologize but I have not figured out the right terms to search for this. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!