@dc42
Hi, reference style testing has been made with D1.75 PLA filament, E3D nozzle D0.4mm and Brass and Stainless steel Hobb-goblin gears, all metal extruder with a gap limiter, spring force approx 2kg adjusted to set gap of 1.3mm with CNC machined Aluminium all parts and a steel ball bearing idler. Inlet side fully a PTFE tube, very low pulling force. Distance to nozzle approx 40mm from gear. Cold-end side measuring 36-42°C and hotend 205°C PLA. PA range tested 0 - 0.16, and for PLA it works best between 0.04 and 0.06 only (still remaining dimensionally accurate enough).
What makes it worrying is that if looking at motor movements with slow-motion camera, it appears as if motor is not moving at start after un-retraction moves. But this will surely need to be checked with a encoder still. Please note that in middle of print, performance of PA seems to be very good in corners, and perimeters, but all problems seem to be related to retraction points and infill start-end points.