I have run into a bit of an issue with my printer.
As I was printing, I noticed the PLA comming from the spool got stretched because it was stuck under other layers of plastic and I had to manually free it only to have it stretch again after a while. I forgot about it until my next print and when I came back, the PLA was stretched more than before. As I tried to correct it the way I had done during the last print, the PLA broke around the extruder feeding thing. I tried unloading the PLA but that didn’t help because the remaining string is to short and can’t be extruded enough, when it tries to pull it back the stepper motor “oscilates” and makes a loud noise while pulling it back. It sits to hard to pull out manually when it has been heated up.
After thinking about this, im not sure how to do this. I assume I have to heat up the nozle in order to get the PLA out of it which would be quite tricky when it is disassembled. Would it be possible to heat it up and pull the plastic out manually by pulling on the piece that sticks out? I saw a similar post yesterday where someone said you should heat it up to a higher temperature, would that be possible.
Another, probably stupid idea I have is to push it in, or break it to a length where it’s already in the tube, then insert the spool of PLA and use that to push the broken piece thru. I don’t think the tube is wide enough for them to overlap and get stuck and the only issue I can think of is there becomming a cap between the old and new string when printing. That is assuming I can manage to break it somewhere inside the tube where I can get the new string in
Most often when it’s stuck it’s because there’s a blob of melt filament just before the nozzle. If you break it at another place it wont change anything. So the best way is to remove the heater block, unscrew the nozzle and cut the filament close to the nozzle. To be sure, I also heat the nozzle with a small blow torch and push the filament with a rod. The latest is especially useful when you change your filament from ABS to PLA.
That makes sense, I don’t think I own a blowtorch though…
What I meant by “breaking it” was to cut it off around the extruder motor and then insert new PLA from the spool to push the old piece through.
According to the FAQ in the instructions, stuck fillament can be fixed by heating up a bit more than usual and then manaually extruding a bit of fillament. Would it be possible to do the reverse and heat up the nozzle a bit higher than normal and pull the fillament out, perhaps after extruding some of it. I assume some fillament might get stuck in the extruder but I assume that it will get “cleaned up” next time I load more fillament.
Theoretically this could work if you pull the filament out while releasing the lever (and don’t try to extrude the filament as it would make things worse). Problem is it often doesn’t work and the filament breaks before you have the opportunity to release it (if there’s a blob chance is it can’t pass through the PTFE tube).
Right, I missed that part when I read your previous post
[quote]
Theoretically this could work if you pull the filament out while releasing the lever (and don’t try to extrude the filament as it would make things worse). Problem is it often doesn’t work and the filament breaks before you have the opportunity to release it (if there’s a blob chance is it can’t pass through the PTFE tube).[/quote]
I gave it a try but it didn’t seem to work so I guess i’ll have to take apart the printer head
You can try disconnecting the tube before it goes in the print head try not to twist the tube.
Gently pull it back until the filament is exposed.
Heat the print head and slowly pull it out.
[quote=“Wrong Way”]Hi,
You can try disconnecting the tube before it goes in the print head try not to twist the tube.
Gently pull it back until the filament is exposed.
Heat the print head and slowly pull it out.[/quote]
I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Needless to say lazy as I am I already tried to do this. With the cables tied to the tube it’s not an easy job (and I ended ripping off the fan cables). I still couldn’t get the filament out even pulling with pliers.