v4 disassembly?
v4 disassembly?
I'm getting all the symptoms of a clog in the right extruder (unlined). I want to take it apart and give it a nice soak in paint stripper, but before I begin I just wanted to ask if anyone's done this on a v4 yet? Is the process similar to the v3b disassembly/reassembly?
Re: v4 disassembly?
I think I got it unclogged without resorting to a full teardown. There may still be an issue, though, so eventually I will want to do a full rebuild, and some disassembly instructions would come in handy.
For anyone who got in on that group by for the intservo PETG, that white loop of filament that came in a plastic bag, that's supposed to be their cleaning filament, yes? Has anyone gotten it to work? It won't feed where regular PLA will. It's very soft.
For anyone who got in on that group by for the intservo PETG, that white loop of filament that came in a plastic bag, that's supposed to be their cleaning filament, yes? Has anyone gotten it to work? It won't feed where regular PLA will. It's very soft.
Re: v4 disassembly?
jin, i have used it and i can extrude maybe 20mm before it stops and strips out. i think it just needs to be extruded very slow. the taulman bridge nylon is the same thing. i have found 20mm is enough though to give a quick cleaning. perhaps if you turn the extruder speed down in the jog panel it will work better (guessing).
Re: v4 disassembly?
Yes, I have been using the eSUN cleaning filament from intservo. It has the nice property of being fluid over a wide range of temperatures that covers all the main types of filament like PLA on the low end to PET on the high end. I don't think it's quite as good as advertised for wicking up leftover plastic in the nozzle. I have run cleaning filament through the nozzle, and then had some of the previously loaded filament slough off during the next print, so the cleaning filament obviously didn't get rid of it. I think it works best if you use it regularly while the nozzle is working well. The main thing is to feed it in at the same temperature as the last type of filament you printed with, let it push out and replace the previous filament; then when you feed in new filament, it will replace the cleaning filament. The cleaning filament should be fluid in both cases.
Anyway, I had no trouble getting the cleaning filament to feed, so the fact that it is not feeding for you might be a symptom of the clog.
(edit since Jim posted---possibly I have never extruded more than 20mm. I usually just extrude until the filament coming out of the nozzle is running clear, and then stop. I do it by hand from the jog controls, 10mm at a time. I have done this four or five times, changing several times between PLA and PETg, and have not had a problem.)
Since the V4 can get really hot, you might try cranking the temperature up to see if you can burn out whatever filament is clogging it, before trying to disassemble it.
I have only had two instances of filament jamming, both of which occurred above the hot-end. Those caused me to have to disassemble the top part of the extruder assembly, which was relatively easy; but I have never had the need to remove the hot-end itself.
Anyway, I had no trouble getting the cleaning filament to feed, so the fact that it is not feeding for you might be a symptom of the clog.
(edit since Jim posted---possibly I have never extruded more than 20mm. I usually just extrude until the filament coming out of the nozzle is running clear, and then stop. I do it by hand from the jog controls, 10mm at a time. I have done this four or five times, changing several times between PLA and PETg, and have not had a problem.)
Since the V4 can get really hot, you might try cranking the temperature up to see if you can burn out whatever filament is clogging it, before trying to disassemble it.
I have only had two instances of filament jamming, both of which occurred above the hot-end. Those caused me to have to disassemble the top part of the extruder assembly, which was relatively easy; but I have never had the need to remove the hot-end itself.
Re: v4 disassembly?
In case any fellow dual extruder people need to do this, I got some help from Josh and I'm going to relate what I learned.
The v4 that we got has a very tight nozzle fit, and removing it could damage the threads. I opted not to try it. However, being all metal (or metal and PTFE), you can just remove the heater and thermistor and soak the whole thing in solvent.
Once you have the extruder dismounted and unplugged, you can remove the heater and thermistor by releasing the set screw on the side. The thermistor came out fairly easily (the set screw does not affect the thermistor) but the heater seemed glued in by some plastic detritus from prints, and needed some percussive persuasion to push it out using an allen key against the bottom. An overnight soak in paint stripper, then a few hours in acetone (can you mix them for a dual action cleanser?) and things seem to have improved, although I could not see light through it without using a tiny drill bit. In any case, air extruding no longer has a distinct spurt to the side, it drops straight down.
The v4 that we got has a very tight nozzle fit, and removing it could damage the threads. I opted not to try it. However, being all metal (or metal and PTFE), you can just remove the heater and thermistor and soak the whole thing in solvent.
Once you have the extruder dismounted and unplugged, you can remove the heater and thermistor by releasing the set screw on the side. The thermistor came out fairly easily (the set screw does not affect the thermistor) but the heater seemed glued in by some plastic detritus from prints, and needed some percussive persuasion to push it out using an allen key against the bottom. An overnight soak in paint stripper, then a few hours in acetone (can you mix them for a dual action cleanser?) and things seem to have improved, although I could not see light through it without using a tiny drill bit. In any case, air extruding no longer has a distinct spurt to the side, it drops straight down.