Clogged filament

Ask the MakerGear community for assistance...
jbrodzz
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:37 pm

Clogged filament

Post by jbrodzz » Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:20 pm

There is a mixture of ABS and PLA clogged somewhere in the Bottom Filament Path (possibly below that). I tried to push it through with a piece of PLA and with an Alan wrench. It won't budge. I don't see a solution. Thanks a lot.

jbrodzz
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:37 pm

Re: Clogged filament

Post by jbrodzz » Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:21 pm


Dale Reed
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:39 am
Location: Cleveland Heights, Ohio USA

Re: Clogged filament

Post by Dale Reed » Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:08 am

jbrodzz,

When everything is cooled down, remove the fans (unscrew the upper fan at the upper left corner). Watch for falling washers and such! Then see if you can slide the hot end assembly out the front of the filament drive. Also, once you have the fans off, two more hex-head screws remove the filament drive from the front of the extruder stepper motor. Then you can see if you've got filament wrapped around the drive gear (clean the gear off anyway) and see if you can get some fine needle-nose pliers to pull up any remaining filament in the bottom of the filament drive (if it's sticking up out of there).

With the hot end off the filament drive, you can hold it with some pliers, carefully heat it up to about 200C (I wouldn't go much higher in the first shot because you don't have any cooling on the black PEEK insulator at this point), then slowly raise the temperature a few degrees at a time and see if you can push filament through by hand. If not, you might have to let things cool down, then unscrew the brass nozzle and tube from the PEEK / PETE insulator, then use a couple M6 nuts jammed on the brass tube and unscrew the nozzle, then clean up the parts individually.

But wait and see what others here recommend for cleaning the clog before you go taking things apart -- especially if you're not 100% comfortable with that!!! jimc and jsc and others have been through enough clogs that they have the toolkit and solvents for these things all figured out. Get a consensus from a bunch of us!

I feel for you, man. I have at least one nozzle laying around here somewhere that I've given up on......

Also doesn't hurt to have a spare hot end and filament drive, especially if you depend on the M2 for business purposes.
Dale

jbrodzz
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:37 pm

Re: Clogged filament

Post by jbrodzz » Wed Jul 16, 2014 4:42 pm

Dale,

Here is a picture of where the clog is: at the top of the threaded screw is where it is most visible. Thanks a lot for your time.

jsc
Posts: 1864
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 4:00 am

Re: Clogged filament

Post by jsc » Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:02 pm

No picture attached.

Have a look at my recent thread on clearing my first clog: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=732
In particular, the linked page on the wiki for extruder assembly is very helpful, with pictures. Just follow it in reverse order to disassemble.

User avatar
Capt. John
Posts: 271
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:48 pm
Location: Manistee, MI
Contact:

Re: Clogged filament

Post by Capt. John » Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:16 pm

Remove v3b from the drive, heat to 250, hold with top plastic part plyers with taped jaws firmly, take a non twist end of drill the
same size as the filament hole and push being extra careful not to burn yourself.

Seen stuff fly and spit out of the nozzle like fireworks when it finally broke loose with a lot of steam.
Clog was a glow filament purchased off Amazon the was sent back.

I have 3 hot ends and a complete extruder drive ready to swap out asap.
Stock drives can be swapped out without messing/resetting with the nozzle to the bed clearance.
rsilver drive causes clearance changes and nozzle to bed clearance needs to be reset.
Capt. John
Manistee, Michigan
Reel Amateur at 3D printing
Fishing Tackle Manufacturer & Webmaster for:
http://www.michiganangler.com
http://www.michigansportsman.com

BigBadBry
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:25 pm

Re: Clogged filament

Post by BigBadBry » Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:39 pm

anyone here ever try using that cleaner filament sold by interservo? I wonder if it really helps or just add to mix in to the clog itself?


Ive got a PETG clog myself now, just cant seem to get a steady run to save my life.

Bratag
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:33 am

Re: Clogged filament

Post by Bratag » Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:27 pm

Fairly sure insta advocates the blowtorch method. I know he does a lot of printing. Perhaps he could chime in.

I use the cleaner filament now every couple of prints of the same material - and every time I switch between types. Does seem to drag out some of the crap. YMMV

User avatar
insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: Clogged filament

Post by insta » Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:41 pm

Bratag wrote:Fairly sure insta advocates the blowtorch method. I know he does a lot of printing. Perhaps he could chime in.

I use the cleaner filament now every couple of prints of the same material - and every time I switch between types. Does seem to drag out some of the crap. YMMV
The blowtorch is a last-ditch effort to save a nozzle that you've already written off with any other method. I don't advocate it very often because of reports of people blowtorching the thing while it's in the PEEK holder. You also have to completely disassemble the hotend, and many people are unfamiliar with using jam nuts (I've also ruined my fair share of brass barrels with jam nuts, too).

All that said, I have 3 nozzles in a pile waiting for the torch. There's a reason I collect the V3b's from people who are moving to V4s or E3Ds :)
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

jsc
Posts: 1864
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 4:00 am

Re: Clogged filament

Post by jsc » Mon Apr 13, 2015 11:27 pm

What is the proper guitar string for sticking up the nozzle again?

Post Reply