An hour and thirty minutes into my first print on that hot end after upgrading my TAZ4 I have a clogged hot end. I was printing with ABS at 233 C. Any tips on how to unclog the new hotend?
Also does anyone know a foolproof way to get the nozzle off without damaging the hot end? If I can carefully take the whole thing apart I will clean it that way.
Holy cow! I have had my TAZ5 for a week now and its been running almost constantly. I have run lots of ABS, PLA even a failed nylon (didn’t adhere to the bed) as well as some Flex EcoPLA and LayWood. Not one clog yet. I clean the tip pretty well with acetone after each print though. Maybe that’s keeping it happy.
MakerGeeks sells some fine wire (0.303mm) you could use to unclocg it.
http://www.makergeeks.com/exflsehounmu.html
I would look around for .30mm copper wire though. The MG wire is steel and I believe the nozzle is brass. Over many uses I suspect it would enlarge the extrusion tip hole. Copper is softer than brass so it wouldn’t have as great effect on it but its softer and would be harder to push through.
So I tried the trick of heating it up to about 230, letting it sit for about 10 mins, trying to extrude a few MM then cooling it to about 115 and pulling it out but it doesn’t seem to bit on the clog, I just end up pulling out the same amount I put in.
I had some people suggest putting the hot end in acetone overnight to clear it up. I guess I’ll have to try that.
You might try several “cold pulls.” Adjust that lower temp until the plastic pulls out of the nozzle. You will eventually see and impression of the internal nozzle cavity and, if you are really good (or lucky), you will see a little tip on the end where the plastic was poking through the orifice.
Seriously though, I had a slight obstruction a week ago on my E3D V6. I think it took between 10 and 15 pulls at progressively lower temps before all the plastic pulled out. You have to get it just right.
I have not had to cold pull the hexagon on my mini so YMMV.
Is this what I should see? I thought it might be it but it is still clogged.
I would keep lowering the temp and pulling. In my experience you won’t get much stringiness once you are at a low enough temp. The plastic will elongate a bit but won’t be stringy.
Cold pulls weren’t working so I heated the extruder up to 160c and took the nozzle off. There was a wad of plastic stuck in the nozzle so I used a small torch to clear it out. I have the nozzle sitting in some acetone, I’ll leave it there for a day or so.
Hi, all! I’m working with a Mini and the extruder seems to be clogged and pigtailing HIPS. I’ve tried heating it up to pull it out, then about 10 cold pulls at various temperatures, from about 140 to 190, but mostly around 160. I’ve heated up to 240, extruded, then cooled down to 160 and pulled it out, but nothing. I see a little tiny notch in the filament; could that indicate something lodged in there? How might I unscrew the nozzle without taking off the entire hotend?
Thanks!
