Clogged nozzle

How often should you have to change out a nozzle on the Taz? Do they last forever?

I am having trouble with my machine, can’t get it to extrude at all. Tried all the usual techniques found here: https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/#clogged-extruder Any idea where to find the “precise instructions from the printer manufacturer” for clearing the nozzle?

The first question is dependent on type of filament printed with, layer height printed at, amount and frequency that outer nozzle surface is clean. For your second “No!” 8^)

Third question - No idea.

But if you find the end of the filament is getting heated enough to soften/melt, then try to pass a small (correct gauge)wire up the end of the nozzle to push any blockage into the softened plastic in the melt chamber that you can hopefully remove when you perform a cold pull of the filament.

Lulzbot recommends cold pulls to clear clogs…
https://www.lulzbot.com/unclogging-your-hot-end

Thanks. I have done cold pulls before, but didn’t have any explicit instructions, so this was helpful.

But the material coming back out of the nozzle does not look like what is shown. See attached. Has the older pulls at the top going to more recent at the bottom.

Doing the pull at 90 degrees instead of 100, then the very end of the pulled out filament looks more like the picture in the instructions.

And it appears to have cleared the clog! So fantastic.

It would be helpful if the instructions specified the brand of PLA since different formulas probably behave differently. The only PLA I have is PolyLite. Probably not what was used to create these instructions.