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Partial Answer I have to unclog the extruder just about every time I change the filament.

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Jerry Normandin, Feb 3, 2018.

  1. Jerry Normandin

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    I am printing a r/c control airplane. I am using 4 different colors of filament. I started with my black parts. When done I heated up the extruder to 210, turned the motors off, proceeded to turn the extruder drive gear to retract the filament. Just about the entire filament was out, then stopped and was stuck. I cut the filament at the extruder, made sure the extruder was still hot , it was 212.
    I turned the extruder gear to manually extruder the remaining filament. Filamement extruded out . When done I swapped black filament for silver. I loaded the filament and proceeded to turn the extruder manually to extrude. The filament was loading but never extruded and I could no longer tirn the extruder gear. The extruder was clogged. I removed the two screws on the extruder and used a 1.5mm Allen key to plunge the extruder.
    The clogged filament extruded out.
    I was able to load the silver filament and print my silver parts.
    When done I proceed to swap out the silver filament fo orange.
    The filament loaded and printed fine. When done it was time to swap out for white filament. I made sure the hotend was still hot and enabled..it was 212 ... I took the same steps as I did earlier... Clogged again.


    I build a lot of multi color prints. What can I do to prevent the clogged extruder I get during filament changes ?
     
  2. supercazzola

    supercazzola Active Member

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    What I do is heat the hotend to 230, then release the tension against the extruder gear, and manually push the filament down, followed by a rapid pull up once the filament had come out of the hotend. Then I use eSun cleaning filament, and push it through in a similar fashion.
    Once it starts to exit, I use the motor control to extrude 100mm of cleaning filament. When done, I remove the cleaning filament (hot end still heated to 230). Then I load the new filament in the same way, with the tension off the gear. I manually push out about 20mm of filament, and then set the unit to cool down (if it is going to be a while) or drop the temp back to 190-200 and start the next job.



    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    and bear in mind that two spools of the same filament might not have the same sweet spot for printing and two different colors?
    Same deal.
     
  4. Jerry Normandin

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    I know. I am not a 3dprinter newbie. I use the temperature reference on the filament print spool as a guide. Not only every brand is different, every color is different too.

    It's not no normal to clog every time I change the color, that's why I thought possibly what I've been doing isn't right for the robo.

    I'm going to try just heating the extruder up at a higher temperature before I remove the filament.


    I think my older spools of filament are getting brittle. Possibly the end is breaking off when I remove the filament and change.
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    ABS and PLA do that as they absorb moisture from the air. We call that getting 'wet'. Wet PLA or ABS gets more difficult to deal with.

    (wet nylon can be impossible to print)
     
  6. Jerry Normandin

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    Thanks. I didn't think it was the printer. I have some spools of filament that are partially used and we're open 7months ago.
    I didn't print much with my Wanhao because l had to manually level the bed before every print. The power supply must have been too small because it took 10 minutes to heat up to 212c. Motors were sloppy...

    I tend to be using more filament now that I have a printer that works great.
     
    #6 Jerry Normandin, Feb 4, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2018
  7. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    you can always dry them out in an oven (be careful ) and dont use the kitchen oven :D A countertop one. A food dehydrator or on the cheap just get some desicant throw it in a big zip loc bag, put the spool in it, seal it and wait a few days/weeks :D
     

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