Solved Manufacturer's Instructions for Changing filament

Hi everyone,

So I've had my R1+Plus for about a month now and have printed numerous items, some crappy, some not, but I've had the same issue since day one. Every time I try to change the filament, I end up having to disassemble the print head to manually remove about 1.5" of the previous filament. The manual that came with the printer does not address changing filaments at all. Seems to me it would be a pretty important part to include, but I digress.

I've Googled, searched YouTube, etc. but have not been able to find a simple instruction for how to do this. All I can find is videos about printing quick change mechanisms. Ok fine - I'll download and print one sometime but for now, I just want to know what the recommended procedure is to change filaments with the standard setup. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

Yeah Shane, not sure what others do as I'm sure there are many tricks but I do a similar thing as Mark. My routine is: I center to home then raise nozzle off bed about 50 or more. I heat up just the nozzle to 210 and wait till it reaches temp. I look for to begin to ooze some filament. If it doesn't within a minute or less after reaching temp that's ok too, I will just give it a bit of manual help. I loosen the spring loaded screws and while holding back the lever, I manually with steady yet gentle varying pressure feed the filament in until i cause to extrude as if it were printing. If it had oozed on its own to begin with I manually feed it more gently and if there was no oozing at reaching temp then I use a bit more force to get it to extrude manually. I push enough through until it looks smooth... Usually an inch or two. I then remove the spring screws and open the hinge. I feed a slight bit more and then quickly reverse from feed push to extraction pulling of the entire filament strand out swiftly. Next I insert my new filament and again manually feed with careful steady pressure until I pushed an inch or two through at a speed to let it melt as if printing. If it was a color change, i manually feed until I pushed out all the previous color and see the new color come out. I reinsert spring screws loosely and again hold open hinge while checking that I can still manually feed a bit more and if so I try turning the gears to see if they will take over the extruding as I dial it. If so tighten screws and move on. If not I may repeat or keep feeding manually a bit more or play with screw tension. Look up seasoning your extruder nozzle too. I dip the end of every filament change into one of those travelers sized shampoo bottles I filled with canola oil before the mentioned process. Filament fits perfectly into the little opening of the flip cap kind. I found it to work perfect. Your hands may get slippery from the oil. Try to grip like a pen higher up to stay oil free. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL! Nozzle is hot remember! Don't get burned hand or fingers! Be sure you grounded yourself before beginning too! I am new to printing but this routine was taught to me by a veteran printer and it continues to work very well for me. Good luck and happy printing!


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Thanks a lot guys. I hadn't considered loosening the screws before. I'll give that a try. Appreciate the feedback!

 

I've been having the same problem....searched EVERYWHERE and couldn't find anything. I hadn't thought of loosening the screws either, I always end up smashing my hand on the hood of my printer because I'm pulling so hard. I'll do the canola oil trick too. I've seen the 'oilers' on thingiverse, do you use that or just dip the first inch or so on each filament change?

 

I preheat to the proper temp for what I am printing then extrude some filament first then I start the removing the filament by turning the gear manually. Only had two do what Mark does twice before I started doing this and I have not had any problem since.

 

Some people use the oilers. I just dip the first few inches into some oil every change. Maybe if you print a lot try the oiler. Not sure if that's personal preference or not.


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