1. Got a question or need help troubleshooting? Post to the troubleshooting forum or Search the forums!

HELP! Filament won't load

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by aaronwstone, Aug 11, 2017.

  1. aaronwstone

    aaronwstone New Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2017
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    4
    ive tried everything i can think of to get filament to load. It's PLA from ROBO and it was printing and just stopped. See image for how far i can load it.
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 aaronwstone, Aug 11, 2017
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    I am guessing (your picture is not entirely clear what is happening) that it is not feeding into the hotend?
    You may have filament broken off in there or a clog.
     
    #2 mark tomlinson, Aug 11, 2017
  3. aaronwstone

    aaronwstone New Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2017
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    4
    Yeah it won't pass that one spot. How would I go about clearing that out? Get it hot and force some wire through it?

    This will sound dumb (I'm new) but it works like a hot glue gun right? Filament is pushed through as the new filament is forced into the hot end.
     
    #3 aaronwstone, Aug 11, 2017
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    #4 mark tomlinson, Aug 11, 2017
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    You can remove the hotend and do some disassembly of it to remove clogged filament, but it is a bit of a pain and requires caution since some of it (the hotend disassembly not the removal from the extruder) needs to be done hot.

    You may get lucky and be able to pull the old filament out once you remove the hotend from the extruder and that is not too bad.
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, Aug 11, 2017
  6. John Wohlfeil

    John Wohlfeil Member

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2017
    Messages:
    38
    Likes Received:
    15
    I need help with this. I have a piece stuck down in my hotted and I can't push it through. I did loosen the screw on the front and the whole nozzle dropped out. I can see the dried PLA stuck in there.
     
    #6 John Wohlfeil, Nov 25, 2017
  7. Rod Smith

    Rod Smith Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2017
    Messages:
    87
    Likes Received:
    33
    If enough of the filament is protruding to get a grip on it with needle-nose pliers, try heating the hotend using your software, then pull the filament out. (You'll need a second tool to hold the hotend without burning yourself.)
     
    #7 Rod Smith, Nov 25, 2017
  8. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2015
    Messages:
    5,905
    Likes Received:
    3,593
    As I mentioned in the other thread, a handheld torch and burn out the filament. PLA will completely liquefy with high heat and just drip out or burn away.
     
    #8 WheresWaldo, Nov 25, 2017

Share This Page