Solved Jam/Clog Problem on R1+

Hello, all.

I did a normal PLA print on Sunday, which came out fine. I turned off the printer as usual and went my merry way. Yesterday, I turned on the printer, pre-heated the hotend and then went to change the filament to do another print...and can't get it out. I've tried a cold pull (going as high as 250 and then down to 140), but the filament is stuck fast.

First question is what is the best way to proceed to get the filament out of the printer? Most clog/jam suggestions seem to assume that I have already cleared the filament out. I tried extruding or retracting the filament, to no avail. I could cut it, obviously, but not sure if that's a wise way to go.

Second question: is the R1+ more sensitive to clogs/jams than other printers? I've had Printrbot Simple Metal for over a year and only had it clog after about 9 months of usage. I hadn't even heard of seasoning or an oiler until I got my R1+. Is an oiler the only way to prevent it from jamming or clogging regularly? Was I just lucky with the Printrbot? Did I do something wrong that caused this to happen? I would expect to be more careful with exotics, but this was just vanilla PLA.

Thanks.

 

To get your filament out of the printer you should be able to just heat up to temp then push down to manually extrude a bit (to be sure all is melted) then pull it out.

That "SHOULD" be the way to do it normally. However, it looks like you have something "special" going on.

Probably you have material where it doesn't usually belong and it can't get hot enough to flow. (test by manually pushing to extrude).

Personally, on the one and only machine I've ever owned (Robo 3D R1 +) I take off the nozzle (while hot).

Examine it with a bright light (sunlight in the window or a lamp) If I can see a nice round hole I call that part good and move on.

If I don't see a nice round hole I use a hand torch and burn out the material being careful not to over heat the nozzle or the tweezers I hold it with. A little bit of smoke and it's done. If it still is blocked I might try using a small wire to clean it out but personally, I just bought a pack of 5 replacement nozzles and I'd probably toss the bad one and move on with a new nozzle.

After the nozzle is dealt with, I return to the filament and with the heater still hot, I try pushing the filament down. Usually (in my short experience) a "glob" of filament will come out attached to soft or flowing material. Cut it off and pull out the filament.

If this doesn't work (no glob for example) I have resorted to cutting the filament off as close to the extruder (on top) as possible and use the small allen wrench that came with the machine to force the filament down. Once it moves it should be ok to use fresh filament to continue pushing it through. A couple of times I've resorted to a piece of wire the same size (or close) as the filament to press out stubborn globs.

Replace the nozzle while hot or let it cool to replace it then heat it up to tighten it.

Test by pushing filament through by hand.

I have read of fears of scratching things up with the wire. I have had no issues personally but it's always smart to listen to everyone.

 

Well, that just made things about 10 times worse, I reckon. I'm one step shy of just returning this thing. I'm beginning to think that this refurbished unit was a lemon. I just spent a frustrating hour finding the right tools to remove the nozzle to confirm there is no clog there. Yay! But now the hotend has no temperature register. The thermistor is still wired and connected, as far as I can tell. But now I still have a clog, but now the printer can no longer even detect the hot-end.

Any suggestions as to what to check for this? IF I can solve that problem, I 'll have to investigate completely breaking up the print head, I suppose, in the hopes of finding a way to get the filament out, though I'm not sure how I'm going to do that, yet. Even if the hot-end were still working, since the jam must be above it, how am going to get it out? Cold-pulls don't work and I'm getting super frustrated with this. At least with the Printrbot, I knew how to take it apart and put it back together.

Sorry, just venting. I really had high hopes for this printer.

 

Geof,
that's correct. It now lists the hotend temp as 0, which can only mean it isn't seeing the thermistor. The wires are still attached to the block and still connected, so I can only assume they've burnt out or something. Based on Mark's input, I guess I'll call Robo3D tomorrow and see if I can return or exchange. I've dealt with clogs and jams before, but nothing like with this printer in its first two weeks of ownership. Extrusion problems, micro-clogs and so on.

I still don't even know how/why the filament jammed in the first place. The fans are all running, I never printed above 210 degrees and the jam occurred using the filament provided to me by Robo. I had a few successful prints, but most were messed up by the microclogging. After I fixed that, I got two prints out of it before this happened.

Given how it worked when I first unboxed it, I'm amazed how quickly it all went bad. I didn't expect a turnkey experience, but I was hoping for a better experience than a kit machine I assembled, honestly. I'm just really disappointed that I've never gotten a solid print out of it since I printed the calibration circle.

 

Follow-up: I started up MC to see if it would give me anything different and it gave an error indicating that the extruder was switched off (and MINTEMP was triggered). I checked and again noted no missing connections or broken wire, but turned the block slightly and it now detects temperature again. Does that suggest the wires are faulty?

I still have a ruined hot-end, though, so I'll still look at calling Robo tomorrow.

 

It suggests that the thermistor has a short or loose wire somewhere. Make sure you press the connection ends together. They might be slightly loose. You could also have a loose wire going to the RAMPS board underneath. I would open it up and make sure the wires are on snug.

 

I believe I've cleared the clog, however, the extruder power problem returned. Depending on how the cable was sitting, it would either lose power to the extruder or reset (which made bringing it up to temperature..challenging). After putting the hot-end back on the printer, I lost power to the extruder again. While positioning the cables, one of the sheaths just fell off onto the bed, revealing the problem (as seen in the pic). Any suggestions on how to fix this wire?

Thanks.

 

Geof,
yeah, I just got an email from support and they're sending me a replacement part.

Thanks,
Dru.

 

I am having the same issue I am on my 3rd print head. I try to clear out the jam on the second one and the drill bit broke off inside removed the nozzle and was able to pull the bit out. I went to reassemble and the nozzle would not go back on at all. I finally got it to go in and it snapped off broke the thermistor in the process. I am using factory ends. This is getting very expensive. So replaced with the 3rd head got everything in properly and wired up. I inserted the filiment got the printer up to 225° loaded with PLA and it starts coming out the bottom so I figure I am ready to go. I start printing and half way through the print it starts printing in mid air and the print head appears to be clogged. I don't have any more print heads, and the filiment just seems to get stuck in the hot end and won't melt even though we are at 230°. I have tried upping the temp and the clog won't clear. I even tried pushing with the allen wrench as suggested and nothing pushes through. I am totally confused. Any help is welcome. I can't afford to buy another head or break another thirmister or mess up and break another nozzle. This is rediculouse. To top it off I have a copy of the print head on my thumb at 250° as a permanent reminder that this dam thing is clogged solid. Just pulling my hair out....

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk