Solved Printer not extruding, how do I go about cleaning out the nozzle?

Hey everyone, I'm really new to 3D printing, the Robo is my first and I've only had it for about a week. It's been pretty good so far, but yesterday it just stopped extruding and I'm not sure how to go about removing parts (or what parts to remove) and then cleaning them. I assume it's an issue with the nozzle being clogged or similar, because when I try to push the filament through manually (by turning the big gear clockwise) it doesn't go through and the filament ends up with what looks like a little hole dug into it (it's hard to see, so I attached a shitty paint illustration). I figure this is probably caused by the wheel (don't know what it's called) turning but not being able to make the filament go anywhere, so it digs a hole in the filament. So basically, how do I remove and clean the hotend/nozzle/whatever it is I need to remove and clean now. Thanks in advance for the help.

P.S. I'm using PLA, and I did try upping the temperature to like 240C and getting it to extrude then, but it hasn't been successful. I also tried sticking a small metal guitar string through the hole to see if that could get rid of the blockage but while the guitar string did get through the hole it's still not extruding (stuck the string through the hole while the extruder was at 240 btw, if that makes a difference).

 

I had the same problem. I took the hot end apart, inside there is a small plastic tube that the filament runs through. It had a hole in the side that the filament was getting caught on and not allowing the filament to flow through the nozzle. I trimmed the plastic tube and now it's working fine. Maybe take a look at that.

cheers,
John

 

Sarge's suggestion is for an older J-head, does not apply to newer Hexagon all metal hot ends.

Marks suggestions are good. If the fans not running it won't work well at all.

For cleaning the nozzle, some cleaning filament is a good investment. Otherwise I suggest heating up the all metal hot end to around 280 and pushing filament through till it flows smoothly.

 

Thanks for all the advice, I'm still having some issues but it's extruding and I have some ideas as to what to do to fix the issues I'm having now. If those don't work, I'll be sure to jump on here again for some more expert advice.

 

Hi,

the tools I use to clean nozzles hassle free >=0.4mm

E.g. Drills 0.4mm - with the nozzle installed and heated to 200 degree Celsius+++easy drill into the heated PLA/clogging and pull it out...

or unscrewed, using a pliers and hot air gun - same procedure as above.

Br,

Matthias

 

Guitar E string (.3mm) works great coming up through the nozzle. Got mine cleaned out lickety-split!

 

Can someone with the original hot end replace it with one of the newer hexagonal one?

 

I would assume so. Whatever hot end came with the original PLA only printer.

 

The E3D v6 hot end is nice. I have it and love it. I had the old J-Head out of the Kickstarter and was forced to replace it when the thing clogged.

 

If you keep spare PEEK tubes around and keep the temps down, those old heads are pretty nice.
I wonder if they're the same diameter as the typical PTFE tube. They can get hotter.

 

The E3Dv6 is the best hot end available right now.

http://community.robo3d.com/index.p...ormation-installation-guides-and-review.3407/