Re: Oh no! Problem ejecting filament
This is beyond frustrating. I bought and installed a new hot end. I printed several things just fine with the Prusa PLA filament that came with the printer. This morning, I tried to unload the filament in order to print with PETG.
I preheated to the extruder to the built in PLA settings. I gave it a good 10-15 minutes to make sure the temperature was stable.
I attempted to unload the filament using the control panel.
The machine ejected about 2 inches of the filament while I gently pulled on it. It did not eject completely and I'm right back where I was at the beginning of this thread. I cannot get the filament all the way out. I cannot get the machine to reload the filament that's stuck in the extruder.
I even tried heating up to the ABS temperature and I still cannot unload or reload the confounded filament.
I'm running out of polite words here. So bummed....
Re: Oh no! Problem ejecting filament
Have you tried loosening the bondtech gears and pulling a bit on the filament? At times I have to use a bit of force to pull it out. Not much, but slow steady force usually works.
Re: Oh no! Problem ejecting filament
I even tried heating up to the ABS temperature and I still cannot unload or reload the confounded filament.
I'm running out of polite words here. So bummed....
The hotend might not be assembled correctly, but in the mean time, you can just feed a bit of filament forward first, which should melt the blob on the end (if that's what is happening which was my case), it doesn't take much, then you should be able to unload. You can feed filament forward using the E axis, just like you might move any other axis manually.
Re: Oh no! Problem ejecting filament
The hotend might not be assembled correctly, but in the mean time, you can just feed a bit of filament forward first, which should melt the blob on the end (if that's what is happening which was my case), it doesn't take much, then you should be able to unload. You can feed filament forward using the E axis, just like you might move any other axis manually.
Yes, this works for me and I do it every time now. I'm not sure if my hotend isn't assembled properly or if there's a fundamental design flaw somewhere, but if I just heat up the hotend and then try to unload the filament directly, it will almost always have a blob on the end that prevents me from actually removing the filament. It gets hung up on the inside somewhere. If I add a step to just extrude about 10mm of filament first, then unload, it unloads cleanly with absolutely no problems. I wish I didn't have to do that extra step but it's a pretty effective (if annoying) workaround.
The mechanism for doing this is under Settings | Move Axis, if I recall correctly from memory. Scroll down to find the E axis and rotate the control knob to +10.0 mm.
Re: Oh no! Problem ejecting filament
... Or load filament and then unload.
It uses a bit more filament, but you don't have to remember where the setting is.
Re: Oh no! Problem ejecting filament
Clockwise vs counterclockwise - and you have to remember you are inverted here.
You can order a new E3D V6-175-400 nozzle from Amazon, and not that expensive. Under $10.
The heat break is probably still good, as is the heater block. But care needs to be taken removing the broken nozzle. Best to disassemble the hot end from the extruder plastic mounts per removal instructions.
Using a reverse tap screw remover, hold the heater block with a solid wrench, do NOT try holding the heatsink - and unscrew the brass. You may need to drill into the brass a little to get a bite with the removal tool - but the plastic is soft. Be careful to not break any wires.
Once you have the broken nozzle out, you can clean out any plastic, then install the new nozzle. But yo still need to follow the the nozzle replacement instructions where you heat the nozzle to 275 or so and then tighten. By the way, you also need to heat to 275 to remove the nozzle, or it breaks something.