Clog in tubing
Good day everyone I was printing on my MK3S the other day and it stopped. I opened it up and noticed that there was a bad clog. I tried to do a cold pull but the filament broke. I then heated the hot end the pulled it out with a pair of pliers it broke even worse no i cant print and cant get the filament up or down through the extruder. No clue what to do at this point.
All suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciative.
RE: Clog in tubing
You have 2 options.
First step would be to heat it up to above printing temperature (so 260-280), loosen off the extruder door screw so that the door can open fully and then use a long 1.5mm allen key like the one you get with your printer or a length of brass or steel rod that is 1.5-1.6mm in diameter to push down on the filament from the top . This can often push the filament down and out the nozzle. Make sure the end of any poking implement/rod is rounded. Some people also prefer to remove the nozzle first before pushing down with the rod to make sure the inside of the nozzle is not damaged by the metal rod. I find if you are careful removal is not needed, as all I'm doing is pushing most of it down the ptfe tube. Once the top of the ptfe tube is clear you can continue pushing down with more filament instead of the rod/allan key. Once you have new filament feeding down you can proceed to do some cold pulls to make sure the nozzle interior is nice and clean before starting any new prints.
The second option if the first doesnt work is to disassemble the extruder to the point where you can remove the hot end and access the ptfe tube to remove it and clear it or replace it if needed. I hope you have spare tube ? Refer to the build manual steps for assembling the extruder to see how to take it apart.
RE: Clog in tubing
@neophyl
thank you so much for your help! i had to do about 4 cold pulls it was mess but it worked like normal after that.
RE: Clog in tubing
@phasma187
Glad to hear you have it all working again.