Guys, do I need to buy another extruder?
So, I got my i3 MK3 not too long ago, set it up and everything was printing great for awhile. Then one day while unloading some PLA plastic, the filament started to grind against one of the gears, I must've not tightened the gear enough or something, but in order to remove the filament I needed to pull it upwards ever so slightly, but it was enough to snap itself off inside the extruder, (below the turning extruding gears, inside the tube that feeds into the hot end)
It's kinda hard to see, but I took one of the extruder side panels off so you can have a better look
https://imgur.com/zBtNWJ0
I've tried all I can think of, trying to poke it upwards through the extruder, push down on it with the smallest Allen wrench to extrude itself while loading, but nothing has worked and it's stayed put inside the feeder tube. Any ideas or is this thing a goner?
Re: Guys, do I need to buy another extruder?
I don't have my MK3 yet so I am not completely sure how the assembly is for the hot end works out but there are 2 options I can think of off the top of my head. First one I would pre heat the hot end and attempt to push another piece of filament through and see if you cant force that piece out by just extruding it. Another option though I don't know how the hot end is designed but you should be able to remove the nozzle and then pull the piece of material out that end and then reseat the nozzle back. As long as the nozzle isn't completely clogged in theory you should just be able to manually push it out with another filament I would just leave that panel off like how you got it now in that screen shot heat it up and then push the material through and then just put the panel back on and retighten everything.
Re: Guys, do I need to buy another extruder?
Definitely not a goner if the only problem is a bit of stuck filament in the extruder. It may take some work to get it out, but it should be doable. Here's some things to try:
I'm sure others will have additional suggestions. This will not be the last time this happens to you.
Re: Guys, do I need to buy another extruder?
Hey you guys, I know you probably won't read this but thanks for the replies and tips!
With some pliers, a little precision and a lot of patience I was able to remove the blocked filament without taking absolutely everything apart, so thank you!
Happy printing
Re: Guys, do I need to buy another extruder?
Good going. I would think you would be able to "Pre-heat " the nozzle to the temp of the filament "PLA, PETG whatever" and push it out. In the early days the "Unload Filament" did not work at all for me and I would break filament off trying to pull it out and then just preheat the nozzle and load new filament in right top of the break. If you back off the feeder and loosing the clamp you can put filament through a hot nozzle. Now the Unload works I don't have as many issues with filament being stuck in there.