Filament Jam in Middle of Extruder
I received the MK2S kit a few weeks ago and have successfully printed 6 models with the included PLA - the Prusa logo, Buddy, Benchy, the gear bearing, a space shuttle, and a car.
After these, I went to print another gear bearing and it was going fine for a while. I came back a few hours later to see the LCD reading 100%, but the bearing was only half the height it should have been. It turned out that the drive gear (the one that pulls the filament down the extruder) had stripped the filament to the point where it couldn't catch on it anymore. I was able to remove this filament though.
I went to print the bearing another time, and the same thing happened. However, when I removed the filament, it broke right above the tube leading into the hotend. I tried pushing the filament down while the nozzle was heated, pushing it up through the nozzle with a guitar string (heated and not heated), but it just wouldn't budge.
I believe the reason for these jams is that I didn't have the y-idler screws tight enough. How do I unclog this printer?
Re: Filament Jam in Middle of Extruder
Try eating it a bit hotter and pushing from the nozzle side again.
Maybe even put a heat gun on the cooling fins to heat the area in the heat break (which is not supposed to get hot enough to melt the plastic, but if it does, it will cause a clog just like this one. If you heat that heat break (cooling fins) that should soften the clog enough to push it up from underneath.
Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage or loss. If you solve your problem, please post the solution…
Re: Filament Jam in Middle of Extruder
Hi aaron.s5,
Sorry I didn't get back to you until now. I just ended up disassembling my hotend and replacing the PTFE tube. There was a segment of filament running almost the whole entire length of the tube! Thankfully, my printer is back up and running now.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try your method, but thanks anyways.