you can continue from the last layer but you need to find it in the gcode and delete everything befire that, just make sure the printer doesn't lose the position
I use guitar wire; The thinnest wire is stiff enough to push up into a blocked nozzle. I also feed it in through the bowden and use the ribbed section of the wire to catch hold of molten plastic blockage and pull it out as it cools then I pull or snip off the wire blob and start again. Works for me although I'll try your Stare Down Technique if I run out of strings.
As folks mentioned previously, a non-wound guitar string works well in place of a needle. A guitar string size 013 (.013") = .330mm, fits a .4mm nozzle well without been too flexible.
Also try to avoid doing what I just did and don't knock over your cup spilling acetone over your entire desk while following along the video on your computer.
Pull on filament as the hot end is heating to remove dirt and clip off end, add a very thin coat of olive oil to 1" of end of filament before re-inserting. Force 150mm of filament through once heated. has always worked for me.
I personally take a little fire torch and melt the platic inside until there is nothing left. Always worked for me! I'm relatively new to the hobby tho but it's awesome. I'm an Engineering student so while I suffer in school, I use my printer to feel better haha.
thanks for the tips on how to keep the nozzles clear. I had one clog, again I assume it was because I used really cheap filament. I was going to spend time cleaning the nozzle only to find that amazon sells 36 nozzles(for the ender 3) for $10 CAD... approx 28 cents each... so I went that route. Again appreciate this video....
I have a piece of sponge to clean my filament, I also put a zip-tie around it to make it wipe a bit better and I have a piece of drinking straw to keep it a bit away from my extruder. Another preventive measure I practice is to cold pull my filament as often as possible when changing filament. Since doing these things and throwing away the really cheap and bad filament i had there has been no blocking issues for me.
I'm doing cold pull with a Nylon pretty much once a week. Not because of the clog but to keep my nozzle clean for better print quality. Surprisingly there's alway some gunk inside even though I have clean environment and use good quality filament.
Just used your technique to clear the hotend and it worked LIKE A CHARM! Thanks so much for the very clear instructions! I also ordered the nozzle/hotend cleaning kit you described, so I have more needles on hand.
I thought “the stair down” was when the printer flies from Upper floor to ground floor on its own after overly frustrating it owner. Boy was I mistaken about that definition!
Thomas, Thanx again! Subtitle Translation into Russian is accessible. It was also - my first on TH-cam, thanks to You, just because: 1. this particular maintenance IS very painful and usually unexpected to ANY 3D-newcomer, 2. it could happen to anyone owning a 3D-printer, 3. You personally deserved it ;-) Keep it Up!
I used a welding flame to heat the nozzle. That evaporated and melted the material but did not damage the nozzle in any way. Other flames will work too. The melting temps of nozzles are high anyway.
Thanks so much!! I just received my first 3D printer today, a Neptune 3 Pro, and your tip helped me clean out the nozzle's factory-test goo. My first print is printing right now, and the little Buddha/Budai is turning out beautifully.
Looking around for a thin enough needle, I found the lancets used for blood tests are the right size for a .04 nozzle. Worked for me, cleared the jam. :)
I had what seemed to be a clog nozzle that turned out to be caused by a fractured solder joint on the small pbc in the extruder head assembly of my FlashForge Finder. The fracture caused a resistance that lowered the current to the heater, which varied the wattage. The LCD does not show the temperature status once the print starts, so you have no idea the temp has dropped the melting point needed to push the filament out the nozzle. Thanks for the quality videos and content.
When I change my nozzles I do hot swaps then while it’s cooling I use tweezers or a needle you’ll get a strand and it’ll pull a lot of filament out I also use a micro torch if I let it cool too much
5:19 - "Check the teflon liner inside the hotend". How do I do this without cutting it in half like you did? All I can see is the bottom once I take the nozzle off and it looks ok, but I have no way of seeing the inside.
It works well with a soldering kit. Just lower the temperature a bit so that it is between 200 and 240C. The PLA melts and you can just clean the nozzle easily. AP
Thanks a lot, I was able to successful get rid of my first clog by a combination of needle and cold pulling. The last pull I saw a black fragment in the filament and I knew it worked. Printing as I write! p.s what people say about glowing filament is completely true! Be prepared for numerous clogs!
I have had very few clogs in the last two years, one bit of advice I learnt was to cool down the hotend to 45c before turning off the printer I believe this has helped a lot in not getting clogs
The cold pull cleared my nozzle. There was some white material that came out with the filament. I did it two more times just to make it extra clean. Thanks.
This video still is one of the best to target simple solutions. Just did two "cold" pulls per your suggested steps and voila, back up and running. Thanks
I like the option of the "stare-down by a real engineer" ... you should offer this as a service! Anyway, the video gave me the confidence to get my printer going again in mere minutes. BTW: tool tip - the BIONIC WRENCH (AKA the Loggerhead) is a great way to hold hexagonal nozzles while heating them up and getting the goo out. The thermal mass of the jaws distributes and stores the heat so you can work longer w/o re-heating...
If you do a lot of 3d printing, I highly recommend finding a source of dichloromethane/methylene chloride for dissolving PLA. It does a /very/ good job even if it's a little nasty(No more than any other 'strong' solvent) and you need to take care not to dissolve the contained or seals of the container your using. It's also good at dissolving mixed plastic clogs. (I distill it from paint stripper using some pretty sketchy equipment outdoors but in other countries you might be able to just buy it.)
Hi, Thomas and all who see this comment! :) This video is still very actual as I see :) If I'm not sure that the nozzle is (self-)cleaned well then should I try a cold method? I've calibrated the extruder (actually that was about 0.5-1.0 over-extrusion so it doesn't seem to be a role player) but some layers still has under-extruded quality. Probably I'll try to revert to the stock firmware (without S-Curve... basically it's nothing more there left from the last time I've changed something) and print something that will use a lot of retracts (and set it to 6.0 as recommended for Volcano). My next guess is that I have a heat creep... But it's all of a sudden practically (or I've didn't noticed some signs before...). This can only mean that this Volcano (in Tevo's printer) is fake. Another guess is that I need to print this PLA with 215-220C (currently is 210) because it wasn't even extruding from the nozzle on 200! Seems like it was underheated. But then I need to drop speed to 35-40 or it will not be cooled down as fast as needed. Or to print and make the Petsfang assembly (with a better fan). Don't want to do this yet (need to investigate better).
Thank you for the tips. I common sensed most of this on my own a few days ago, but it’s great to get confirmation that I was doing it correctly. Also, I did not know that needle was for cleaning the nozzle. I suspected it but when it didn’t fit initially I went on to other methods.
At the end of every print, on my Ender 5 S1, I leave the filament in and let it cool to about 50°c and then do a cold pull. This also works when I'm using PLA and I generally get a full imprint of the nozzle interior.
pretty new to 3D printing, but I already replaced the bowden tube on my Renkforce Basic 3 hoping it would fix the underextrusion issue, had to reprint a threaded rod for a scissor lift because the old one was too small, I scaled it up by 1% not accountng for the new bowden tube and now it's a very snug fit, had to thred it on and off once with the help of some pliers, but it works now. guess a cheap PVC hose with 3mm inner diameter causes some issues compared to an actual bowden tube
I tried the blowtorch method once and managed to mess up the nozzle since I was a noob back then and didn't know any better. It's surprisingly easy to melt and deform a brass nozzle. Next time I end up with a nozzle clogged to the point where it requires a blowtorch to clean, I'll just get a new nozzle.
Why blow torch? A tiny little 3€ turbo lighter i got from a convenience store worked for me to burn out a nozzle, and it doesn't get THAT hot that it would melt brass. I mean there's a brass insert in the lighter nozzle, and it wouldn't burn ITSELF up. I also did it over the sink with dripping water to regularly cool down the pliers, i don't want them to get too hot either.
Tom, love all your videos. I found stuff call FLOSS filament that cleans your bowben tube and nozzle. I am not sure how I got a cloged nozzle so quickly. Maybe I am just trying to push PETG through my nozzle to quickly. I was trying 100mm/s at .3 layer height. This worked for a couple of decent sized prints. The first symptom was that my first layer was not sticking. My first layer sticks all the time. Then my Titant bowben extruder wouldn't push the filament through the hotend. Previously I had the filament break off. And shortly after I replaced the Bowden Tube. All the above happened. But I still love my Tevo Tornado.
So I experienced wobbles in the walls of my print, time after time no matter what settings I changed. It seemed to be clogging was the problem after all. That nozzle heating and pull out strategy worked nicely. The wobble artifacts instantly disappeared afther this cleanup. Thanks!
tHANKYOU! heating up the hot end and sticking a pin in got all the jammed old filament out! I was dreading having to take the nozzle out and not being able to put it together again!
Very awesome channel. When I'm staying up all night working making 3d merch, I watch. Helpful because it just came on when I was switching out nozzles. First time, good to hear more about it.
Goodday Mr. Sanladerer, I am new into 3D printers, i just got Tronxy few days ago. I have discovered when i excute print button in Repetier-Host, i have discovered that the Bowden extruder feeds reverse, and at the same time the nozzle and hotend drops in temperature so the filament i pushed trough has clogged. What is wrong? can you help me out of this mess?
So i had the clog of hell. Used amolen, silk dual color. The clog happened at a certain point every time. I did tons of small cleaning and extrusion tests. And eventually i learned that the speed you run this type of silk filament at is always gonna clog the nozzle at higher speeds. You can compensate with higher temps, but the speed itself matters the most. Max ought to be like 45 but their document say 40. I litterally went and took a piece in and out fast and slow. Smashed it in to force-extrude fast. It always failed when i went fast, but the eureka moment was when i let it pass trough slowly. So this better work, stellar video regardless. Whatever excess grime my extruder had, now ought to be gone 👏
G'day m8...i just got my Ender 3 V2. It has worked flawlessly for a week, but videos like this is really good info for a newby like me! So i know if i have filament issues, ive got the knowledge to fix it...cheers m8 from friendly Downunder!!
I have only had one clog so far when I went from PETG tp PLA. I tried the cold pull, but it did not work for me. I am not sure if it is because I have direct drive or I just did not know how to do it properly. So, I used the needle method. That worked great though I had run it up and down through the nozzle 5 or 6 times before the filament starting coming out the way it should.
Thanks for explaining the atomic method. Not sure I have a blocked nozzle, but at certain points on my first layer brim, the sudden direction change makes my nozzle pull the filament it just laid back up and wrap itself all round the nozzle. It's always the same direction. I put a lighter to the nozzle and it is adhering now after many many print attempts and too much money spent on the swear jar. I'm using the Geetech Superplate which has been great for the first week, but it's refusing to stick at all sometimes on certain patches and it's like the nozzle just wants to drag the filament along.
Just ran into this kind of problem: Anet A8 nozzle ejecting very low material. It wasn't a coggled nozzle. Turns out the cog attached to the extruder motor loosed itself from the motor shaft, so the extruder wasn't able to pull the filament. It's worth a check, and it's a easy fix!!!
I usually put the nozzle in my stove open flame for some minutes. PLA will turn into black dust and auto unclog. Very efficient. Don't know if works with other types of filament.
I changed filament from kcamel black PLA to eSun PLA+ and after 24 hours both my Ender 3:s completely clogged. Never happened with the kcamel PLA, which was cheaper. I did adjust the heater block temp as recommended before starting the print with the new filament. Could simply the change between filament brands have caused the total clogs in the nozzle? I was going from a lower to a higher extrusion temp, so I don’t really know what happened. Thinking I maybe best off with replacing the extruder nozzle, as I have spares. What would you suggest?
How did you change Marlin to show three filaments preheat? I have looked for away to do this and can’t find how to do this. Thanks for any help you can provided.
i just heat nozzle and manually push afew inches of filament through...if that does otwork remove nozzle while its hot and replace after making sure the hot end is cleaned...
5:47 Enclosed airbubbles can be totally indistinguishable from steelballs, and I've seen this reported only once. So I'm not sure if this shouldn't be shelved into the myth section.
I did it with the compressor pistol, heating up the nozzle and then pressing the filament out (from tip site) by air pressure... works fine for me. Actually, it was my mistake, was printing steel filament with a 0.4 nozzle while 0.6 was recommended by manufacturer :-)
I have had my titanium tip E3D nozzle for over 1 and a half years now and my ender 3 s1 started to have dificulty pushing filament trough now i found out its completly clogged up so i probably have to use the acetone method to get it all dissolved inside. as the needle and cold pull method did nothing to unclog it and i have some brass ones in case of emergency and its working fine. Thank you for the tips!
5:24 I think that's my issue: the teflon lining inside my extruder module seems to have plastic stuck inside. I was able to unclog it using acetone, but the inside diameter still has a black layer, meaning it either overheated or still has ABS which I cannot remove, even with acetone. To make things worse, that lining is slimmer than the teflon tube used to feed the filament to my extruder module. As far as I know, the feeding teflon tube is 2mm x 4mm (interior/exterior), but the lining seems more like 2mm x 3mm. Anyone able to help?
Thank you. I tried to load TPU95A (whatever that means) for the first time, and couldn't get an extrusion so I was afraid my nozzle clogged. Tried to unload it, couldn't, so I thought the entire hotend got clogged for sure. Watched the first 4 minutes of this video, then tried the pin - it went through easily, so I continued to pull the TPU out (with the nozzle still hot, and it did clear out, without even a melted mess at the end. I guess the material is just so flexible it is hard to load...
I'm still like to start with using micro-drillbits to quickly clear clogs or twisting extrusion, b/c the twisted-fluting helps to pull the debris out,, as opposed to just jamming it in farther with a wire or needle. BUT, yes, you have to be very careful, as they break quite easily, and an immediate extrusion is needed to get the broken tip out of there. If you have an assortment-set, they are also handy for gauging the actual diameter of nozzles that have been used to extrude coarse filaments,, and a quick slicer change can help dial that problem back in to a proper flow-rate. I would also bring up the use of Canola Oil, for prevention,, but this is enough controversy for one comment post :)
The other problem being that a drill bit has cutting edges that can easily cut brass and altering your orifice geometry. It's a bad idea to use them as pin gauges for similar reasons. Even the back end might be pretty sharp and scar the orifice or remove material.
That worked for me. Oddly before the blockage, the filament looked like it was liquefied and bubbling at the tip when I pushed it through. Anyhow, clear nozzle and printing now.
Could you maybe update this to methods used for the Nextruder nozzles? I have a Obxidian 0.4 netruder nozzle blocked with broken off filament in the top of the heatbreak. Dont wanna ruin it trying to overheat it or something :)
The Nextruder nozzles should be just as robust as classic v6 nozzles, the only thing I could think of is that when you do heat them up outside the printer, try and do it evenly and gradually.
yeah was looking all over for someone to explain the print becoming qriggly just after exiting nozzle, this is the first guy i found mentioning this. and only as a list of things what could be wrong. gonna check if it is some particle in it that is not supposed to be there now.
I have a spare Chinesium heatblock and 24V heat cartridge clamped in a small vice to attach nozzles to for maintenance, run off an old laptop charger that output 19V. It doesn't stop heating at any particular temperature but I could devote an Arduino with a PID sketch to the cause some time.
First clog. O.o Sigh, where did I put my needle? I do not think a cold pull would even work. It seems completely clogged, and there is a small bit of the stuck pla still sticking out just at the fillament pull thingy.
Add 10 wt Silicone oil to the port where you feed filament to,heat up the hot end to 270 °C and wait for the clog to heat up,then push hard with another piece of filament (I use white PLA so I can't if the nozzle is still dirty) , use glasses so you don't get hurt, the oil will quickly evaporate once it reaches the end of the nozzle.
nice video, thank you. If I have to go the acetone route and the hotend has a nylon sheath with filament stuck inside, will the chemical hurt the nylon?
Hi Thomas, honestly is it worth it? Nozzles are extremely cheap, approx. 12 Euro for 25 pcs. Even good nozzles are not that expensive.... Is the cleaning time really worth it? Quickly put a new nozzle on the hotend and you are done.... Printing since many, many years now and the 2 or 3 times I had nozzle clogging I just put a new nozzle on and everything is fine. Anyway, love your videos, thanks!
Hey Thomas, It never happened to me. I think if it regularly occurs then I would recommend to not use that specific filament and replace the nozzle. What do you think?
If the filament is stuck in the ptfe and you cant get it out, try heating it up and push it through (you can just use a lighter and push with other filament)
Great helpful video is very much appreciated! My favorite nozzle cleaning tool is a small section of a bamboo cooking skewer, like used for cooking on a charcoal grill. It is great for digging out gunk from a nozzle, heat resistant so works well with a heat gun. End can be cut clean or ragged to make it a precise pointed scraper or a bristled stiff brush. Can be put into a drill easily or dremel, less easily, to spin it and really clean out a nozzle nicely. May deposit stuff in the tip final .4mm bore that will need to be removed if pressed into the nozzle hard while spinning it in a drill or dremel. Usually just another bit of bamboo stiff fiber poked through from the other side takes care of that, but it's only for a full servicing and refurbish with the nozzle removed to dig out every last bit of gunk and make it like new. Might work well with solvent as it will hold it and deposit it and carry material away as well.
I'm a week into my very first Ender3. I'll clear a clog, and it will print fine, right up until it hits a part of the gcode that is printing a support... and then the filament clogs up in the tub between the extruder stepper and the nozzle. What Am I doing wrong here?!
There's nothing to damage that way really, the nozzle is a solid piece of brass. Everything that could come off is crap that you don't want on there. So if you have it at hand, you can always try. However i suspect it just won't clean out the nozzle at all, the crap gets stuck on good if the nozzle is clogged enough.
Tried printing ABS for the first time today. During the time it took for the bed to heat up the Nozzle had "cooked" the filament and clogged the nozzle completely... It's currently sitting in an acetone bath and I'm hoping I don't have to buy a new nozzle x) ... Though I should probably upgrade my whole hotend, the teflon tube is looking pretty worn out.
RIP... I'm about to get my first printer as and wanted to ask: what do you do while the bed is heating? Do you let the filament sit there it wait to push it in? I'm buying a Cr-10 pro and the bed heats up in 5 minutes
@@or3356 One thing you might want to consider is to insert the filament before you level the bed, since inserting the filament might mess up your leveling. This might require you to first heat up the end, insert the filament, then cool it down again. I've never bothered to cool it down and just leveled while it's hot and I got the burn marks on my fingers to prove it. Ok, I actually have never gotten a burn mark from my printer, but I've burnt myself many times ;p
Hey there, Just signed in to like and leave this comment (I usually dont, even when signed in) because your tipps made cleaning very fast... Am going to do the cold pull in a bit, Have a good day and a great time to yall reading this :)
Thank you so much your favourite of the suggestions worked. Pushing the pla in when warm then letting it cool and pull. I got the particle on the first try but did it a second time just to be safe. Thank you so much.
Heya im new to the 3d printing world and found some issues on my ender 6 on some prints theres like so much stringing and lumps and on others theres none and its clean i didnt change the temperature or speed i checked the extruder and nozzle which didnt show any sign of having issues any idea? 😅
I have an Ender 3D printer. I had been printing great prints for awhile with little to no issues. A few days ago my printer clogged and even after cleaning the nozzle and tube and even changing the nozzle it is not printing right anymore. The nozzle keeps clogging and the print layers are stringy and break very easily. Anything I can do to fix this?
My Filament kept popping, as if the filament isn't dry. It ocurred on different filaments. I am not entirely sure what my problem was, but i guess that i wiped my new glass bed just before the print. In effect i could imagine that the cleaner ascended in the nozzle and kept popping. Took me probably 2-3 days to figure out, since i tried drying the first filament. So FYI: Sometimes the nozzle can be wet and don't wipe your glass bed shortly before the print.
I had a print fail 60 hours in, 2 hours away from finishing because of a clog...
F
That sucks :(
you can continue from the last layer but you need to find it in the gcode and delete everything befire that, just make sure the printer doesn't lose the position
That is awfull
Been there bro.
Great video. I tried watching 10 different videoson this topic and this one was by far the most concise and professional. Thank you.
I use guitar wire; The thinnest wire is stiff enough to push up into a blocked nozzle. I also feed it in through the bowden and use the ribbed section of the wire to catch hold of molten plastic blockage and pull it out as it cools then I pull or snip off the wire blob and start again. Works for me although I'll try your Stare Down Technique if I run out of strings.
Aha!!! I have tons of guitar strings and last night my printer clogged for the first time and I couldn't think of what to do. Tonight I will try this!
As folks mentioned previously, a non-wound guitar string works well in place of a needle. A guitar string size 013 (.013") = .330mm, fits a .4mm nozzle well without been too flexible.
E and B works fine :) thanks :)
Thank's I don't need to be buying needles, my family has enough to worry about!
@@ShroomedAgainlol you must be a real fun guy
By far the best 3D printing information channel around.
Also try to avoid doing what I just did and don't knock over your cup spilling acetone over your entire desk while following along the video on your computer.
Pull on filament as the hot end is heating to remove dirt and clip off end, add a very thin coat of olive oil to 1" of end of filament before re-inserting. Force 150mm of filament through once heated. has always worked for me.
Happened to me too while cleaning my extruder lol
could be worse. Acetone is non-conductive right?
Or you could have had a soldering iron going when you spilled it.
@@Geolaminar yeah but it destroys plastic though
I personally take a little fire torch and melt the platic inside until there is nothing left. Always worked for me! I'm relatively new to the hobby tho but it's awesome. I'm an Engineering student so while I suffer in school, I use my printer to feel better haha.
Me too. 3D printing as a therapy to recover from my engineering classes
What part do you torch? The nozzle, hot end? My clog looks like the inside of my hotend looks full of burnt filiment.
@@79ninzombie remove nozzle. Heat it up until it melts. Reinstall
thanks for the tips on how to keep the nozzles clear. I had one clog, again I assume it was because I used really cheap filament. I was going to spend time cleaning the nozzle only to find that amazon sells 36 nozzles(for the ender 3) for $10 CAD... approx 28 cents each... so I went that route. Again appreciate this video....
i was struggling about using a blowtorch, then your vid made me remember that i have an heat gun.... dude u saved my day! ty!
I have a piece of sponge to clean my filament, I also put a zip-tie around it to make it wipe a bit better and I have a piece of drinking straw to keep it a bit away from my extruder.
Another preventive measure I practice is to cold pull my filament as often as possible when changing filament.
Since doing these things and throwing away the really cheap and bad filament i had there has been no blocking issues for me.
I have some grey PLA that I could never do that with. It'd beak immediately as it's about as strong as spaghetti, but it prints beautifully!!
I'm doing cold pull with a Nylon pretty much once a week. Not because of the clog but to keep my nozzle clean for better print quality. Surprisingly there's alway some gunk inside even though I have clean environment and use good quality filament.
Just used your technique to clear the hotend and it worked LIKE A CHARM! Thanks so much for the very clear instructions! I also ordered the nozzle/hotend cleaning kit you described, so I have more needles on hand.
The 'stare down' always works for me.. :-)
I just completed the stare down with my printer. It worked.
I thought “the stair down” was when the printer flies from Upper floor to ground floor on its own after overly frustrating it owner.
Boy was I mistaken about that definition!
@@unclezeds
If you can't care,
there is the stair.
But then all your dreams are crushed;
you better had it brushed and flushed.
Thomas, Thanx again!
Subtitle Translation into Russian is accessible.
It was also - my first on TH-cam, thanks to You, just because:
1. this particular maintenance IS very painful and usually unexpected to ANY 3D-newcomer,
2. it could happen to anyone owning a 3D-printer,
3. You personally deserved it ;-)
Keep it Up!
I used a welding flame to heat the nozzle. That evaporated and melted the material but did not damage the nozzle in any way. Other flames will work too. The melting temps of nozzles are high anyway.
When I got a clogged nozzle, I told myself not to worry; just go rewatch Tom's video on clogged nozzles. 10 minutes later and it's all ready to go.
Thanks so much!! I just received my first 3D printer today, a Neptune 3 Pro, and your tip helped me clean out the nozzle's factory-test goo. My first print is printing right now, and the little Buddha/Budai is turning out beautifully.
Looking around for a thin enough needle, I found the lancets used for blood tests are the right size for a .04 nozzle. Worked for me, cleared the jam. :)
I had what seemed to be a clog nozzle that turned out to be caused by a fractured solder joint on the small pbc in the extruder head assembly of my FlashForge Finder. The fracture caused a resistance that lowered the current to the heater, which varied the wattage. The LCD does not show the temperature status once the print starts, so you have no idea the temp has dropped the melting point needed to push the filament out the nozzle. Thanks for the quality videos and content.
When I change my nozzles I do hot swaps then while it’s cooling I use tweezers or a needle you’ll get a strand and it’ll pull a lot of filament out I also use a micro torch if I let it cool too much
5:19 - "Check the teflon liner inside the hotend". How do I do this without cutting it in half like you did? All I can see is the bottom once I take the nozzle off and it looks ok, but I have no way of seeing the inside.
It works well with a soldering kit. Just lower the temperature a bit so that it is between 200 and 240C. The PLA melts and you can just clean the nozzle easily. AP
Thanks a lot, I was able to successful get rid of my first clog by a combination of needle and cold pulling. The last pull I saw a black fragment in the filament and I knew it worked. Printing as I write!
p.s what people say about glowing filament is completely true! Be prepared for numerous clogs!
I have had very few clogs in the last two years, one bit of advice I learnt was to cool down the hotend to 45c before turning off the printer I believe this has helped a lot in not getting clogs
Got my first clog 3 hours in to a big project. Bless this video
The cold pull cleared my nozzle. There was some white material that came out with the filament. I did it two more times just to make it extra clean. Thanks.
This video still is one of the best to target simple solutions. Just did two "cold" pulls per your suggested steps and voila, back up and running. Thanks
I like the option of the "stare-down by a real engineer" ... you should offer this as a service! Anyway, the video gave me the confidence to get my printer going again in mere minutes. BTW: tool tip - the BIONIC WRENCH (AKA the Loggerhead) is a great way to hold hexagonal nozzles while heating them up and getting the goo out. The thermal mass of the jaws distributes and stores the heat so you can work longer w/o re-heating...
If you do a lot of 3d printing, I highly recommend finding a source of dichloromethane/methylene chloride for dissolving PLA.
It does a /very/ good job even if it's a little nasty(No more than any other 'strong' solvent) and you need to take care not to dissolve the contained or seals of the container your using. It's also good at dissolving mixed plastic clogs.
(I distill it from paint stripper using some pretty sketchy equipment outdoors but in other countries you might be able to just buy it.)
Love the “stare-down”. Didn’t work with my Mini and Nozzle X.. cold pull did though. Cleared my first clogged nozzle today.
Hi, Thomas and all who see this comment! :)
This video is still very actual as I see :) If I'm not sure that the nozzle is (self-)cleaned well then should I try a cold method?
I've calibrated the extruder (actually that was about 0.5-1.0 over-extrusion so it doesn't seem to be a role player) but some layers still has under-extruded quality.
Probably I'll try to revert to the stock firmware (without S-Curve... basically it's nothing more there left from the last time I've changed something) and print something that will use a lot of retracts (and set it to 6.0 as recommended for Volcano).
My next guess is that I have a heat creep... But it's all of a sudden practically (or I've didn't noticed some signs before...). This can only mean that this Volcano (in Tevo's printer) is fake.
Another guess is that I need to print this PLA with 215-220C (currently is 210) because it wasn't even extruding from the nozzle on 200! Seems like it was underheated. But then I need to drop speed to 35-40 or it will not be cooled down as fast as needed. Or to print and make the Petsfang assembly (with a better fan). Don't want to do this yet (need to investigate better).
Thank you for the tips. I common sensed most of this on my own a few days ago, but it’s great to get confirmation that I was doing it correctly. Also, I did not know that needle was for cleaning the nozzle. I suspected it but when it didn’t fit initially I went on to other methods.
At the end of every print, on my Ender 5 S1, I leave the filament in and let it cool to about 50°c and then do a cold pull. This also works when I'm using PLA and I generally get a full imprint of the nozzle interior.
I highly recommend using a guitar string for 0.4mm nozzles. I used the second-smallest one and it worked perfectly.
:D ty
i just restringed my strat and didn't clip the strings from the tuning keys. worked perfect! thanks.
I just did this and it worked wonders
A cold pull with PLA at 60-70°C works REMARKABLY well on the Monoprice Maker Select V2.1
pretty new to 3D printing, but I already replaced the bowden tube on my Renkforce Basic 3 hoping it would fix the underextrusion issue, had to reprint a threaded rod for a scissor lift because the old one was too small, I scaled it up by 1% not accountng for the new bowden tube and now it's a very snug fit, had to thred it on and off once with the help of some pliers, but it works now.
guess a cheap PVC hose with 3mm inner diameter causes some issues compared to an actual bowden tube
I tried the blowtorch method once and managed to mess up the nozzle since I was a noob back then and didn't know any better. It's surprisingly easy to melt and deform a brass nozzle. Next time I end up with a nozzle clogged to the point where it requires a blowtorch to clean, I'll just get a new nozzle.
Pile of carbon I melted the exit hole on 2 of them now with the torch method.
Why blow torch? A tiny little 3€ turbo lighter i got from a convenience store worked for me to burn out a nozzle, and it doesn't get THAT hot that it would melt brass. I mean there's a brass insert in the lighter nozzle, and it wouldn't burn ITSELF up. I also did it over the sink with dripping water to regularly cool down the pliers, i don't want them to get too hot either.
I just heat the nozzle up using my gas stove. Doesn't get hot enough to damage the brass but burns out any contaminants.
Tom, love all your videos. I found stuff call FLOSS filament that cleans your bowben tube and nozzle. I am not sure how I got a cloged nozzle so quickly. Maybe I am just trying to push PETG through my nozzle to quickly. I was trying 100mm/s at .3 layer height. This worked for a couple of decent sized prints. The first symptom was that my first layer was not sticking. My first layer sticks all the time. Then my Titant bowben extruder wouldn't push the filament through the hotend. Previously I had the filament break off. And shortly after I replaced the Bowden Tube. All the above happened. But I still love my Tevo Tornado.
Have you ever used cleaning filament?
So I experienced wobbles in the walls of my print, time after time no matter what settings I changed. It seemed to be clogging was the problem after all. That nozzle heating and pull out strategy worked nicely. The wobble artifacts instantly disappeared afther this cleanup. Thanks!
Some great logical tips no noob like me could ever think of! Danke!
tHANKYOU! heating up the hot end and sticking a pin in got all the jammed old filament out! I was dreading having to take the nozzle out and not being able to put it together again!
Very awesome channel. When I'm staying up all night working making 3d merch, I watch. Helpful because it just came on when I was switching out nozzles. First time, good to hear more about it.
Goodday Mr. Sanladerer,
I am new into 3D printers, i just got Tronxy few days ago.
I have discovered when i excute print button in Repetier-Host, i have discovered that the Bowden extruder feeds reverse, and at the same time the nozzle and hotend drops in temperature so the filament i pushed trough has clogged.
What is wrong? can you help me out of this mess?
So i had the clog of hell. Used amolen, silk dual color. The clog happened at a certain point every time. I did tons of small cleaning and extrusion tests. And eventually i learned that the speed you run this type of silk filament at is always gonna clog the nozzle at higher speeds. You can compensate with higher temps, but the speed itself matters the most. Max ought to be like 45 but their document say 40. I litterally went and took a piece in and out fast and slow. Smashed it in to force-extrude fast. It always failed when i went fast, but the eureka moment was when i let it pass trough slowly. So this better work, stellar video regardless. Whatever excess grime my extruder had, now ought to be gone 👏
G'day m8...i just got my Ender 3 V2. It has worked flawlessly for a week, but videos like this is really good info for a newby like me! So i know if i have filament issues, ive got the knowledge to fix it...cheers m8 from friendly Downunder!!
I put mine in a pot and boiling water yesterday since pla melts at the same temp water boils. worked great
Water boils at around 200º*F*
Yeah water 100 celcius..pla 185 and up , petg 230 -250 celcius degree..so i think yuo only desinfect the nozzel and the plastic inside if they are
Great video! used both the needle and cold pull. Started printing and so far so good!
I have only had one clog so far when I went from PETG tp PLA. I tried the cold pull, but it did not work for me. I am not sure if it is because I have direct drive or I just did not know how to do it properly. So, I used the needle method. That worked great though I had run it up and down through the nozzle 5 or 6 times before the filament starting coming out the way it should.
At 0:52, I'm getting that rippled striation effect. What is the cause of this?
Thanks for explaining the atomic method.
Not sure I have a blocked nozzle, but at certain points on my first layer brim, the sudden direction change makes my nozzle pull the filament it just laid back up and wrap itself all round the nozzle. It's always the same direction. I put a lighter to the nozzle and it is adhering now after many many print attempts and too much money spent on the swear jar.
I'm using the Geetech Superplate which has been great for the first week, but it's refusing to stick at all sometimes on certain patches and it's like the nozzle just wants to drag the filament along.
Just ran into this kind of problem: Anet A8 nozzle ejecting very low material. It wasn't a coggled nozzle. Turns out the cog attached to the extruder motor loosed itself from the motor shaft, so the extruder wasn't able to pull the filament. It's worth a check, and it's a easy fix!!!
I usually put the nozzle in my stove open flame for some minutes. PLA will turn into black dust and auto unclog. Very efficient. Don't know if works with other types of filament.
I changed filament from kcamel black PLA to eSun PLA+ and after 24 hours both my Ender 3:s completely clogged. Never happened with the kcamel PLA, which was cheaper. I did adjust the heater block temp as recommended before starting the print with the new filament. Could simply the change between filament brands have caused the total clogs in the nozzle? I was going from a lower to a higher extrusion temp, so I don’t really know what happened. Thinking I maybe best off with replacing the extruder nozzle, as I have spares. What would you suggest?
How did you change Marlin to show three filaments preheat? I have looked for away to do this and can’t find how to do this. Thanks for any help you can provided.
That stare down!
i just heat nozzle and manually push afew inches of filament through...if that does otwork remove nozzle while its hot and replace after making sure the hot end is cleaned...
5:47 Enclosed airbubbles can be totally indistinguishable from steelballs, and I've seen this reported only once. So I'm not sure if this shouldn't be shelved into the myth section.
I did it with the compressor pistol, heating up the nozzle and then pressing the filament out (from tip site) by air pressure... works fine for me.
Actually, it was my mistake, was printing steel filament with a 0.4 nozzle while 0.6 was recommended by manufacturer :-)
I have had my titanium tip E3D nozzle for over 1 and a half years now and my ender 3 s1 started to have dificulty pushing filament trough now i found out its completly clogged up so i probably have to use the acetone method to get it all dissolved inside. as the needle and cold pull method did nothing to unclog it and i have some brass ones in case of emergency and its working fine. Thank you for the tips!
My prints suddenly started to come out brittle and thanks to your video I knew how to fix it.
Is it effectively a cold pull if I do pull on it every time I change my filament?
3:10
Tom, what did you do to your finger???
No, it’s what did the printer do to your finger, Tom.....
5:24 I think that's my issue: the teflon lining inside my extruder module seems to have plastic stuck inside. I was able to unclog it using acetone, but the inside diameter still has a black layer, meaning it either overheated or still has ABS which I cannot remove, even with acetone.
To make things worse, that lining is slimmer than the teflon tube used to feed the filament to my extruder module. As far as I know, the feeding teflon tube is 2mm x 4mm (interior/exterior), but the lining seems more like 2mm x 3mm.
Anyone able to help?
Thank you. I tried to load TPU95A (whatever that means) for the first time, and couldn't get an extrusion so I was afraid my nozzle clogged. Tried to unload it, couldn't, so I thought the entire hotend got clogged for sure. Watched the first 4 minutes of this video, then tried the pin - it went through easily, so I continued to pull the TPU out (with the nozzle still hot, and it did clear out, without even a melted mess at the end. I guess the material is just so flexible it is hard to load...
Tnx....very helpful. One question....what’s the best way to the cold pull if you have a Bowden system? Tnx
I know this is an old video, but in regaurds to the last tip, I wonder if a microfiber cloth or melamine sponge would work as well?
The yanking method worked best for me! Thank you!!!😊
I'm still like to start with using micro-drillbits to quickly clear clogs or twisting extrusion, b/c the twisted-fluting helps to pull the debris out,, as opposed to just jamming it in farther with a wire or needle.
BUT, yes, you have to be very careful, as they break quite easily, and an immediate extrusion is needed to get the broken tip out of there. If you have an assortment-set, they are also handy for gauging the actual diameter of nozzles that have been used to extrude coarse filaments,, and a quick slicer change can help dial that problem back in to a proper flow-rate.
I would also bring up the use of Canola Oil, for prevention,, but this is enough controversy for one comment post :)
The other problem being that a drill bit has cutting edges that can easily cut brass and altering your orifice geometry. It's a bad idea to use them as pin gauges for similar reasons. Even the back end might be pretty sharp and scar the orifice or remove material.
That worked for me. Oddly before the blockage, the filament looked like it was liquefied and bubbling at the tip when I pushed it through. Anyhow, clear nozzle and printing now.
Could you maybe update this to methods used for the Nextruder nozzles? I have a Obxidian 0.4 netruder nozzle blocked with broken off filament in the top of the heatbreak. Dont wanna ruin it trying to overheat it or something :)
The Nextruder nozzles should be just as robust as classic v6 nozzles, the only thing I could think of is that when you do heat them up outside the printer, try and do it evenly and gradually.
yeah was looking all over for someone to explain the print becoming qriggly just after exiting nozzle, this is the first guy i found mentioning this. and only as a list of things what could be wrong. gonna check if it is some particle in it that is not supposed to be there now.
Thanks for the help. Was having nothing but trouble.
I have a spare Chinesium heatblock and 24V heat cartridge clamped in a small vice to attach nozzles to for maintenance, run off an old laptop charger that output 19V. It doesn't stop heating at any particular temperature but I could devote an Arduino with a PID sketch to the cause some time.
Thanks for that Thomas, very useful. Love the FUBAR bit, great. All the best................
First clog. O.o Sigh, where did I put my needle? I do not think a cold pull would even work. It seems completely clogged, and there is a small bit of the stuck pla still sticking out just at the fillament pull thingy.
You need to update the placeholder link at 4:03 to your nozzle video.
Add 10 wt Silicone oil to the port where you feed filament to,heat up the hot end to 270 °C and wait for the clog to heat up,then push hard with another piece of filament (I use white PLA so I can't if the nozzle is still dirty) , use glasses so you don't get hurt, the oil will quickly evaporate once it reaches the end of the nozzle.
nice video, thank you. If I have to go the acetone route and the hotend has a nylon sheath with filament stuck inside, will the chemical hurt the nylon?
Hi Thomas, honestly is it worth it? Nozzles are extremely cheap, approx. 12 Euro for 25 pcs. Even good nozzles are not that expensive.... Is the cleaning time really worth it? Quickly put a new nozzle on the hotend and you are done....
Printing since many, many years now and the 2 or 3 times I had nozzle clogging I just put a new nozzle on and everything is fine. Anyway, love your videos, thanks!
Hey Thomas, It never happened to me. I think if it regularly occurs then I would recommend to not use that specific filament and replace the nozzle. What do you think?
I have an ender 3 v2 and no filament will, come out, I’m not sure if I’m just not feeding the filament correctly or if it’s clogged?
If the filament is stuck in the ptfe and you cant get it out, try heating it up and push it through (you can just use a lighter and push with other filament)
Great helpful video is very much appreciated!
My favorite nozzle cleaning tool is a small section of a bamboo cooking skewer, like used for cooking on a charcoal grill. It is great for digging out gunk from a nozzle, heat resistant so works well with a heat gun. End can be cut clean or ragged to make it a precise pointed scraper or a bristled stiff brush. Can be put into a drill easily or dremel, less easily, to spin it and really clean out a nozzle nicely. May deposit stuff in the tip final .4mm bore that will need to be removed if pressed into the nozzle hard while spinning it in a drill or dremel. Usually just another bit of bamboo stiff fiber poked through from the other side takes care of that, but it's only for a full servicing and refurbish with the nozzle removed to dig out every last bit of gunk and make it like new. Might work well with solvent as it will hold it and deposit it and carry material away as well.
I'm a week into my very first Ender3. I'll clear a clog, and it will print fine, right up until it hits a part of the gcode that is printing a support... and then the filament clogs up in the tub between the extruder stepper and the nozzle. What Am I doing wrong here?!
What about putting the nozzle into an ultrasonic cleaner? Would that cause damage on the internal tubing? What cleaning agent in the water ?
There's nothing to damage that way really, the nozzle is a solid piece of brass. Everything that could come off is crap that you don't want on there. So if you have it at hand, you can always try. However i suspect it just won't clean out the nozzle at all, the crap gets stuck on good if the nozzle is clogged enough.
Happened for the first time for me last week after 3 years of no issues. CF filament got stuck.
what filament should i use for a voxelab aquila?
My nozzle touched my ultrabase and is clogged with the bed coating. Any idea how to clean it out?
Tried printing ABS for the first time today. During the time it took for the bed to heat up the Nozzle had "cooked" the filament and clogged the nozzle completely... It's currently sitting in an acetone bath and I'm hoping I don't have to buy a new nozzle x) ... Though I should probably upgrade my whole hotend, the teflon tube is looking pretty worn out.
RIP... I'm about to get my first printer as and wanted to ask: what do you do while the bed is heating? Do you let the filament sit there it wait to push it in? I'm buying a Cr-10 pro and the bed heats up in 5 minutes
Basically all slicers have the option to heatup the bed first, so just do that :p
though I’ve never had any cloggin/”cooking” issues with PLA, left it at 210 C for more than 5 minutes, but I still wouldn’t recomend doing that.
@@beaconofwierd1883 Ah I see. Thank you.
@@or3356 One thing you might want to consider is to insert the filament before you level the bed, since inserting the filament might mess up your leveling. This might require you to first heat up the end, insert the filament, then cool it down again. I've never bothered to cool it down and just leveled while it's hot and I got the burn marks on my fingers to prove it. Ok, I actually have never gotten a burn mark from my printer, but I've burnt myself many times ;p
Thank you for this video. Using the heatgun method you really saved me from buying another nozzle
Instead of a blow torch, what about the flame from a lighter underneath the extruder?
Hey there,
Just signed in to like and leave this comment (I usually dont, even when signed in) because your tipps made cleaning very fast...
Am going to do the cold pull in a bit,
Have a good day and a great time to yall reading this :)
So If the filament curls when it leaves the extruded is that bad ?
Thank you so much your favourite of the suggestions worked.
Pushing the pla in when warm then letting it cool and pull.
I got the particle on the first try but did it a second time just to be safe.
Thank you so much.
You can buy individual strings in most guitar shops. They sell them by the diameter size. Just go in and tell them what size you need.
Heya im new to the 3d printing world and found some issues on my ender 6 on some prints theres like so much stringing and lumps and on others theres none and its clean i didnt change the temperature or speed i checked the extruder and nozzle which didnt show any sign of having issues any idea? 😅
I have an Ender 3D printer. I had been printing great prints for awhile with little to no issues. A few days ago my printer clogged and even after cleaning the nozzle and tube and even changing the nozzle it is not printing right anymore. The nozzle keeps clogging and the print layers are stringy and break very easily. Anything I can do to fix this?
now i know why my ender 3`s extruder motor cannot push the filament properly and clicking and being so hot
My Filament kept popping, as if the filament isn't dry. It ocurred on different filaments. I am not entirely sure what my problem was, but i guess that i wiped my new glass bed just before the print. In effect i could imagine that the cleaner ascended in the nozzle and kept popping. Took me probably 2-3 days to figure out, since i tried drying the first filament.
So FYI: Sometimes the nozzle can be wet and don't wipe your glass bed shortly before the print.
I have heard that putting a bit of your filament in water, leaving it there for a day, and then extruding it through the nozzle steam cleans it