Basics: Cleaning out a clogged nozzle!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ธ.ค. 2016
- As you 3D print more and more frequently, clogged or partially blocked nozzles actually get rarer as you learn how to avoid them. But if you do manage to get yourself a blocked nozzle, here's how to fix it!
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I'm a little late to the print party, but this video is the only one that I found that was helpful and simple. I had tried the needle method to break up the clog, but I never tried it repeatedly while intermittently running the filament through. That helped a ton, and the clog was gone after a few tries. It really sucks getting close to finished on a big project only to have gaps in the print. Thanks for taking the time to post this.
Great video. I tried watching 10 different videoson this topic and this one was by far the most concise and professional. Thank you.
By far the best 3D printing information channel around.
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.
Great video! used both the needle and cold pull. Started printing and so far so good!
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
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 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.
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.
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. :)
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.
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.
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....
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 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.
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!
Thank you! Coldpull with PLA just solved my clogging problem here! Brilliant!
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!
Excellent video. Worked perfect for my Prusa with only the idler springs undone. Thank you!
That stare down!
Some great logical tips no noob like me could ever think of! Danke!
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!
Got my first clog 3 hours in to a big project. Bless this video
Thank you for this video. Using the heatgun method you really saved me from buying another nozzle
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.
Thanks for video actually helped me with my clogged cr-10
Thanks - used a 27 G 1 1/4" needle - worked great Thanks!
The yanking method worked best for me! Thank you!!!😊
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!
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!
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 👏
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 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...
Nylon Cold Pull FTW! Great video as always Tom.
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.
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 for the help. Was having nothing but trouble.
Thanks for that Thomas, very useful. Love the FUBAR bit, great. All the best................
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!!
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
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.
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.)
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
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!!
Thanks. I was about to open up my heat sink, but then I found the pin that came with my Ender. Your suggestion did the trick. Testing now (:
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.
Omg dude thanks! I was about to change the extruder, but you saved me! Thanks a lot!
Thank you for the guide! It assisted me with getting the Monoprice Maker Select V2 unclogged after attempting our first print with Wood PLA. I think we need to turn the heat down because I pulled out some burnt filament.
Love the “stare-down”. Didn’t work with my Mini and Nozzle X.. cold pull did though. Cleared my first clogged nozzle today.
that plumbus in background :D
Thank you so much I wish so many blessings on your family. :)
The needle one worked for me. Thanks!
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.
A needle did it. Phew. Thanks for the guide!
Thanks for sharing Tom I haven't had a clog yet but I know I will at some point. 😁
"A GOOD STARE DOWN" -- OMG. THAT WAS AMAZING. THANK YOU THOMAS!! XD
Brilliant advice, cold pull did the trick on lk4 pro. Thanks
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.
Thank you so much! So much time and money saved!
Thank you your video got my printer printing again
most helpful video so far THX!!
First thank you for all the GREAT videos you have done. Absolutely wonderful. I have looked thru your videos and I can't find one on properly changing the filament. That is the one thing I am having some problems with. I have an Anet A6 and have a Tevo Torn. on the way :) I have been printing PLA at 210. Should I let the hot end cool down to a certain temp before pulling the filament out? I have had multiple times where the filament left some string in the top end of the feed tube and then I could not push it back down after reheating the extruder and had to dissasemble to push it out. So any info you can provide or a link to a good video would be appreciated.
+1 for the "Stare-Down" method. :D
Pushing needles up the hot end can be painful :) thanks tom for these video's !!!!
Thanks. Just what I needed.
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.
That cold pull worked like a charm, thanks for the info
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
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 :)
This video helped me soooo much ! Thx mate !!!
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
Great video! Thanks Tom!
It worked! Thank you so much!!
My prints suddenly started to come out brittle and thanks to your video I knew how to fix it.
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!
Very good suggestions. Thanks for doing.
Thanks a lot, you make science for us from these magically appearing errors.
Your videos are top notch
I use flame torch to clean mine, work very great ^^
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 :-)
that sponge is a nice idea, thankx
Helped me out, thanks!
Thanks Tom! I didn't know about the cold-pull. I'm thinking of trying it on my Malyan M150 (getting harder and harder to extrude, I think there's a small blockage...) but there's two things: first is that I've only really got PETG filaments, is that flexible enough? Second, the MK10 hotend on the Malyan has a PTFE insert - will that get screwed up by a cold pull?
I'm actually concerned the "blockage" is a flake from the PTFE insert degrading in the hotend, but I really don't know. (been running the printer hard for months now)
I'm trying to upgrade to a V6 hotend, but I need a working printer to print the parts to upgrade my printer, so I'm reticent about trying the technique on my one and only machine, even if it is struggling. I don't know what happens if I accidentally rip the PTFE liner out, I assume nothing good?
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!!!
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.
A cold pull did the trick, thank you
Thanks, really good advice!
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 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
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?
love your videos and advice thank you very much
I used a head gun and it seemed to work,. Thanks for this video!
thank you very much this helped a lot.
Tnx....very helpful. One question....what’s the best way to the cold pull if you have a Bowden system? Tnx
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 Dude... help much appreciated.
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).
Super Video! Hat mir weiter geholfen ;)
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