1 Topic by aed

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Topic: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Hi,

I just about tried every single idea mentioned on this forum to unclog my nozzle. I used it yesterday for the first time, made one successful print, then 30 minutes later tried again and it was clogged.

I tried putting through a thin stiff wire then a needle, but it wouldn't budge both with nozzle heated and not. I dipped the wires in acetone and was able to extract most of the ABS in there but it still wouldn't go through all the way (probably around 2/3 of the way).

I tried coming in through the tip with a needle and applying pressure both when it was hot and when it was cold. The needle was broken and couldn't make it in more than 0.5mm or so.

Then I disassembled the whole thing as shown in Ian's video and was able to remove a big part of the plastic stuff but just couldn't get into the extruder tip part again (sorry not familiar with the terminology). I re-assembled it (which is a pain by the way) and tested it and it's still not dripping plastic. While it was disassembled i used acetone with a wire multiple times to try to get through.

The only method I haven't used is the torch one but I would really REALLY prefer not to have to do this at home. As a matter of fact I am pretty annoyed I had to do *any* of this given that I bought the pre-assembled printer. Does anyone have any alternatives? If no alternatives, can I just do this using the kitchen counter fire or is that risky? I just e-mailed support for a replacement but haven't heard back yet.

I am using white ABS if that's of any use.

Thanks!
aed

2 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

First of all aed, welcome to the community I'm not experienced enough to give you advice after what you've tried I'll let someone else speak to that.  Second this is not intended against you, I just want to make an observation that maybe we will try to relay back to Solidoodle.

Has anyone else noticed the amount of first posts for new users that are exactly this same situation.  "I printed for 20 minutes and I got a clog and had to take everything apart to get it working".   This didn't use to be the case, there are tons of us here that never had a clog and have never calibrated beyond z height and bed leveling.  Why are there so many recent cases of instant clogging, and is there some kind of feedback we can give to Solidoodle to remedy the sitation before they continue on this path which has an obvious bug?

I hate to think what I would have done on day one with a clog and trying to tear into my new $600+ machine before it's an hour old.

3 Reply by aed

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure what the root cause is but from reading the forums it looked like if you leave it idle at a high temperature after it's done printing it might clog.

When my first print was done I started working on a revised model (which I printed less than an hour later), but it's quite possible that I didn't turn off the printer in that time. Not sure if that is cause enough to do this (and why it would be), but in that case it would probably be good for the software to have some "screensaver mode" where it brings the temps down if you haven't used it in N minutes.

4 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Yes that is a definite issue and likely cause of your problem.  From what I understand, the ABS will burn / cook after a certain amount of time and solidify in the nozzle.  If that is the case, drilling or torching it out are your last remedies.  Maybe it's coincidence or maybe it's an issue with the new design of the hot end, not sure.

Here's a link to a comprehensive method for cleaning, not sure if you've seen this already or not.

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/255/clea … esnt-work/

5 Reply by aed

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Thanks, yes I have seen it and tried all but the torch method. I'd rather leave that as a last resort since it feels a little extreme that you would have to disassemble and torch a consumer product while dipping it in alcohol wink I wonder what the non-DIYers are doing...

I was hoping there'd be some other remedy, or perhaps a chemical I can drip on it (acetone didn't work).

6 Reply by danny

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Once you've taken the nozzle off of the brass barrel I've found that using a scribe to scrape the de-natured plastic, or being careful you can "cut" the plastic into bits using a veto board track cutter.
Heat does help.

If you really don't want to use the torch try putting just the nozzle in a jar of acetone and leave it for a few days or a week.

7 Reply by Tomek

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Nozzle in jar didnt work for me.

After dipping my hands multiple times in the acetone jar (checking the situation) i realized "---- it, acetylene torch to the rescue."  30 seconds later I had a glowing brass nozzle, and everything had flamed out. I think it's not so extreme as you might think; it really helped.

8 Reply by dubbsd

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

after reading all these post about nozzle clogging  I orderded 2 extras so when my sd3 gets here
I will just replace it if it gets clogged.

Ultimaker S3.

9 Reply by aed

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

Thanks all for the helpful replies:

I ended up having a videoconf with support. We tried some of the basic debugging steps and while I was attempting to disassemble it for the second time to clean it, I broke part of the black plastic that houses the hot end, so they agreed for me to return the hot end and send a replacement once they get it. I also ordered an extra one.

Couple questions for the future:
1- Is it safe to assume that the main reason this happens is this idleness time when the extruder is at 200C but not printing? i.e. if I just turn the temp back down to room after printing, will I avoid a repeat of this?

2- For the "torch" method, I don't plan on getting a torch, would any of these safely work:
(a) on the kitchen oventop (gas fire) or is there a risk of blowing something up
(b) in the oven at the highest temperature?

Thanks
aed

10 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

1. Yes
2. I wouldn't

11 Reply by Tesla

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

My First post 


My SD2 came with the Hot end clogged out of the box.   I clearly think the extra cold in transit is not good for plastic left inside the hot end.

Getting past that clearing the clog I've done alot of reading during the wait.

This note on the google thread saved me and I wanted to pass the quick clog fix along.

"Take off the spring and pull back the arm that holds the bearing.  Then reach in with tweezers and pull the plastic out.   You need to have the extruder heated up first so the plastic is melted.  "  Ian Johnson

my clog didn't allow the use of the tweezers as the plastic was too deep down.   My major issue was to not crack the extruder before I got a first print out.

So what to do?  With the bearing pressure gone I made a nozzle cleaner.   Took one of those large paper clips and started feeding the paper clip from where the filament used to travel.   At first I could apply pressure without the metal bending, and nothing seemed to be happening (this is while the hot end) is up to extrude temp.

So then next step was to make the wire act like a screw and maybe get inside some semi-melted plastic.   So applying mild pressure while turning the wire allowed me to grab a bit of plastic and pull it out.   After doing the same thing i got some plastic to flow out the nozzle.  Knew I had it. 

Last step with the bearing still uninstalled, I removed the wire cleaner.  Took some filament and hand feed it from the top and clean the nozzle out unti i could with just a little effort push plastic down and get nice clean lines.   

Hope it helps.

12 Reply by solijohn

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

aed wrote:

Thanks all for the helpful replies:

I ended up having a videoconf with support. We tried some of the basic debugging steps and while I was attempting to disassemble it for the second time to clean it, I broke part of the black plastic that houses the hot end, so they agreed for me to return the hot end and send a replacement once they get it. I also ordered an extra one.

Couple questions for the future:
1- Is it safe to assume that the main reason this happens is this idleness time when the extruder is at 200C but not printing? i.e. if I just turn the temp back down to room after printing, will I avoid a repeat of this?

2- For the "torch" method, I don't plan on getting a torch, would any of these safely work:
(a) on the kitchen oventop (gas fire) or is there a risk of blowing something up
(b) in the oven at the highest temperature?

Thanks
aed

1) No it is not. Clogging happens for other, less predictable reasons as well.
2)
a) Be VERY careful. Your Solidoodle hot end could melt.
b) I somewhat doubt this will work.

We here in the shop prefer the "acetone bath" method. It sometimes takes several days to work though.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

13 Reply by chuey

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

cmetzel wrote:

First of all aed, welcome to the community I'm not experienced enough to give you advice after what you've tried I'll let someone else speak to that.  Second this is not intended against you, I just want to make an observation that maybe we will try to relay back to Solidoodle.

Has anyone else noticed the amount of first posts for new users that are exactly this same situation.  "I printed for 20 minutes and I got a clog and had to take everything apart to get it working".   This didn't use to be the case, there are tons of us here that never had a clog and have never calibrated beyond z height and bed leveling.  Why are there so many recent cases of instant clogging, and is there some kind of feedback we can give to Solidoodle to remedy the sitation before they continue on this path which has an obvious bug?

I hate to think what I would have done on day one with a clog and trying to tear into my new $600+ machine before it's an hour old.


I couldn't agree more with this.


When I first recieved my printer I only got 3 clean prints out before the nozzle basically left nothing but crumbs behind.
I know another guy with a printer who has had no problems at all. I tried using his setup and still nothing worked.
I eventually ordered a new hot-end and it seems like everything was going fine, altough I had to set the multiplier down to .7 to get it working and the speed at half of the speed that the other guy was using. Now my new hot-end is also starting to leave only crumbs behind after just a few prints.

I'm running my nozzle at 200 and my bed around 90. I can't seem to solve this and all I've gotten from Solidoodle support is an RTFM in the form of a link the the wiki.

14 Reply by supraflyer

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

I dont know if my solution to clogged nozzles has been noted but:
I use guitar wire to unclog the nozzle from the bottom and a piece of .06 brass tubing from the top. When hot the tubing will drill into the plastic and the plastic will fill the tube. This removes the plastic very nicely.
If I need to dissassemble I use a q tip soaked in acetone to load the peek end and wait. I use a new end of tubing to continue to clean the plastic out, hit the lower end with the guitar string.
This has worked for me..

15 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

supraflyer wrote:

I dont know if my solution to clogged nozzles has been noted but:
I use guitar wire to unclog the nozzle from the bottom and a piece of .06 brass tubing from the top. When hot the tubing will drill into the plastic and the plastic will fill the tube. This removes the plastic very nicely.
If I need to dissassemble I use a q tip soaked in acetone to load the peek end and wait. I use a new end of tubing to continue to clean the plastic out, hit the lower end with the guitar string.
This has worked for me..

Sounds nice, you should do a writeup with pictures next time and we can link to it on the wiki pages for the new members that keep getting clogs.

16 Reply by Gordym

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

I spent the weekend clearing my clogged hot end. I was able to remove it from the peek with no trouble. The biggest issue was removing the clog. I soaked it in jar with acetone for four days to get it loose enough to finally remove the material. Every day I pulled the hot end out and scraped as much of the plastic out that I could, then changed the acetone. Last night I was finally able to poke through the clog with a straightened Paper clip. After that, I was able to soak it for another hour and remove the final pieces of the clog. Now back to assembly....

SD2
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MK5 V6

17 Reply by lawsy

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Re: Nozzle clogged - other methods?

If you search there is an illustrated extruder assembly guide here.

lawsy's Website