1 Topic by cmetzel

  • cmetzel
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  • From: Solidoodle2 #0091
  • Registered: 2012-08-22
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Topic: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

Last night after a weekend of printing my slight clog finally won the battle and plugged me up.   I got everything apart except for the peek wouldn't break loose from the brass barrel and I didn't have the right nuts to create a lock to break it loose.  Additionally I couldn't find anyone online that had heated the PEEK while trying to clear a clog so I figured I had one of three options.  1. Wait until today when I could get a couple nuts. (too impatient)  2. Heat up the barrel and PEEK and see what happened (and order a new set just as a backup)  3. Carefully drill it out with increasing diameter bits (and order a new set anyway)

I went with door number 3, and it worked very well.  Put it all back together and she runs like a champ, just like day 1. 

My question to you, how lucky did I get?  What could I have screwed up?  What's to stop this from being the method rather than alcohol and flames and soaking in acetone for a week? 

I drilled on the slowest setting and held the PEEK with a towel and vice grips, walked up to the diameter with 4 drill bits and then ran a detail round metal file through.  I know brass is soft and it could have gone bad that way but it looks and runs great now.  Lucky or smart?

2 Reply by pcpoirier

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  • From: Wichita Ks
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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

Lucky.  All solidoodlers are lucky.
I heat up the brass tube with my little torch holding the brass with a pair of pliers.  When I can turn the peek with my fingers I quit heating and unscrew it all the way.  If you don’t have a torch use the filament heater.
I heat up the tube and tip to melt and drip out the excess plastric before I acetone soak them.

3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

The only real possible issues come in making the hole too big, or scratching the inside of the brass/PTFE, which impedes flow. I've done it a few times before without problems.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

4 Reply by cmetzel

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  • From: Solidoodle2 #0091
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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

Why would making the hole too big hurt though.  I was thinking about that too before I started.  Stepper should push in a fixed amount, and nozzle diameter controls the output.  So a bigger melted volume shouldn't really matter, no?

That said, where can I buy a spare PEEK and brass nozzle other than SD.  My experience with spare parts from SD is that they take forever to ship unfortunately.

5 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

Two problems. First, it can allow the filament to kink, if the hole gets really big. Second, viscous drag scales with the crossectional area. You make the area of the barrel bigger, there's more drag.

Your output rate is the same of course, as the stepper pushes in a fixed amount, but eventually you could theoretically cause so much increased drag and friction the extruder motor starts to skip steps.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

6 Reply by danny

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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

I might be being thick, but...

why are you trying to take the brass barrel out of the peek?



I've found that when cold it's impossible to remove the nozzle from the barrel, but that I can use the heater on the machine to heat and soften the plastic inside the barrel and nozzle, then the nozzle can be removed, with the barell still in the peek, (which is still in the jigsaw).

arguably it's pretty much never the barrel that's cloged as this is pretty wide, and only the nozzle that bolts onto the bottom and is easy to remove whilst the machine is warm.

7 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

Makes sense, but I think the fractional volume increase would be minimal in my case.  I left some burnt on the walls and filed it down.  PTFE tube took a little hit though as I thought it was hardened white filament at first glance.

How about that other source for spare parts, anyone got someplace to buy PEEK and brass barrel from?  SD sells the PEEK alone, or hotend kit.  I already have spare nozzles and heat core, just want barrel and PEEK.

8 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

cmetzel wrote:

Makes sense, but I think the fractional volume increase would be minimal in my case.

Agreed. Just saying those are the only possibilities, but it's been fine in my case.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

9 Reply by pcpoirier

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Re: Drilled out a clog - how bad can it be?

I got spares from here.
http://www.makergear.com/products/groovemounts