I just got the printer yesterday, and have been doing several prints that have worked really well. Suddenly, during one print, the filament just stopped coming out, I researched a little bit a figured I had to take it apart. Then I found that the filament was stuck in the nozzle, so I pressed it out with a rod. It worked after that, but next the filament got stuck in the extruder, and I fixed that too. I just went to print something else, it worked for about 4-5 minutes, and then the filament got stuck in the nozzle again. I can pull the filament out, but no filament is extruding. What is the problem? I am printing with Hyper PLA at 220°c nozzle temp? Please help, thanks so much.
Check your tubing to make sure there are no obstructions - can you pull filament through the tubing easily? Also make sure your filament is not getting cross-threaded on the spool (ie: tangled underneath another strand …). Also make sure the tubing path to the extruder is not under a sharp bind … Do you hear clicking when the filament gets stuck or is it air-printing?
Is the extruder aligned correctly with the unicorn nozzle?
I hear clicking when it is air printing and I think everything is aligned probably as I have never taken the nozzle apart. The filament is easy to pull out and put in, but it needs a little force when you push it into the actual extruded
PLA should be printed with the lid off and door open to prevent heat creap
It sounds like heat creep has occurred. Although “Hyper PLA” is usually designed for higher temperatures and faster printing speeds, for standard PLA, 220°C is on the higher side. If your hotend’s cooling efficiency isn’t very high (which can happen even with a new printer), this higher temperature can accelerate heat creep.
Heat the nozzle to about 180-200°C (slightly lower than the printing temperature for PLA). Manually push some filament through to ensure it’s flowing. Turn off the heat and let the nozzle cool down to about 80-90°C. Once it reaches that temperature, firmly and quickly pull the filament out of the extruder. You should see the shape of the inside of your nozzle on the tip of the filament. If there was debris, it often comes out with the cold pull. Repeating this 2-3 times might solve the problem.
Just an obstruction problem.
Hey man thank you so Cush for your post, seams like it matches what my k1c is doing, unit isn’t even 2 weeks old and I’m already getting my nozzle clogged to the point I have to take it out of the printer and use a lighter and a push rod to insert and manually pull the clog out, seams to be happening a lot. I have been printing with the lid on and the door closed so I’m hoping it’s just an issue with myself being an idiot.
How much thermal paste should we be using when we put the unicorn nozzle back?
There are several factors that interfere with this, one is the PTFE tube that if the angle is inclined causes jams, another is HUMIDITY (in most cases this is the problem), my recommendation is that you purchase a filament dryer, this changes a lot, on the other hand something not minor, the k1 hot bed is quite good, but not better than a type like k2, and a piece of advice, if you can change and update with a cfs kit, do it without hesitation, the extruder is simply great, it does not jam and if it does it is not necessary to disassemble it.