When asking for help, please provide as much information as possible about your inquiry.
This will help everyone to better understand your problem, and provide you with the best solution.
Detailed description of the problem
Printer model used
Slicer settings used
Type of filament used
Photos that clearly show the problem
.3mf file (if the file can be shared)
Any potentially useful information that is related to the problem
I printed a large part in PETG-HF. Now I want to print a large part in PLA. The first print really just finished, a quick swap of beds, and now trying the second print. But I get an error that reads “Unable to feed filament into the extruder. This could be due to entangled filament or a stuck spool. If no, please check if the AMS PTFE tube is connected. [1200 8006 plus the date and time]”
There is no break in the filament. There is nothing wrong with the PTFE tubes on either end. There is no tanglement. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the hot end is plugged after using the PETG-HF. WTH?! I really need to solve this ASAP so I can get to bed and let this long print go overnight.
Ok. While I was waiting for a reply I tried a few things. I got it cool enough to take off the nozzle and found it had a build-up of junk on it (didn’t look like filament, no idea what it was). I cleaned that off. I tried reaming it but with it cold there was no luck. So I went through the clogged nozzle procedure, several times. That still didn’t work until I went in from the top and reamed it out with the nozzle tool. I did finally get the PLA to load. I think I need to order an extra 0.4mm nozzle or two just in case that happens again. Has anyone had any luck with clearing a nozzle with it removed from the printer, perhaps by heating with an oven or some other heating device. I’d be interested to hear some thoughts.
Try heating the hot end up manually to a temperature slightly above PETG requirements for a few minutes and see if it frees things.
If not, you are going to need to look inside the extruder for a blockage.
I had to fish out a small piece of filament stuck below the gears once before I could continue. On another occasion I had a blocked nozzle and I had to abandon it as I couldn’t get whatever was in it out. I was to,d I could throw it in the oven to try and melt the contents p, but, I had a spare and it fixed it.
Look through this wiki article about freeing extruder issues.
250ºC … hmm, that’s 482ºF … pretty hot stuff. I know I can get the oven that hot, not sure about the toaster oven which would be much more convenient. I avoided that this time. But I need to get a spare nozzle or two on order and think about how I might do this differently next time. (I do have 0.8, 0.6, and 0.2mm nozzles, but I rarely use them and would prefer not to be forced there by a nozzle failure.)
