A couple hours into printing a large Z-PETG model (17 hour print) the filament stopped feeding (M200).
I didn't notice for a few hours - it got halfway thru the print printing "in the air" before I stopped it.
There's plenty of filament. I tried to "Load the material" - the gear turns but the filament doesn't feed.
Is the nozzle clogged? The model looks perfect up until the point where the filament stopped feeding.
This never happened before - not sure what to do. Advice?
[Added: I can't unload the filament either. It's really stuck in there (nozzle is hot).]
Hi Dave,
Try to load the material and push it in to the extruder.
Let me know if it makes a difference. If it does, I would go through the extruder maintenance:
https://support.zortrax.com/extruder-maintenance/
It's possible that the extruder bearing failed (or the extruder motor is misaligned a little bit) or you have the material tangled up on the spool.
Thanks, Marcin. The material is definitely not tangled on the spool.
I did https://support.zort...er-maintenance/ as you suggested. I couldn't unload the material - it's really stuck and I was afraid to pull so hard as to break the filament by pulling. The nozzle was plenty hot (so that's not the problem).
When I took apart the motor assembly (as recommended), it looks as in the photos I'm attaching.
Whatever is stuck, is deep in the nozzle.
Should I just pull as hard as needed until the filament breaks? I think that'd leave whatever's stuck still inside.
4860
4861
After fiddling with the printer for a few hours, I've concluded that it's the nozzle itself that's clogged.
If I remove the nozzle completely, I can feed ABS thru the extruder.
When I put the nozzle back on, nothing comes out no matter what I do.
I suppose there must have been a dust particle or something that blocked the nozzle.
The problem is that the nozzle is filled with PET, so soaking it in acetone isn't going to help any, and I don't have a pin small enough to fit (0.4 mm?).
How can I get a new nozzle quickly? (Colleagues are waiting on prints.) I'm in the USA.
Fixed it.
400 C hot air gun (from soldering station) + 30 ga wire wrap wire + stereo microscope.
Ordering a new nozzle anyway, just in case.