Clogged nozzle? Not sure what to do.

Support&troubleshooting Zortrax M200
1

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).]

2

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.

3

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

4

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. 

5

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.