# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > Other 3D Printers / Scanners / Hardware > M3D Forum >  Printer won't extrude/release ink

## MechaMew2

Looks like my printer stopped extruding after the spool was wound too tight (internal bay), and now it won't extrude nor release the ink if I try to remove it. Anyone able to help me with this? Please and thank you!

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## magician2433

I had a similar problem. It would extrude great for the first layer. Then completely stop. I switched from my PLA to my Abs spool and have been printing great since then. So. Try a different spool of filament.

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## Bobby Lin

Hi! It can be caused by two things: 

1) Your fan on the hotend (the one attached to the hotend) is not running. Not the one that blows on the printed parts...that is not the issue.
2. Your nozzle is most likely clogged. You can clean it by opening the filament feed (remove the screws and open the hinge). Then with the extruder at a near temp of about 170 pull the filament out... Failing that you will likely need to remove the brass nozzle (which should be done hot) that will allow you to completely clear the clog.

Let me know if this solution works for you or not.

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## Duck

There's only one fan.

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## parkbobo

Hey man! I don't know if you are still having this problem, but I recently got an M3D printer and had to to a lot of research. Heres what I found works.
*
Ink not releasing

*First, tell the software the ink has released, then go through the procedure to reinsert the ink, even though it already is connected. THEN, run through the releasing procedure. If this doesn't work, This may seem a little bit rudimentary, but turn up the temperature bit by bit until it gives. I am talking about 5 C increments. (I would not go over 240 C)

*Ink not Extruding*

There is a great video that teaches you how to unclog your printer. For me, this fixed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKIL2AedyMQ

Now, For my final piece of advice, load the ink externally. It is MUCH better, trust me. Take your ink out of the printer, and build a small mounting setup (Use like a bottle or something to mount the spool on) and print a clip on external ink spool holder. You can find it on M3D's website.

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## navyman

To continue on the above advice, I also could not get my filament to release (M3D printer). When the software prompted me to pull, I pulled until a vein popped out of my forehead and only then realized that probably wan't a good idea. As I pulled on the filament I noticed that the filament feed cable was starting to crimp (get wavy) - indicating the filament was caught up on something inside the print head.

So, I took the front plastic cover off (Note that for the m3D printer, I had to follow these instructions in order to manually move the print-head to a location where it could be worked on). Inside the print head there is a little cover over the actual filament feed which needs to be removed via a single screw in order to get to the filament. With the covers off the problem was clear. I have no idea how, but somehow just after exiting the filament feed cable and before entering the filament feed gear, the filament morphed itself and hardened into a "goose neck" shape (see pics). Thus, the filament was unable to be fed to the nozzle and was also unable to be release normally.
print2A.jpg
To fix, I simply cut this "goose neck" out with some wire cutters, then pulled the remaining filament in the feed cable out. Then, to get the filament out of the nozzle, I simply told the software that I was installing filament, which makes the printer heat up the nozzle. As the nozzle heated up, I took a short 8" piece of filament, fed it down into the nozzle manually and applied very gentle pressure (just like you do to clear a nozzle clog). When the filament in the nozzle will start to ooze out and you know you're clear. After that, I told the software to remove the filament (to remove the little 8" piece). Then I just installed another roll of filament as I would normally.
print1A.jpg
One more thing - when I pulled too hard on the filament initially, like I said the cable crimped a bit. What actually happened was that the feed tube started pulling out. The feed tube normally only sticks out about an inch or so into the filament spool bay under the print bed, but after tugging on it, it was sticking out about 3 inches, which made it impossible for the spool to sit freely in the bay. I had to push that tube in in order for the spool to sit freely, otherwise the filament will just get jammed and you won't be able to print anything.





> Hey man! I don't know if you are still having this problem, but I recently got an M3D printer and had to to a lot of research. Heres what I found works.
> *
> Ink not releasing
> 
> *First, tell the software the ink has released, then go through the procedure to reinsert the ink, even though it already is connected. THEN, run through the releasing procedure. If this doesn't work, This may seem a little bit rudimentary, but turn up the temperature bit by bit until it gives. I am talking about 5 C increments. (I would not go over 240 C)
> 
> *Ink not Extruding*
> 
> There is a great video that teaches you how to unclog your printer. For me, this fixed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKIL2AedyMQ
> ...

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