# 3D Printing > 3D Printing in Education > Teachers & Professors >  3D Printer in Education Spool/Filament Changing Questions/Survey

## LehrerJeff

Hello all,

I am new here and part of a project team in a summer class and we are research filament/spool changing times and potential safety related issues pertaining to the education (k-12 and college/university settings) 3D printer world. Any information, opinions, and thoughts related to the amount of time it takes you to change spools/filament and what type of 3D printer you are using would be greatly appreciated towards our project. Thank you, in advance!

Sincerely,
LehrerJeff

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## Dapo

Reply teacher domyhomeworkonline

Hello,
We divide our work activities into 4 steps (college level):
Pre-printing
Printing
Post-printing
Maintenance and cleaning
You may see the details of each step in the brochure by NTRC: 3D Printing with Filaments: Health and Safety Questions to Ask

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## ZackJones

1) First, connect the 3D printer to the source and warm up the extruder to operating temperature. The extruder heating temperature should be the same as the printing temperature for the specific plastic.
   2) Hold the lever of the pressure mechanism and slide the thread forward towards the nozzle until the plastic starts to come out of the nozzle.
   3) And take the plastic rod out of the extruder with a sharp upward motion in the opposite direction.
   4) Now you can start loading the new filament.


After installing the new plastic coil for 3D printing, I recommend to print a test model to normalize the filament feed.

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