I need Technical Help

[svt04cobra]

I was attempting to use PVA in my printer and didn't know what heat to use. Long story short, it melted in the print head. I though everything was fine, I even printed from that head (left) extruder. Now here it is a week later, I went to load my normal ABS filament, and the machine won't take it in. It just sits there and clicks while its trying to pull it in. I removed the extruder assemble and removed the print head. I soaked it in acetone for several hours, cleaned the inside with a qtip and it appears to be clean. I also cleaned the white tube that goes inside the print head. I'm assuming that's some kind of filament guild, it was very clogged so I was able to use a paperclip and clean that out. I'm not sure where to go from here since I took the tip off and cleaned it. I can't see through the hole in the print head, i'm assuming because its so small. What can I do from here? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Mjolinor]

You should be able to see right through if you hold it up to the light you should see the small path all the way through.

I use dental files to clean it out, a lot of people use a guitar string.

[Ama-fessional Molder]

they make tip cleaner sets for torches that work great for this, with varying diameter wire.

https://www.amazon.com/US-Forge-Weld...=1&*entries*=0

I wouldn't buy it from there though, as you can often find generic ones for 2-3 dollars at any place that supplies cutting/welding torches.

I have a set I paid US $3 for that I use for cleaning carburetors.

[curious aardvark]

if you think it's clogged with pva - then you need to soak it in warm water NOT acetone.

pva isn't soluble in acetone, just water - that's why it makes good support material.

And if - at any point - you are not sure of the temperature to use to extrude something, just search for it online, ie: 'pva filament printing temps'.
NEVER close your eye and pick a random temperature.
Most filaments come with printing instructions, for those who don't - that's what the internet is for :-)

[jfkansas]

I was attempting to use PVA in my printer and didn't know what heat to use. Long story short, it melted in the print head. I though everything was fine, I even printed from that head (left) extruder. Now here it is a week later, I went to load my normal ABS filament, and the machine won't take it in. It just sits there and clicks while its trying to pull it in. I removed the extruder assemble and removed the print head. I soaked it in acetone for several hours, cleaned the inside with a qtip and it appears to be clean. I also cleaned the white tube that goes inside the print head. I'm assuming that's some kind of filament guild, it was very clogged so I was able to use a paperclip and clean that out. I'm not sure where to go from here since I took the tip off and cleaned it. I can't see through the hole in the print head, i'm assuming because its so small. What can I do from here? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

What temp for the PVA?

[iDig3Dprinting]

What temp for the PVA?

PVA settings will vary by manufacturer and printer but here is an example of settings that we have used (on Orbitech PVA):

Hotend Temp: 210C
Bed: 60C
speed: slow
We had an issue with getting it to start flowing from the nozzle for printing and this was solved by getting the print head up to temperature and then using the printer software to manually extrude some filament before we started the print.

PVA is water soluble, that is the point of using it as a support material so you should just wash the nozzle through with warm water as @Curious Aardvark said.

You could try HIPS as a support material for ABS (although it stinks) as it runs close to abs printer settings and dissolves in limonene.

[jfkansas]

PVA shouldn't go above 190 or 195, no matter what the Manf. says. It burns up and congeals at a very low temp compared to PLA/ABS.

[iDig3Dprinting]

PVA shouldn't go above 190 or 195, no matter what the Manf. says. It burns up and congeals at a very low temp compared to PLA/ABS.

Yes 210 is high for PVA, 210 is Orbitech's upper limit for print temp for their advance PVA but we encountered no burning issues.

[jfkansas]

It clogged and this is a result of over temp congealing.

[curious aardvark]

It's a result of not bothering to find out what temp it should have been printed at.

I mean, come on this is line one, page one of the basic filament guide to 3d printing.

I do wonder some times.