Extruder is Clicking - Won't Accept Filament or Print!

[jssnoopy]

Hey everyone,
I haven't used my printer in a week or so. I notice a clicking noise and no filament is extruding out of the nozzle when I begin printing. I unloaded the filament and tried reloading but once it grabs there is a clicking noise and seems to be a clog..

How should I go about handling this?

Thanks,

[MeoWorks]

The clicking is happening when the filament is slipping on the hobbled bolt's teeth. Eventually it'll grind into the filament and all extrusion will stop. Depending on what extruder you have, you should look into either tightening or loosening the idler or upping your temperature or slowing your print speed.

If it's a clog, just bring the hot end to 180C, unscrew the nozzle and clean it out. Acetone dip will eat ABS and burning will crystallize PLA and make it easy to scrape out.

[CaptainObvious]

The clicking is happening when the filament is slipping on the hobbled bolt's teeth. Eventually it'll grind into the filament and all extrusion will stop. Depending on what extruder you have, you should look into either tightening or loosening the idler or upping your temperature or slowing your print speed.

If it's a clog, just bring the hot end to 180C, unscrew the nozzle and clean it out. Acetone dip will eat ABS and burning will crystallize PLA and make it easy to scrape out.

It's probably a clog, but before you do the cleaning try to push the filament by hand with the hotend at printing temperature; if you can't push it, or it takes an unreasonable amount of force then yes, it's a clog you need to clean.
If you can push it though there's something wrong with the stepper driver (not enough current, overheating, gremlins), your stepper motor (bad wiring, seized bearings, gremlins) or your hobbed bolt/gear (gremlins for sure).

[MeoWorks]

Lol why are you quoting me??

[CaptainObvious]

Lol why are you quoting me??

Because you were suggesting it's probably a clog (I agree) and how to fix it by dissasembling the hotend, that takes some work so I think is better for jssnoopy first to check for other possibilities.

Perhaps I should have phrased better, like:

It's probably a clog as MeoWorks suggest, but before you do the cleaning... yadda yadda

[jssnoopy]

I think it's a clog since no filament will load. Seems to be backed up. Do I need to take apart my extruder or is there an easier solution?

Thanks,

[CaptainObvious]

I think it's a clog since no filament will load. Seems to be backed up. Do I need to take apart my extruder or is there an easier solution?

Thanks,

Have someone else take it appart?

What size nozzle is it? maybe you can try to push a steel wire up the hole (careful not to burn your fingers!) and see if that dislodges the clog, you can find steel wire in a music instrument store, electric guitar strings come in many different sizes.

[Mysli]

Well i think that you should do, as the big captain says and run some steel wire thru it at about 200C
Also a good tip is to never have the extruder heated for more than 5 minutes without making at least 20mm extrusion. Even though most firmwares (from what i know) keeps feeding a little filament all the time, it isnt enough to prevent a clog.
If your extruder have stripped the filament, then you should clean the hobbed bolt with a toothbrush. Another thing you can do is attach a head from a toothbrush to the extruder so that it brushes the extruder clean all the time (see my upgrade thread in the solidoodle forum)
And lastly attach a filament cleaner (sponge wrapped around the filament at some point near the extruder)

I hope that helps

[CaptainObvious]

And lastly attach a filament cleaner (sponge wrapped around the filament at some point near the extruder)

When I put together my printer I serendipitously (I can't believe I actually spelled that right the first try) found another way to keep the filament clean. The hotend and extruder motor cables go inside a plastic conduit, the ribbed tube kind, it make a look from the side of the printing head to the top of the machine.
The way it's placed the filament rest slightly against that tube, and when the printer is working the back and forth motion of the X axis rattles the filament across the ribs of that tube, I believe that shakes off any dust on the filament because without using any cleaner or anything else I've never had a clog on my extruder.

Edit to add...

I've been meaning to design a "rattler" like that as an accessory for other 3D printers, it would simply be a serrated edge that the filament will rub against as it's pulled in.

[Geoff]

As everyone has said, the clicking is due to it not getting enough grip on the filament and if this keeps going on the filament shaves itself off and then basically wont come out.

There are two blockages tho.. There is filament not gripping and there also possibility of a blockage in the nozzle due to a small particle (it happens..)

Before I pull anything apart, I usually get a thin safety pin, hold it with some pliers... heat it up till its glowing red and then stick it up the nozzle.

Failing that, pull the fan off and the covering on the extruder and clean out all this mess, you will probably see the filament is pretty chewed inside but if you clean out the gear it should hopefully get traction again. My hobbed gear is quite thin, lots of little blades that when they get clogged yeah,it can be a pain. I get my hobbyknife and slice along the grain to remove all the rubbish, generally sorts it out. If your gear becomes worn, you can always shift it back or forward a bit and use another section