Hi,

I have a few problems regarding a Bowden tube. The printer is an Ultimaker Original.

Firstly, the tube does not stay put. Instead, it is pushed out of its retainer when filament is pushed through. I'm suspecting that the metal element inside the retainer has worn down. Also the Bowden tube is a little scraped at the last two inches or so, so the element does not gain enough traction. I have already cut about half an inch of the tube, which worked for 10 minutes, then the same problem occurred. I am going to try printing a Bowden tube clamp as seen on thingiverse (thing:11864 by owen) and hopefully that works. Or do you have any other suggestions, maybe replacing the tube instead?

The second problem is that I tried to swap filaments while the nozzle was still hot. This seemingly caused the plastic to solidify inside the tube, and formed some kind of edge-like irregularity which makes it now completely impossible to pull/push it through:

20140417 Irritable Bowden.jpg

Has anyone encountered this issue before? What do I do? I don't want to wait for a few years until the PLA biodegrades. Maybe it dissolves in something or I could heat up a wire or some other tool, try to melt the PLA out?

Thanks,
Ralph