Did I break my hot end?

[TehStranger]

Hey guys.

I'll start from the beginning. I tried printing something yesterday and I noticed halfway through the print filament wasn't extruding, so, I stopped the printer and tried to manually extrude the plastic but nothing came out, I then pulled out the filament and noticed some pretty bad grinding, I cut the grinded part off and tried pushing the filament down through the hot end but nothing was coming out... So now I took the extruder apart and removed the hot end, disassembled the hot end (removed the brass nozzle and heat block (while they were still hot)) and gave them a soak in paint thinner to clean them up, but then I noticed the top part that screws into the heat block (don't know the proper names, pics will be below. sorry :'( ) was clogged with filament so I heated up a thin, long piece of metal and pushed it down into it, all the plastic came out and it was nice and clean. Ok so now everything is clean, I assembled it, heated up the hot end, loaded the filament and began manually extruding....but nothing came out.... so I kept turning it and bam, the whole heat block pops off.... Pics below so you get a better understanding of what I mean (hopefully). I'm writing this super tired so I apologize for any mistakes I might of made.

Cheers.

[TehStranger]

Also, I tried pushing it back in and heard a click noise, but it still comes out with very light pulling or pushing (when I put filament through)

[Geoff]

Also, I tried pushing it back in and heard a click noise, but it still comes out with very light pulling or pushing (when I put filament through)

There is supposed to be a thread that screws into the heatsink... to me it looks like you have barely any thread at all.. it can't be tapped since there is no meat left... hmm I personally would go and spend $50 on a new extruder

[TehStranger]

There is supposed to be a thread that screws into the heatsink... to me it looks like you have barely any thread at all.. it can't be tapped since there is no meat left... hmm I personally would go and spend $50 on a new extruder

this part you mean?

[TehStranger]

There is supposed to be a thread that screws into the heatsink... to me it looks like you have barely any thread at all.. it can't be tapped since there is no meat left... hmm I personally would go and spend $50 on a new extruder

Do you know of any good hot end I should look for?

[Mjolinor]

Any recommendations?

You just quoted his recommendations. Go and buy a new one.

Unless there is some reason why you can't in which case you need to pull it apart and see where it is broken.

[TehStranger]

You just quoted his recommendations. Go and buy a new one.

Unless there is some reason why you can't in which case you need to pull it apart and see where it is broken.

oops. What I meant was does he have any suggestions for a hot end. I'll edit that now lawl.

[Mjolinor]

If you are happy with the way that one worked then buy one the same. Personally I would mend it, there is no rocket science in there, something is broken and you can get all the bits fairly easily. It doesn't seem worth buying a whole new one just for that unless you have a desperate need to mend it NOW or you are not inclined to bother, both good reasons for not mending it.

[Geoff]

If you are happy with the way that one worked then buy one the same. Personally I would mend it, there is no rocket science in there, something is broken and you can get all the bits fairly easily. It doesn't seem worth buying a whole new one just for that unless you have a desperate need to mend it NOW or you are not inclined to bother, both good reasons for not mending it.

Hey, if it can be fixed, fix it!

The only thing that concerns me is the nozzle going back in crooked, you would not want that it would make some messy prints or hit the build surface.

I just checked, and you can get them even cheaper, spend $35 and buy a new one, its easier and yours looks like it's had a good workout

NOTE the one below does not state 1.75 or 3mm, you would need to ask them, but seeing the nozzle diameter is 0.4 or 0.3 I would hazard a guess its for 1.75 mm filament.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3D-extrud...2f15c7d&_uhb=1

[TehStranger]

Hey, if it can be fixed, fix it!

The only thing that concerns me is the nozzle going back in crooked, you would not want that it would make some messy prints or hit the build surface.

I just checked, and you can get them even cheaper, spend $35 and buy a new one, its easier and yours looks like it's had a good workout

NOTE the one below does not state 1.75 or 3mm, you would need to ask them, but seeing the nozzle diameter is 0.4 or 0.3 I would hazard a guess its for 1.75 mm filament.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3D-extrud...2f15c7d&_uhb=1

I'll definitely look into that one, is there any real difference between a J-head and hexagon hot end?