filament stuck. help me imma noobie

[OliP 3]

I just got my ultimaker 2 literally 10 minutes ago. The setup went good and initially the filament loaded good. But the filament got to the hot end and stopped loading. I tried a print and nothing came out but the loader on the back was spinning. I tried through the settings to extruded and retract and the filament didn't budge. Now the filament is stuck and no way to get out.

I have read the forums and understand the filament loader has its issues. Please help a noobie out.

First post

[gr5 2,210]

the filament can get stuck on a few edges in the head before it gets to the nozzle. It's best to cut the filament at an angle (to a point). Anyway try move-material in menu and move it up and down a few times and it should make it past the bad spot. If not remove it completely with "change filament" and sharpen to a point.

[kelechi 24]

Exactly, sharpen the filament. And since you jsut unwrapped the filament, you may cut out the bent part that was used to secure the roll. I did that before my first print.

[OliP 3]

the situation is a little worse than just that. the filament was completely ground down in the feeder. i had to disconnect both ends of the bowden tube and pull the filament out with pliers while using 'move filament' to help. this is what the filament looks like; [/media]. i have done 3 prints and now 2 of them ended like this. there anything i can do to fix this? is it the retraction? is the feeder too tight?

note; 1 print did work but the print i put on after did not.

[JohnFox 25]

Is there anything coming out of the nozzle at all, just wondering if it is blocked?

Is the nozzle getting hot, you could touch it with a piece of filament to check? A heater problem would prevent any extrusion and cause the results you are seeing.

The extruder may not be perfect but it's not that bad.

Are you running default settings? At this stage, I would really keep to machine defaults. A brand new machine should be able to run the supplied PLA perfectly well without any need for changes. Again, may not be perfect but not far off.

[OliP 3]

the extruder isnt the problem. i did the test you explained and the filament melted fine. the problem has to be in the feeder motor on the back as is seen in my last post. i need to know if there is a tweak on the feeder i can do to stop this grinding. (the 2 white things are at the top. i dont know what they do or if this is a problem)

[gr5 2,210]

The feeder usually only does that if something is bad at the head - if the filament won't move the feeder just keeps grinding away regardless and then you have 2 problems - one at the head and one at the feeder.

Make sure the feeder is on the least possible tension setting (white indicator part at the top of the slot).

You can get this by printing too cold and too fast (e.g. layers too thick). What temp, speed, and layer height were you printing at.

You can also get this when you first load the filament or many other ways.