Constantly clogged

[SarahPWallace15 0]

Hola!

Okay, so here's the deal: I have two ultimaker 2s. I print stuff daily and on most of the time at the beginning of the day (after the machine has been off or cooled down) I find it clogged up. I have to take the tube out of the print head, move the material to have about three inches of filament and push it back through the head and nozzle before I can print again. I sometimes have to do this between prints up to four or five times a day when I'm printing little things.

Any ideas on why my machines clog between prints? Or better yet, what I can do to make sure this stops happening and I can print normally?

Gracias!

[meduza 191]

Do you turn the machine off with the power button before the print head has cooled down completely?

[SarahPWallace15 0]

Do you turn the machine off with the power button before the print head has cooled down completely?

 

No, I let it cool down before shutting it off.  Or try to print something else before it has cooled down all the way.   Do you think that's the issue?

[imacmac2000 0]

Have you noticed any clicking or grinding noises during printing? Sometimes the drive motor can grind off a dent in the filament to the point where the printer cannot push the filament through the tube.

Another thing that can do it is a dusty environment like a garage or an attic. the dust gets in to the print head and clogs it.

[loki-5 2]

What sort of material are you using?

[meduza 191]

No, I let it cool down before shutting it off.  Or try to print something else before it has cooled down all the way.   Do you think that's the issue?

 

A quite common problem is when people are turning the machine off with the power button before it is cooled down, wich can cause a jam.

Have you checked that the back fan on your printhead is running?

[gr5 2,181]

There's probably a space inside the printhead where the filament can expand and it's getting stuck there. There shoudl be no spots like that. The most common is that the bowden is not inserted into the white teflon part. The second most common is the teflon part is getting old and has expanded.

Does your UM2 have the aluminum spacer? Or a spring. If the aluminimum spacer then throw it away and print this instead:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/um2-spring-replacement

That way you can visually see that the bowden is going down into the teflon. I find that 90% of the time the bowden seems fine but it is *not* all the way down when I look and I have to jiggle it a bit.

Also test that your rear fan is working - the 3rd fan. As meduza says. It should turn on as soon as the head is above 40C if not sooner. That connector for that breaks easily but is also easy to fix.