how to switch material?

[secondsky 0]

Hi all, a very banal question: what is the procedure to change material?

Just pull the wire by hand?

And if i switch from pla to abs or from abs to pla, there is something particular to do?

Thank you all.

[mr_seeker 0]

At the moment you can do several things:

(From easy to difficult)

- Pull the wire by hand, push a new wire in.

- Cut the old wire, and fuse it with the new wire (or feed it manually).

- Get an extra extruderhead & feeder, and use dual extrusion.

When you switch from ABS to PLA, make sure that the nozzle is clean from ABS residue, especially when you go from ABS to PLA. ABS runs at higher temperatures than PLA, and can block your nozzle when you didnt clean it properly.

[Daid 306]

When you switch from ABS to PLA, you need to do 1 or 2 prints at higher temperature to make sure you have flushed out all the ABS. Any ABS that is left behind could clog up your printer head otherwise.

[secondsky 0]

Ok, thank you.

But what do you mean for clean? Just estrude the second wire for some time?

And, second dubt: if i pull out the wire having a hot head, there is not the danger the wire blend with the teflon tube because is jet very hot?

Thank you.

[mr_seeker 0]

Clean = extrude the second material until there are no visible changes anymore.

If you (quickly) pull the wire from a hot head by hand, this should not be a problem. I did it many times before when I thought the print was clogging up or when I wanted to change filament. However, dont keep the hotend on too long without extrusion, or the leftover plastic will creep up and clog everything.