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I am new to 3d printing having only recieved it for christmas. The filament is jammed somewhere in the extruder of my Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus. I have tried removing it with the included hook but was unsuccessful. Is there anything else I should try before I before I dismantle the extruder, which i very much want to avoid.

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I follow the techniques spelled out in this video on Tom's 3d: Basics: Cleaning out a clogged nozzle!

Essentially you:

  • Heat up the hot end past the point you normally print at.
  • Manually (gently) push filament out of the hot end.
  • Turn off heat & continue applying pressure to the filament, until it quits extruding (it has cooled off).
  • Set the heat on the hot end to normal printing temprature for the filament & immediately start pulling firmly on the filament, but not too hard.
  • As soon as it melts enough, it will just "slip out" & bring any stuck crud with it.

I went ahead and bought some white nylon filament so I can heat it up hotter (good for cleaning out ABS) and since it's white, I can see the nasty crap it pulls out.

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Try to preheat your printer, the temperature should be above 180°C then push the filament to come out from the nozzle just 4 to 7 mm, then take out the filament from the extruder. With this step the plastic lump will get soft and will release the filament.

Then use the tool to clean the nozzle pushing the residue inside the nozzle.

This is a common problem if someone tries to change the filament without feeding a little bit (3-5mm).

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    $\begingroup$ You forgot to mention that the "take out the filament from the extruder" part needs to be with some force and a bit of speed. If you do it slowly it could cause it to clog even further, if you do it to fast it could cause the filament to break. $\endgroup$
    – Granny
    Jan 4, 2018 at 9:21
  • $\begingroup$ @Granny Filament breaks if is so cold and has been placed on the extruder without movement for long long period ( more than a week). When takeout the filament form the extruder won't be stuck or clog inside, thats whay is needed to push a little bit firstly. I use to use this method to fix 3D printer of some clients. I have to disamantle the nozzle when the lump is over thighten due inproper filament changes. $\endgroup$
    – Fernando Baltazar
    Jan 4, 2018 at 18:55
  • $\begingroup$ i know that but what i am saying is that after you push the filament through a bit, hold it there and then pull straight up with medium force. Filament wont really break, after sitting for a few days/weeks cause I had filament out for months without it getting fragile. This is also the way i unclog my nozzles. $\endgroup$
    – Granny
    Jan 5, 2018 at 7:27
  • $\begingroup$ I'd add; if you don't have a fan on the cold-end, get one. It removes clogs around 100% (last one I got was when I accidentally disabled the fan). $\endgroup$
    – Valmond
    Apr 5, 2018 at 13:48

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