Filament WON'T MOVE

After several weeks of perfect printing my root has run into a problem. While running a print I ran out of filament on the roll. I can see the end of the filament in the top of the printer head, but the machine will neither draw it through to accept more, or back it out. The filament is stuck in a stationary point. I have attempted raising the temp and setting the machine to forward while pushing in with new filament. I can hear the motor running, but there is no detectable movement. The result is the same in reverse.

Answer from Root
To solve this you will most likely need to disassemble the extruder and clean it out manually. To do this you’ll need a small Allen wrench that was included with your printer, this is all you will need to dismantle the print head and re-assemble it.
(Keep track of all parts that are removed)

1. Turn off the printer and disconnect the power supply and remove the USB cord.

2. Give the printer time to cool if it was just in use.

3. Clip off the filament that is being feed to the print head so that is free from the roll.

4. Use the wrench to unscrew the four screws on top of the print head and the one screw on the left side of the print head.

5. Remove the head case and small bracket (a.k.a. the little piece that fell off when you removed the four screws) on the back side of the print head.

6. Remove the screw facing outward; it will be holding a piece of metal with bent ends in place.

7. Unplug the two set of wires that will plugged into the motor and fan.

8. Pull out the two rods that are in the heating block (the piece directly attached to the nozzle).

9. Remove the fan by unscrewing the two screws.

10. On the left side of the print head assembly with the fan removed there will be three screws, “remove only the middle screw”.

11. Proceed the “loosen” the remaining two screws until the nozzle comes loose.

12. With the nozzle loose, grab and pull out the nozzle downward to remove it and whatever filament that is still attached.

13. Grab the filament that should be sticking out of the nozzle’s backside and hold firmly while twisting the nozzle/heating block to cause it to snap-off.

14. Re-insert the nozzle back into place and tighten the two screws and screw-in the middle screw, the screws should only be tighten to a snug fit, not overly tight.

15. Re-attach the fan with the two long screws.

16. Re-attach the metal piece with bent ends with the screw.

17. Re-insert the two rods back in the heating block and plug-in the two set of wires back into the fan and motor.

18. First attach one of the screws with the bracket onto the head case (make it easier),then put the case back on the print head and screw-in all remaining four screws (three on the top and one on the side).

19. Lastly plug-in your printer and power it on, get the printer to heat up the nozzle and use the small needle that should have come with your printer to clear any remaining filament that may be lingering inside the nozzle.

Well, Following these directions I was able to remove the clogged filament. It will now progress and retreat the filament, BUT, the alignment appears to be off. The filament now does not make it down to the heating element. It just makes the clunk clunk clunk noise.

Tentative Success with realigning the heating element. With our machines, you can drop out the heating element without removing the motor. I dropped it out, heated up the machine, and then progressed the filament forward until there was enough to feed into the heater. I re-inserted the heater, tightened everything back down, and did a test. It moved filament forward and out of the extruder. Working up some G-code now to do a test print.

It happened again and I figured out why. The filament was clogging in the tube that guides the filament INTO the brass tip.