How to Stop Nozzle Clogs 🌋

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Share this video with that one friend that always complains about clogged nozzles.

[@johnnychang4233]

Looks like recycled material filament.

[@reyalPRON]

my filthy filaments, dirty dirty ;)

[@ScytheNoire]

Cheap filament with inconsistent diameter also cause clogs. Filament shouldn't be left out, they come in resealable bags for a reason. If you don't want to use bags, get a cheap storage bin, throw in desiccant.

[@samonsthewise]

i think you are right, never get clogs but everyone else does. i have always kept my spools in bags.

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

I think there’s a pattern. I’d bet that people who leave their printers in a garage or shed have more clogs. Also explains some of why people report their AMS equipped printers as super reliable. The dust proof lid is preventing a big chunk of failure modes

[@ErtsenPlayGames]

for like 12y i use average cheapest kitchen sponges sometimes used for packages - (like 3M Scotch brite - cheapest in packs) -use entire sponge in one piece or cut into 2cm strips and push filament through it (rough side isn't needed) and leave it ; repleace with new filament/ push trough new one in new spot

[@TNX255]

Yep I do that too. Works well and is not expensive, and you have them around the house all the time anyway.

[@maxiferrari08]

I don't see the problem... Free composite filament🤷

[@astrumrocket6556]

You talked about nozzles and improvements, which of the new types do you think are the best? And which one do you see sticking around? It seems like every company is making their own propitiatory nozzle type(s)...and it seems like they keep making new ones, with Creality for example having several current non-compatible "nozzle standards". I still primarily use V6 style nozzles on my printers, I sometimes think about upgrading them to something more current, but don't want to get stuck into something that will go out of production withing six months...

[@nakamotolikesyou]

I've been baited, but I'm not even mad. I respect you're grind.

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

You’re a filament!

[@scruffles87]

​@@NathanBuildsRobotsyou're moms a filament!

[@S.A.S.H.]

Clogging nozzles was the root of retiring my first FDM printer, a Monoprice Maker Ultimate, (a 2017 Wanhao D6 rebadged). After retiring 18 months later, after I got my Ender 5 Pro, I've never had a z nozzle clog since. The Monoprice came with a metal rod of about 1.5mm diameter specifically to push filament through the nozzle when it cloged. That inclusion in the accessories kit should tell you something about their expectations on nozzle clogs. Not other FDM I've had since (5 or them) has had one in the tool kit. I also never store any filaments in the open, instead they go into a sealed storage box with lots of desiccant bags in them to keep the humidity inside stable. Great job as always. Thanks, dude.

[@cxob2134]

I remember that some years back on of these "Must print mods for your printer" was a sponge holder, where you would run your filament through a sponge to keep it clean. Not sure if that ever really worked, or made things worse

[@josephpk4878]

I drilled extra holes in the rim of my cardboard spool, to hold the filament better - dumb mistake. There was cardboard debris throughout filament, from the original drill and the holes shedding more debris as it unwound. I glued the holes shut, but it was too late - totally contaminated. That's when I started being more careful with cleanliness and also running my filament through a microfibre cloth. Seems to work - never had a clog.

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Cardboard doesn’t melt so good. The bad part about feeding contaminated filament is the particles can linger in the extruder or Bowden tube, then weeks later when running known clean filament you might randomly have a jam and have a hard time putting the cause and effect together.

[@josephpk4878]

@@NathanBuildsRobots Good point - I haven't cleaned the entire feed system.

[@oleksandrn269]

Interesting, thank you for sharing. Also "wash your filament" was a good one )

[@hotfix7387]

Thank you for this video. I have been storing my filament in sealed Tupperware boxes as well, or an AMS, since I started printing a year ago, and people told me I was being too concerned about nothing. It never seemed like a good idea to me to just leave filament out and about unless you had a really clean room (my house is old) and low humidity (my house does not). Now I have a good video to show them why they are the ones being silly for not. I also appreciate the Trump university/steaks reference. That cracked me up. 🤣 I have to ask though, are you feeling OK? 😁 You had nothing but positive comments for Bambu Lab in this video and I kept waiting for the hammer to drop. 🤣🤣🤣

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

They are doing some things right, the enclosed AMS system really is smart, and a lot of companies have missed the plot on what makes their printers reliable (AMS plays a part in that story) So credit where credit is due

[@hotfix7387]

@@NathanBuildsRobots I wanted to mention that I have noticed as of late, or maybe it has always happened and I just only recently started noticing, but I have noticed some vacuum sealed" filaments I have opened have dust or some sort of noticeable foreign objects. I'm going to start cataloging these and if it's frequent then I will start reaching out to the vendor as your video shows they should be sending us clean/dust free filament, and anything else means it's been sitting around a while which it shouldn't be from a moisture and dust perspective.

[@bryanfoster362]

@@NathanBuildsRobotswould be even nicer if the AMS also acted as a dryer instead of just a desiccant storage system

[@MrWaalkman]

In other news, don't run with scissors, pull tags off of mattresses, or pee into the wind. I haven't had clog issues since retiring my -Rostock-, err, Creality V2. The Rostock was bad for picking up fuzz along the way, while the Creality was bad for creating its own debris and clogging itself up.

[@ronaldwhedon3924]

I stole my filaments in open air. Clogging hasn't been an issue yet.

[@TheOneAndOnlySatan]

The Open Air Bandit

[@secv]

Same. Clogging has always been a retraction issue for me and was solved early on.

[@RinoaL]

I started having clogging issues when I began using Overture's recycled PLA. I have to run it something like 20C hotter and that fixes the issue.

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Yeah recycled stuff could pose a huge risk for contamination. Just one piece of dirt in a batch, or one wrong piece of plastic could end up making big problems

[@S.A.S.H.]

20c higher works? That sort of makes me wonder if there was some other filament shredded/recycled into that batch; some filament that needed a higher temp.

[@RinoaL]

@@S.A.S.H. Yeah my theory is there might be granules of PETG in it, but also I wonder if the clogging action of nozzles is partly due to the stickyness of melted plastic, so increasing the temperature also reduces the amount to which debris can cling together.

[@tenchuu007]

​@@NathanBuildsRobots but still worth the risk.

[@AdventurePrinting]

I NEVER had a clog in 5-6 years of FDM printing 24/7.

[@supercurioTube]

I meticulously put spools back into their carton boxes and bags (if resealable) to avoid the filament collecting dust. And no clog, that might be helping indeed!

[@charlesstaton8104]

I agree that you should keep trash off your filament but I don't agree that 1. The #1 cause of failed prints is clogged nozzles and 2. The #1 reason for clogged nozzles is dirty filament. Actual, honest to goodness nozzle clogs are unicorns. It's only ever happened to me once in several hundred kg of filament and was because I used a reamer to turn a .4mm nozzle into a 1.0mm nozzle and unknowingly left a brass shaving inside. All these people experiencing "nozzle clogs" are just running too slow. That thing you described with heat creep up into the heatsink is real, but it doesn't just happen after you've experienced a "clog" and sat there chewing on filament for 12 hrs. *_IT IS_* the clog. It is cause, not effect. For whatever reason people are happy to run with default profiles based on printers from 2014 that only result in 5mm³/s volumetric, so the filament is barely moving. It's going so slow that heat is allowed to conduct up through the filament (despite it being a terrible conductor of heat) and soften in the heatsink. When the extruder tries to push that softened filament down the hole, the filament expands, it tries to pancake. Now it's bigger than the hole and now you have a "clog." Mostly when people experience issues their first instinct is to slow down. This makes the problem worse. Talk to people who have frequent "nozzle clogs," ask how fast they're running. $5 says every one of them will tell you just how responsible they are, how extremely slow they're running just to give the printer every possible opportunity to perform properly and "somehow that still doesn't help."

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

In my case it was definitely caused by contamination. I did a cold pill and could see the bits of dirt embedded in the tip, but agreed, heat creep is a real problem. It can come up when running slow as you describe, or when you shut the printer off without letting the hotend cooling fan keep the upper portion of the heatbreak at low temps. The heat travels up and melts everything. A well designed heatbreak/extruder system will never have that failure. You need excellent passive cooling, or low thermal mass of the hotend (bambu does this), a well polished heatbreak, and an extruder that is oowerfudl enough to break the clog free while also making the sure the clog is t way too strong via the other measures

[@charlesstaton8104]

I believe your experience was unique. I doubt many people have tried printing with river mud filament LOL. But plenty of people have printed with CF and GF filaments and had no problems. The fibers that are intentionally entrained in those filaments are a lot bigger than dust particles and lint. Think about how you would remedy the situation if the filament swelled in the heatsink; also cold pull. So if people have the issue that I described, and they think the issue is dirty filament, and if a cold pull solves the problem, then that serves as confirmation of the dirt theory in their mind even if dirt never was the issue. I do agree that you should make an effort to keep dirt off the filament but if some occasionally gets in there, it's almost never going to cause a failed print. I think by far the more prevalent issue is running too slow. Just felt the need to speak up about an issue I don't see brought up often enough amid all this talk of "nozzle clogs" which are basically a myth IMO.

[@DaveEtchells]

Important video, I’m going to vacuum my entire 3D printing area, maybe put filament wipers in my Bambu AMS too. I don’t have a lot of nozzle clogs, but they’re enough of a pain when they happen that it’s worth some effort keeping things clean to keep it from happening. (Also great idea to run an air filter in the printing area, also to save potentially grubby filament and use it with a larger or much largernozzle.)

[@2341f]

I run a farm and I get multiple clogs daily but that's mainly because we use flexible materials with machines that have less than ideal extruder designs for flexible materials (mk4, p1s). Ive come to the point where ive significantly reduced print speeds to simply reduce failures due to clogging/skipping issues as the maintenance and unclogging of some of these machines is costly and time intensive. On the other hand, my 3d printers using the sprite extruder (cr m4) have rarely ever skipped or clogged due to their extruder design. I feel like newer high end machines have prioritized quick nozzle swaps and high flow hotends which tend to be less ideal for non rigid materials

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

That’s an interesting point Probably the best extruder for flexibles is from Microswiss, the NG.

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

It takes seconds to open and clear the filament path

[@girenloland]

Just print a small filter with a piece of sponge inside. A lot of ready to print models online. I haven't had a clog in 3 years

[@stldenise]

Time to bring back the filament oiler! (Maybe minus the oil…)

[@taylorkun3702]

I like to use those power cable filter boxes clamped around the incoming filament. I take out the ferrous material and replace it with some medium density foam, to wipe the filament before it goes into extruder =) The little box looks super clean and haven't had many issues over the last 10 years with clogged nozzles.

[@SuperYanhan]

Clog on nozzle? It's like dinosaur age problem😂

[@godfreytube]

That looked like a pretty cool little "Polar 3D" printer you had in the background 😁

[@mikko3d]

I might have had a nozzle clog once or twice with my ender 3 pro. I keep a thin transparent plastic bag over the spool on the printer to keep dust away.

[@hellothere6627]

Why did you not test wiping the filament to see if it can clean the filament?

[@IceCat143]

I was wondering why I never had a clogged nozzle. Probably because I vacuum everyday and I have an air purifier.

[@3707_here]

I wonder if I can use some micro-Fiber cloth and stuff it into the MK4s spool holder filament guide to clean the filament inline.

[@kitcarlson6033]

I had clogged nozzle after switching from Cura to Orca slicer. It was default end of print Gcode, with 38mm retaction. It must have been for multii material application. Revised end of print retraction to 2mm, all fixed.

[@MrGarkin]

Beard trimmer without any attachments gives me a nice clean stubble. Couple of minutes, dry trimming, aftershave lotion without alcohol, 1-2 times a week. I prefer wired one, creates a cast-in-metal routine without low-charge error path. Totaly ruined any kind of shaving for me. Several times faster than electric shaving after getting some experience.

[@freedomofmotion]

TPU straight out the bag will clog my CHT style nozzles 😭

[@TNX255]

Washing your filament is probably not that dumb of an idea really, as long as you're careful not to break it and dry it after.

[@marc_frank]

how do you like the Qidi Plus4?

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

I don’t think it’s super relevant Wait just watched some videos Seems nice but they still has a plasticky glued together look to it

[@simbian5900]

here in sweden a brand new 1kg filament costs around 25-30$ :(

[@audrinaashley9203]

What? Store filament in a clean container? Nah, Nathan Builds Robots University needs to formulate a dust resistant filament, *that* is the simplest way to prevent clogged nozzles.

[@3707_here]

I literally never had a real clog in my 1,5 years of 3d printing LOL. And a few months ago the anycubic at my Makerspace didn’t work, so I did a coldpull and there was a blue piece of silicone.

[@BitterCynical]

Haven't had clogging issues yet but a couple of my spools have probably accumulated a bit of dust. I'm thinking about doing the inline sponge cleaner which should be fine for smooth filament but I'm a bit worried about the carbon fiber pla which feels like sand paper to the touch. Since abrasive filaments can quickly wear out brass nozzles I'm worried that using a sponge on them would just leave a lot of sponge particles on the filament instead possibly making the problem even worse depending on what the sponge material is.

[@hamps856]

the 1st rule of 3D printing...don't drop your filament in a stream..

[@ahosie]

Hook line and sinker with one frame. Kudos, but no, no please no don't hack me like that

[@NoMercyFtw]

Yeah I've never had a clogged nozzle not once and I always wondered what they were doing wrong or what I was doing right

[@ZappyOh]

Without a clock, how do you tell time?

[@NoMercyFtw]

@@ZappyOh how does it correct clogged nozzle to clock no, sometimes auto anything is just wrong lol

[@someonenormal5579]

how would you attach an inline filter in AMS when it rolls back and forth. Wont the spool just roll back at some point and take the filter with it? =D

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Probably, but there might be enough clearance if you made a custom low profile one out of a piece of shrink tubing or soldering. Best route is to loads spool and leave the spool in there until it’s empty

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Or maybe even put it in the middle of one of the Bowden tubes that is on the other side of the buffer

[@someonenormal5579]

@@NathanBuildsRobots I've been pondering this problem for a while and there are some models that install directly on the feeding hole in AMS, but it proved to be hard to work with. Apart from that there is no way to isntall filter securely. In bowden behind the ams would be the most practical way, but how would one go about it as the filament goes in and out and may catch on the sponge inside and drag it all the way into the hotend. Technically if there was a piece of bowden tube which has holes on the sides small enough for the sponge to touc hthe filament but the filamnet would still go through - that would be it probabbly.

[@3DandTeePrinting]

Yea! Yeah! It finally uploaded

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

It i only took 12 hrs to upload 😵

[@bryanfoster362]

Maybe you got dirt in your internet ☺️

[@waldolemmer]

*your Fun fact: the algorithm hates high CTR videos with low retention

[@NavySturmGewehr]

oh man, perfect thumbnail, I had to click it just to complain about your verse you're!

[@jackolantern610]

Man you ARE FUNNNNY!!! I’m even more jealous now

[@shababhsiddique]

Dirt? What are you talking about that is ABS-Earth better than ABS-CF. On a serious note i had a un attended nozzle clog on my ender 3 s1 before , the extruder grinded the filament so much that the clog pressure and the heat expanded the ptfe tube on the extruder. i was surprised it didnt get a blob of death instead.

[@menicman7044]

Yr’oue*

[@ZekeTrimmer]

Saw the community post literally seconds ago

[@jackolantern610]

I love this channel. I have great materials science idea for a video using the polar printer - are there any materials engineering creators or friends you could collab with ?

[@TheGuilev]

100k$ per year to become student at Nathan's university , that's a good deal !

[@jeremybodell3619]

Can I just get the steak without the classes?

[@whatsup3d]

Your not You're. 🙂

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Thanks for commenting like and subscribe 🎉🎉🎉

[@error-hj4ik]

I think we've been baited. This guy is too smart to know it's not "Clean 'you are' filament".

[@andyburns]

It create's engagement 😂

[@error-hj4ik]

@@andyburns yup, he got us to watch the video AND comment. What a clever trickster.

[@noahcwb]

He fell for it!

[@RhamonGB]

I ain't

[@moth.monster]

*yu`ore

[@_B_K_]

Clean You're Filament? I'm a Filament? Hmm... that changes everything.. what do I do now?

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

According to string theory, we’re all filament

[@H1nD009]

@@NathanBuildsRobots We are all god's benchys

[@_B_K_]

@@NathanBuildsRobots I'm a teapot.

[@fiskfisk33]

I'm filament aparently :D

[@TheMugwump1]

YOAR!

[@tjstrongbone5373]

one issue is grammar

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

Dust in my keyboard caused a key jam and put an apostrophe in there

[@tjstrongbone5373]

@@NathanBuildsRobots and the E ? Fat fingers? LOL, . Like your work!

[@acolyte8564]

* ur

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

You’re a filament!

[@Glow-n16]

Your