MakerGear Forum

Hello,

I am about to finish up my very first PLA filament roll and need to get ready to reload a fresh PLA roll. I searched the web and I see that there are multiple ways of reloading filament but what I would like to know is the preferred and safest way for beginners to reload filament on an M2 machine?

I have never done this before so I am not sure what to expect, the one thing I dont want to do is to cut corners and end up needing to take the machine apart to fix the problem. I realize that eventually I will need to take things apart but I would prefer to wait a little longer before I end up needing to do that.

Thanks.

If you are not trying to do it in the middle of a print, it's very easy:

1. Cut a flat end on the new spool of filament. (Make sure you get past any tape or stickiness on the filament from stickers.)
2. Gently straighten out about the first 4 inches of the filament. It makes it easier to feed.
(Also make sure you don't let go of the end of the filament on the spool, it can cause kickback and tangles to develop inside of the spool where you can't see them. Clip the cut end to the spool when you are not using it.)

2. Heat up the machine nozzle to extrusion temperatures for PLA.
3. Go into the Machine Control Panel in your slicer software and use the Jog Controls to reverse the filament out of the machine. (It takes about 50 mm to reverse it out completely. Don't worry about long stringers that come out after it, just pull it out at the top.) Clip the end to the old spool and set it aside.

4. Put the new spool on the holder with the filament unwinding towards the back (from underneath the spool). Thread the flat end of the filament up through the filament guide, through the clear tubing and into the hole at the top of the filament drive. Push it down as far as it will go.

5. If the nozzle is still heated, you can use the Jog Controls to advance the filament into the machine. (Extrude about 10-20 mm at a time, for a total of about 50 or 60 mm.) Sometimes it helps to keep a light downward pressure on the end of the filament to get it started while you are jogging those controls. You will feel it catch and start to move into the Drive.

That's it....extrude enough filament to push the old color out of the nozzle, and when you see the new color start, it's ready to go.

Depending on where you live (particularly if it's a humid environment), you should not leave the spool of PLA on the machine when you're not using it. You should store it in an air-tight environment if you can. it gets brittle when it gets old if it has been exposed to too much humidity, and it can break off inside the drive.

So you should get lots of experience taking the spool off and putting it on. Good luck with it!

You cut the end flat when reloading? I've seen recommendations to cut at an angle to ease feeding, and have always done that except when trying to save a print by hand feeding a second spool into a running job (never works, by the way).

Yeah flat works for me. (Angled cuts get misaligned more often than not. Might be the spacing between the drive and the gear in the new machines.)

Jules,

Thank you for the very detailed explanation, it was very helpful..... unfortunately for me, the time finally came to change the filament and despite your great instructions the inevitable ended up happening... I still ended up screwing things up.

Specifically, somehow, I ended up with a piece of filament stuck between the hot end and the filament drive (exactly what I was trying to avoid), luckily, I remembered having read a post from someone else that had the same thing happened to him so I followed the solutions suggested on that post and I was able to recover.

Things that I learned:

1) Be careful when removing the bolt that attaches the fan to the extruder, there is a washer between the fan and the fan cover, if you have no idea what you are doing (like me) you will be left wondering where did that washer come from after you see it drop off.

2) Don't mess around with the idler adjustment bolt, it will be loose when there is no filament and if you mess with it you will mess up the gap setting (not good if you are like me and have no idea how to reset it).

3) Don't forget to thread the new filament through the filament guide tube, it sucks to have to redo everything again if you forget .

I am still somewhat concerned about the retraction step, it seems like if I retract the filament too fast or too much it may be possible that the melted plastic may ride up into the filament drive, cool down and clog the thing. I really have no idea if that could happen or not but it looks like it's possible.

Anyway, it was a good learning experience and I am definitely a lot more comfortable with the procedure now that I have gone through the whole experience.

Thanks.

Practice doing it a few times and you'll get more comfortable with it.....you really can't break anything - the worst that can happen is you feed it wrong and have to back it out.

When you feed it in, do it in steps of 10 mm or so, and if it's not moving forward, STOP, retract it and try again with a fresh flat cut on the end.

It sometimes helps to guide it in with slight downward pressure.