Can't get filament to retract

[mehmeh]

I was trying to put in new filament today (PLA), and it wouldn't extrude, so I retracted the filament and tried clipping the end again and refeeding it. No luck. But now my filment seems stuck. I can't retract it out anymore, nor will it extrude any. It's really stuck in there.

[Jules]

Something to try......Loosen the tension on the screw at the top and give a slow, steady pull while the nozzle is heated. You might have stripped the filament.
(And you might need to increase your temperature a little for the nozzle.)

[mehmeh]

I tried that a couple times. Is it possible that the plastic fused in the drive?

[Jules]

Might have gotten clogged inside the barrel - are you running a V3B? At what temp?

[Jules]

The plastic did not likely fuse into the drive - there's nothing in there that gets hot enough to melt it. But it can get very thoroughly stuck.

If you can't remove the filament by bringing the nozzle up to full PLA temp and pulling (hard but steady) on the top of the filament where it goes into the filament drive - you might need to disassemble it and get it unjammed in the drive.

Basically you'll just turn off the extruder and the fans, unscrew the one screw that holds the extruder fan in place, and set both fans aside (no need to disconnect, but do turn them off). Then you can see what is going on in the drive.

[mehmeh]

Okay I got it working. There was a pretty big clump of plastic balled up on the filament in the motor gear cavity that wouldn't let it extrude or retract. Cut that out and redid everything.

Thanks guys.

[Jules]

Good deal!

[jimc]

not uncommon at all. when you get a jam just take the small hex driver and remove the filament drive from the motor. cut the filament with an exacto knife using the bearing to cut against. pull the filament out the top and grab the lower piece with a painr of needle nose and pull that out. pop the drive back on and your good to go.

[wmgeorge]

Well I had my first Jam today and there is no resource in the Quick start manual for How to Fix a Jam. With both of my TAZ printers it was loosen two allen screws and its all right there. Not so it seemed with the M2, not a clue anyplace until I found this Thread.

Its really pretty simple and straight forward once you read some instruction. One allen screw to remove the fans and two more if needed to remove in my case the plastic block housing the ball bearing and filament guide.

Mine was jammed so bad I had to literally cut the jammed filament out with a miniature set of side cutting pliers, so now I know. It was stuck inside the nozzle that fed the V4 heater, heat creep I assume so I moved the extruder fan more directly in line with that plastic guide extruder.

[sthone]

It was stuck inside the nozzle that fed the V4 heater, heat creep I assume so I moved the extruder fan more directly in line with that plastic guide extruder.

You shouldn't get heat creep with the V4 as the filament drive is separated from the hotend. (I've run mine without the extruder fan even and still no creep) make sure the pointed cone end of the filament drive doesn't touch the mount/hot end, there should be a space between the two as seen below. (I see people make this mistake a lot with the V4)