Hotend Jam

[bryantp]

Hello,

My hot end finally jammed after doing many prints. Nothing is extruding even when I rotate the extruder stepper by hand so if feels like there is a jam inside. I have taken most of the hotend apart, but I don't know how to disassemble the final piece.

Here is am image of my entire hotend.

How do I separate the 3 pieces? I saw from other threads that you heat the hotend up with a blow torch to melt the PLA out, but is it safe to do that to the bottom part with all the electrical components? Still new to 3D printing and I am impressed with my Orion so far. This is the first time it has jammed.

Last thing. What are the electronic components on the bottom of the hot end? I assume they are responsible for heating the hotend up and monitoring the temperature but I wanted to know which was which.

Thanks

[Holy1]

The parts unscrew. You can unscrew the nozzle at the bottom with a 3/8 wrench. That is the part that usually get jammed up. The tan part in the middle of the 2 aluminium parts is plastic, threaded and kind of brittle so be careful. You really only need to remove the nozzle, there is an inner plastic tube, ( same as the bowden tube) that pushes into the nozzle and will probably come out with the nozzle. If it doesn't come out you can press it out to inspect that it isn't clogged .
There is a thermistor ( it measures the temperature of the hotend) in between 2 resistors ( they do the heating) on the bottom of the hot end. Be careful as the thermistor is only glued in place with the silicone.

[bryantp]

Thanks.

Do I need to heat anything up to get the jam out? If I do have to heat anything, is further disassembly of the hotend required?

[DavidF]

Before you totally disassemble the hot end, try cutting yourself about 6 pieces of filament 6" long. With the hot end up to temp try pushing the filament in and pulling it back out real quick. Use each end only once. I have found this clears a lot of my jams without having to do any more than pull the bowden tube.
Push the filament in as if your trying to extruder it, if it doesn't go yank it out fast.
Having a higher than normal temp on the hot end while your doing it.

[bryantp]

Well, I ended up taking apart the hot end. Used a heat gun and I was able to take DavidF to a degree and push it through.

Thanks for all your help.