Filament stuck?

[ThatDirectorGuy]

I am trying to change filament on my Rostock Max v2 however the filament has gone down the tube beyond the extruder wheel.. I took off the gold nub push fit that screws into the stepper motor there. But I cant pull the filament out that way it seems and I cant take the gold nub push fit off the plastic tube either. Any help would be great.

[Mac The Knife]

You could unthread the other coupler from the hot end also.

[gestalt73]

I ran in the same types of things early on, and lost alot of time because I didn't really know the "best" way to change filament between jobs.

To answer your question, really the only way to get the filament out now, would be to remove your bowden tube on both ends, head your hotend (220 for ABS, 180? for PLA), remove the filament from the hotend, cool down, and reassemble. Not a big deal, but do it too many times and your bowden fittings will break. (meaning that they'll be unable to hold the bowden tube, and most likely send tiny bits of metal down into the hot end. not fun)

Now, whenever I need to change filament, I heat up the hotend, and once it reaches temperature, just press down on the red lever on the extruder and gently pull the filament out that way. I usually just hold the button down and wind the filament back onto the spool. easy-peasy.

Now the only reasons I have to disassemble the bowden is if I'm changing out hot ends, or "something bad happened (tm)".