Having Someone to Bounce Ideas Off

I have been trying to keep my 3D printer going since I did my first print in over a year. I have been somewhat successful and am starting a new project. The reason you want to keep printing once you start is that the plastic filament used in the printer does not have a very long shelf life. Once you break the vacuum-sealed bag, you only have a month or two before it becomes brittle and breaks easily. That means I need to print a full kilogram of PLA filament.

Not all of my print jobs have gone without issues. I can print about 2 of the ornaments in the link above before something goes wrong. My latest problem is that the memory card that I use in my printer somehow gets corrupted. The print files contain GCODE that tells the printer what to do. When the memory card gets corrupted, the printer starts doing funny things. Most of the time it just prints a tangled mess of plastic. The most recent corruption managed to clog my print nozzle and I had to disassemble the print head to clean the nozzle and remove the clog. Then I just removed the print file from the card and recopied the GCODE file from my computer.

This morning I talked with my son who also managed to clog his 3D printer. We have similar printers and so I asked how he fixed his clog. He ended up having to put his print nozzle in the oven to heat it up and melt the plastic inside. I explained a trick I used and he thought it worthy of trying. My clog was bad enough that I pulled out a drill bit and rolled it between my finger and thumb to break through the clog. My son remarked that the drill bit could damage the print head. I stressed the importance of not putting the bit in an actual drill or that would cause damage. Controlling everything with my thumb and finger made it light enough not to damage any part of the printer. My son felt it was worth a shot.

Normally I will go to my son when I have a problem with my 3D printer. This is the first time I have been able to provide advice. Sometimes having someone that you can talk problems through will help you come up with your own solution. Other times a seemingly novice will have enough of a different perspective to suggest something that you would not have thought about. This second case is what happened today. I'll be interested to hear back from him to see how the drill bit worked.