Handle for 3D print nozzle unclogging needle (and hole gauge)

cults3d

A 3D printed handle for securing a needle or thin wire while unclogging a jammed printhead nozzle. Sometimes the nozzle of your 3D printer can become clogged when for instance a foreign dust particle travels with the filament down to the thin extrusion tip where it gets stuck. There are several ways to solve this. One of the simplest is just to put your 3D printer in preheat-mode and push a thin wire through the nozzle, thus cleaning out whatever jammed it. This 3D-printable handle comes in several wire-hole sizes as well as a thin-hole 3D-pring gauge so that you can easily find out what the smallest printable hole is, depending on your current print settings. Appart from the metal wire and the handle itself, you can use a scrap length of 1.75 mm filament to jam the wire into place. Please see the instructions below. To get hold of a thin metal wire just look around and harvest it from several every-day items, such as the thinnest string on a guitar with metal strings. Make sure that the wire is somewhat thinner then the nozzle bore hole. A common size is 0.4 mm, so a suitable wire should measure 0.3 mm. Use a calliper to find out the exact width of your wire. This tool can also be used to measure the distance of melted plastic filament and find out at what height the plastic starts to become solid. It is useful for trouble shooting and temperature print setting adjustments. To prevent clogging happening at all we recommend to protect the entrance opening of your 3D printers filament. This can be made by this simple 3D-printable filter: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:52203 Short video of 3D print: http://youtu.be/bl6ZIT-oAtE Make sure to use common sense when unclogging your 3D printer with a wire. Don't touch the hot tip with your fingers to avoid getting burned. Also make sure not to wreck your machine and consult your manual and supplier if in doubt. By Creative Tools Home - Things (http://www.thingiverse.com/CreativeTools/designs) - GooglePlus - Twitter - Facebook - Youtube - Instructables - Instagram - Flickr - Vimeo - LinkedIn