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Mini Bowden tube is jammed  

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yankee
(@yankee)
New Member
Mini Bowden tube is jammed

I have been happily using my new Mini for three months, but then cold weather hit and my printer, in the garage, started developing spaghetti monster problems.  I fixed that with a small space heater to bathe the printer area with enough heat to raise the environment to over 20 deg C.  Problem solved.

But yesterday, about five minutes into a small plot, it stopped extruding PLA material.  After reading everything I could find on the subject, I discovered that the PLA material was jammed inside the Bowden tube (see photo--if it attached.  The 'insert into post' is grayed out).  It looks like the PLA got deformed by the feeding gear but managed to make it as far as the other end of the tube, where it is now jammed solidly, and it even deformed the tube slightly (the brass nut shown cannot move any farther to the right due to the bulge in the tube).

So, causation issues aside, it appears to me that the tube is, well, hosed.  Any suggestions on how to get the PLA out of the tube?  Do I need a new tube anyway?  What is the Prusa part number for it?  I can't seem to find anything that matches, exactly.

This topic was modified 3 years ago 2 times by yankee
Posted : 13/12/2020 10:43 pm
yankee
(@yankee)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Mini Bowden tube is jammed

Posted : 13/12/2020 10:50 pm
yankee
(@yankee)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Mini Bowden tube is jammed

Ah!  I finally answered my own question.  It took awhile to find it, but Prusa has published exactly what I needed to know:

https://help.prusa3d.com/en/guide/how-to-replace-a-bowden-ptfe-tube-mini_142572

It covers both how to rebuild a tube with fittings and also where to find the replacement part.

Posted : 13/12/2020 11:58 pm
Patric
(@patric)
Active Member
RE: Mini Bowden tube is jammed

@yankee

Hi, maybe the tube is not lost. PTFE can get heated up a lot. Maybe with a hair dryer you can heat up the tube and the filament together to pull it out? It's worth a try...

Posted : 28/12/2020 8:44 am
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