Swapping Between Filament Types

Owned by Riley gunn
Last updated: Aug 30, 2023
2 min read

There are 3 different ways to swap between materials types.

Each way has its own pros and cons. It is your judgement to evaluate which is best for you. It is recommended to keep track of the filament type in any of the components that have been printing so that you can reinstall it in the future when swapping back.

 

Nozzle Swap

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxFBfW3PUHE&t=11s&ab_channel=PantheonDesign

  • Low time intensive

  • Low labor intensive

  • Low cost intensive

  • Potential risk of clogging

  1. Move the axes to X150 Y150 Z300. This will give you working room to remove the nozzle.

  2. Heat the printhead to 100C. This will soften the material inside the hotend and make it easier to remove the nozzle.

  3. Using a 7mm nut driver, remove the nozzle.

  4. Heat the printhead to the printing temperature of the material currently in the hotend.

  5. Feed the new material into the printhead and run the “LOAD” macro at least 3 times or as many as it takes to see the new material. This will push out the old material in the hotend.

  6. Using tweezers or pliers, remove the extruded material.

  7. Install the new nozzle.

Least recommended.

When swapping between different types of filament (e.g. Nylon to PETG, or vice versa), it is important to purge the Hotend of the old material and swap nozzles. If new material is loaded without removing the nozzle, the previous material will contaminate the new nozzle orifice and dwell inside the Hotend, leading to jams.

Print Core Swap

  • High time intensive

  • High labor intensive

  • Medium cost intensive

  • Zero risk of clogging

How to Replace a Hot End

Recommended if you don’t have a spare printhead.

Printhead Swap

  • Low time intensive

  • Medium labor intensive

  • High cost intensive

  • Zero risk of clogging

Install and Remove A Printhead

Most recommended procedure.

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