I feel dumb asking this but I'd rather find out the easy way :).

3D Printing
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1

I feel dumb asking this but I’d rather find out the easy way :). If I print a higher-temp plastic, how do I switch back to a lower-temp one?

In other words, what’s the best way to clear the nozzle w/o boiling the lower-temp plastic?

2

Taulman nylon. As recommended by @Whosa_whatsis

3

If there’s not much of the old plastic in the nozzle, do a test print with the nozzle temp high on the first layer and at the lower temps after.

4

I almost always let the nozzle cool down, bring it back up to glass transition and pull it out. Typically brings everything including the nozzle plastic. Or I run it at higher temp and shove stuff through.

5

Normally, you set it to the higher of the extrusion temperatures for the two filaments and run the new plastic through until you don’t see any of the old one in it. You can also do a cold-pull to clean out the nozzle entirely before loading the new material. Instructions here: http://bukobot.com/nozzle-cleaning

Of course, if your two materials are, for instance, polycarbonate (very high temperature) and polycaprolactone (very low temperature) or a material like PVA or Laywood that is known to be sensitive to overheating, you should either clean out the nozzle in between or use a material like ABS with an intermediate temperature to clear out the first one.

6

Thanks for the tips, I normally print with PLA but I’ve got a spool of t-glase I’m itching to play with :slight_smile: