How to change the extruder nozzle

If you change your nozzle to a size other than 0.4mm, you will not be able to use your Me3D printer with BuildBee software.

When to change the extruder nozzle

You may need to change your extruder nozzle from time to time, whether you're experimenting with your printing or your old nozzle is jammed up. Either way, we love to encourage people to develop their skills and make, break and fix their own things. If you’ve got the time and inclination, it may be worth trying to fix it yourself first!

What do I need?

- A pair of multi grips.

- Tweezers or needle-nose pliers.

- 7mm spanner (included in you printers maintenance kit).

- A replacement nozzle (0.2mm - 0.8mm).

- Heat-resistant gloves (recommended).

 

How to change the extruder nozzle

We recommend you wear heat resistant gloves during this process as the nozzle and heater block must be hot to ensure an effective seal between the nozzle and filament feed tube.

Step 1 - Preheat your printer

- Connect your Me2 printer to BuildBee and raise the print head off the bed using the maintenance console.
- Set your extruders temperature to 220°C using the manual controls to preheat.

Step 2 - Remove the old nozzle

- Raise extruder up off the bed and extend X axis (extruder arm) forward so you can comfortably access the nozzle. Place a box underneath the X axis to prop it up.
- Apply multigrips carefully to the sides of the yellow heat block. Grip firmly, but be careful not to crush or rip the insulation.
- With your 7mm spanner, carefully turn the extruder nozzle anti-clockwise until it comes free. Place the loose tip on a heat resistant surface to cool down.

We recommend having something underneath to catch the hot nozzle.

Step 3 - Fit the new nozzle

- With the tweezers/needle nose pliers, screw the new extruder nozzle on a few turns to get it started.
- Apply the multigrips to the yellow heat block again, and using the spanner or socket wrench, turn the nozzle clockwise until it tightens against the end of the feedtube inside the heater block.

Make sure that the nozzle has not tightened against the heater block itself, as this will result in a bad seal and possible leakage of molten plastic while printing.

- Once everything is back together, you may carefully remove the box and return the extruder head to home.

- Before turning off the heat, continue on to the next step.

Step 4 - Calibrate your Z offset

Before going back into printing, you will have to calibrate your Z offset again, as the new extruder will have a slightly different offset.

Follow the steps in the Calibrating your Z-Offset help article.

• Related Articles

• How to replace your extruder

  This help article will take you through the steps of replacing your extruder after you've bought a new one from us.  Please dispose of your old extruder responsibly. Alternatively, return it to us and we can dispose of it for you.   What do I need? - ...

• Nozzle Height

  Having the correct extruder nozzle height is essential for high quality 3D printing. If the extruder nozzle is too high, your filament will extrude into the air, leading to poor adhesion onto the print bed and poor print quality. Having the extruder ...

• Cleaning the extruder nozzle

  Regularly cleaning and performing some basic maintenance on your extruder will help to maximise the lifetime of this hard-working part of your printer.     What do I need? - Scouring pad (scotch brite or similar). How to clean the extruder nozzle ...

• Extruder Makes a Clunking Sound

  The clunking sound comes from the stepper motor in the extruder head skipping because it’s overloaded - in other words it’s taking too much effort to push fresh filament into the hot-end, melt it and extrude it onto the build surface. This can result ...

• Replacing your print bed surface

  The print bed surface, will need to be changed at some point as it will eventually lose its stick over time due to use and general wear and tear. You will need to change the print bed sheet if damage has occurred as a result of hot extruder ...