Stripping pipe cleaners for wire to clear nozzle clogs

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Had a couple days of idling to maintain progress on a larger build until more filament arrived (I don’t have a local 3D printer store but now I’m interested in starting one as well as developing a DIY recyclable filament process!) without realizing this could gunk up the nozzle from overheating the stationary remaining filament.

Tried a few different things but when I believed it was working the machine was not reading that filament was loaded so figured there still was an obstruction.

Upon looking into solutions it seemed acupuncture needles were the recommended first start and while on hold for 30 minutes with asian market store I went through all my drawers to find a few possible alternatives and went with a pipe cleaner. By taking the fabric material from the interlocking wires of a pipe cleaner seemed to make the most sense and left me with two thin wires to work with.

I’m up and printing again!
I went from the bottom up first all the way through the top feed and rotated it a lot while flossing, I think perhaps the small bends work better than a straight metal needle and the ability to bring it up and down manually also helped.
Using a couple needle nose pliers then applying outward pressure on either end allowed me to straighten the wires as desired

Thought I would share, if this was a fluke or an unnecessary risk I’d be grateful to know as well!

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Welders keep torch tip cleaners around. Just be aware that torch nozzles are generally a lot harder than brass. My tip cleaners are some kind of steel, so they’ll chew up brass if you’re not careful. Amazon has them, or your local welding supply store will have them (no need to call ahead). Your local auto parts, tractor parts, or farm store might have them too (I’d call before driving around).

Worst case, order a replacement nozzle off Amazon. The forums have lots of suggestions for replacement nozzles. Most are cheap enough to keep a couple spares on hand.

Congrats on finding your own solution!

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Old guitar (banjo, mandolin, etc) strings work well too.

-S

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Try Electric guitar strings; high 3 strings are usually unwound bare piano wire, which is quite strong. You should be able to find an appropriate gauge wire by measuring the nozzle internal diameter and asking for a string gauge that is slightly smaller (you don’t want to risk enlarging the nozzle’s extrusion bore diameter).