Hello, I have built a 3D printer out of parts from my tip, a ramps board, arduino mega, and a hot end. However, after doing a test extrusion some plastic was spewed out and then the print jammed un-expectantly and the my homemade extruder n longer had the strength to push the filament. I took the filament out and what I found was that the filament going into the extruder had formed a cylinder at the end. Then after pushing the filament through by hand to eliminate the possibility of my weak extruder, I found that the filament was expanding coming out of the filament, and then cooling down unable to go through. I cut the filament, removing the bloated end, pushed it back into the extruder and then again after 30 seconds the same problem occurred.

After researching, I came tot eh conclusion that maybe their is a gap allowing filament to go out of the heating area, expand and then cool down. But I am not sure.

I am becoming frustrated as I am doing this for a school project and I only have two weeks left to finish, and so any help would be much appreciated.

For reference this is my hotend: Amazon.co.uk.

I brought the cheapest one available on amazon, so it has no fan and no way to connect a bowden tube. I have created a basic adapter between the thread and a bowden tube holder, out of wood. It’s not good but it does the job.

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