For a video tutorial, please click here.
Little bits of hardened filament can sometimes prevent good extrusion. To unclog the nozzle of hardened filament, press "food" on the Toybox LCD screen and wait for it heat up. Once heated, press "unclog" in the top left corner. If you're not seeing an "unclog" button, just do a quick update. You can click here for update instructions.
Wait for it to heat up to 230°C. Once heated, it will instruct you to push filament into the nozzle. You can apply a fair amount of force. Don't worry--it will not damage the extruder. After pushing new filament out of the nozzle, you can click "x" and resume printing.
Comments
12 comments
What the heck is a cleaning tool and how do I get one? The filament will not work.
Mine keeps asking tool. As far as I know, it did not come with any tools at all day using it and it’s already a bust.
Same thing here, no tool, clogged immediately, ruined Christmas, what a bust this has been so far. Reading these comments, wondering if we all got a faulty batch. Now I have to spend time exchanging, waiting, crossing fingers the next one works, and winter vacation will be over….
I was able to disassemble it and unclog it. It is a total of 6 small screws. There are some helpful videos online. That is what the tools are for. Take pictures as you go along. There is a white piece that pulls apart once you get it open, that is where ours was clogged. Good luck.
Extruder tool… no idea what that is, but the tiny tiny Allen wrench fits through and can try that… or just trying to push the filament through. Also check if the filament is straight.. if it’s curved in anyway, it won’t go straight… last thing is take the whole inside extruder apart.. there’s a YouTube video on it.. and that’s why it comes with those Allan wrenches.. pain in the ass to have to do that, but if there’s a glob stuck, it’ll be the only way to get it out..
Sorry there is no extruder tool with this set! Frustrating because your unc process does not work. Disappointing as a gift for kids who make one item and then it stops working. The filament will not insert far after it warmed up. Not impressed!
In my case it was wrapped around a tiny while plastic box that I had removed. I am not sure an extruder would have been able to get it out. Disassembling the white case around the printing piece was not very difficult; however, a schematic and clear instructions would have made it so much easier. I have not been able to find anything on the website. The video I found on YouTube was very helpful but it must have been an older model so it didn't match up 100%. Toybox really should include a one page diagram on how to do this, especially since they include the tools. So basically, it is fairly simple to remove the white case and clear it out, but the lack of clear instructions makes it more complicated than it needs to be.
Same problem for me, ran the unclog procedure and pushed the tool through, a bit came out but obviously still blocked so I need to take the case apart. Can someone drop a link to the help videos they found online how to do this?
Thanks in advance!
Update - Managed to Fix mine
There was a tiny bit of dried filament above the heater which did not heat up during the unclog process and therefor couldn’t push through with the unclog tool or filament.
Had to remove a total of 6 screws, 4 were hex head, 2 were cross head. Had to take the fan off then the feed assembly to get at the grommet that was clogged. Once that was cleared, put it all back together and runs fine again.
Ran the unclog sequence again and pressed insert food a few times to clear it through properly.
All good now.
Add another one to the list. I got the alpha 3 for my daughter for Christmas. By 12/27 it was clogged I was able to fix it with the unclog feature. It clogged again last night and now we can not get it to unclog. I will try disassembly and update if that works.
Update:
Turns out my machine was not clogged. I disassembled the unit as described in the YouTube videos. I removed the fan and the white box shown in the photo attached. I then tried to run filament through manually and it worked without issue. The white box is two plastics pieces that come apart easily. Once apart, I could see that a piece of printer food had jammed around the silver gear inside the white box. I carefully remove the gear and then cleaned the gear and reassembled. The printer is now running perfectly as we speak. I hope this helps someone.
Same issue here. Would love some insight on how to address this
I have the same problem with my son’s Alpha 3. I for the life of me cannot push new food into it. I’ve now bought a cleaning Rod I’ll report back once I get it. Really a huge disappointment that it doesn’t come with the tool that you tell people to use.
EDIT: I bought a cleaning tool off Amazon and that fixed my issue. It should still come with one imho
Quick update: we figured out that if you trim the end of the new spool of food, and do the input process twice while pushing the food in, it seems to work well!
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