upwards and will be on the left side of the reel, where it needs to go through the hole in
the black filament guide arm. Feed it through that hole, and bring it forward toward the
extruder.
●
You don’t need to put it over the pulley until you have fed it into the extruder, although
you may do so.
Trimming the Filament
●
If the end of the filament is irregular, bent or blobbed, then you must trim it using the
handy filament cutter that is mounted on the upper cross bar. Swipe the filament through
the gap in the cutter, holding both sides.
Feeding Filament Into the Extruder
●
Press down firmly on the left end of the yellow lever, so that it goes down, which moves
the drive pressure ball bearing away from the filament drive wheel and lets the flament
past. Push the filament down through the hole in the top of the lever, and ensure that it
goes all the way down and into the filament tube that is just below the drive wheel. It
should go into the tube at least an inch.
●
Push the filament, still holding the lever down, until it won’t easily go any further. It
should go in about two inches (5 cm), and if the head is up to temperature, continued
steady pressure will make melted filament ooze out of the nozzle.
●
Let go of the lever.
Closing the Filament Detector
●
Hook the filament over the pulley and move the pulley and filament together up toward
the switch.
●
Its magnets should pull it into position with a firm click.
●
Pronterface should display “Filament OK”.
Ensuring the Filament is Ready
●
Using Pronterface, set the head temperature to 230 C (ABS). That’s as hot as a stovetop
element. It will cause severe burns if you touch it, even momentarily.
●
You can also set the bed warming to 110 C if you want to cut a little waiting time off the
print. The bed gets hot enough to boil water. Don’t touch it!
●
Click the checkbox in Pronterface labeled “Monitor Printer”. It will start updating the
temperature displays every few seconds.
●
Once the head is up to temperature, press the “Extrude” button. The filament drive gear
should turn with a little hum, some filament should be drawn into the extruder, and a bit
of plastic may come out of the nozzle.
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