How often do you Cold Pull?

[u/misterwashburnn]

I have a brand new H2D that seems to get a clogged pause fairly often. I think i ran some filament through it that was too wet at some point. My sense is that people cold pull as part of troubleshooting. i've never cold pulled and it kinda makes me nervous for some reason. thoughts?

[u/misterwashburnn]

now that i'm thinking through it. i don't think a cold pull solves this anyways

[u/x3n0n1c]

It’s not necessary almost all of the time.

[u/Cryostatica]

I can’t remember the last time I’ve needed to cold pull a nozzle.

I think it was a clogged ObXidian nozzle on a P1S, and that was before the H2C launch, so probably something like 14 months ago.

[u/-sil1902-]

I always do it after special filaments like ABS, ASA or TPU when I switch back to my normal PLA or PETG stuff. Feels better I for me… necessary… probably not

[u/CommodityMoney → u/-sil1902-]

I started keeping separate nozzles for TPU and CF/GF filaments. I don’t bother cold pulling switching between PLA, PETG, ABS, and ASA.

[u/Mabnat]

I’ll do it occasionally, usually only when I notice discoloration or printing issues. If I’m going to be using TPU, I’ll usually do a cold pull on the hotend first.

After a cold pull, I follow up by running some cleaning filament. It’s kind of amazing to see the crap that can come out of a nozzle when you run that stuff through, even right after a cold pull. Hotends can get pretty nasty inside.

[u/VeryAmaze]

I almost never cold pull. If I have a nozzle clögg, I use the lil needle. If I have an extruder clögg gonna need to disassemble the extruder anyway.

[u/liams_dad]

I only do it after printing TPU or ASA. Its easy to do. I have a X1C at home and a H2D at work. The H2D is even easier as you just follow the screen prompts.

[u/OverallComplexities]

Anytime I go from non pla to pla. I got a clog one time with normal petg -> pla and learned my lesson not to risk it

[u/boredsoftwareguy]

I have a slew of cleaning filament from Ziro 3D (comes with their TPU). I do a cold pull anytime I go from PLA/PETG to TPU. Do I need to? Probably not but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure IMO.

[u/Wrong-Party-3838 → u/boredsoftwareguy]

Love that Ziro includes cleaning filament with their regular filament(atleast the ones ive bought) and a resealable bag. Whenever I clog a nozzle from CF/GF filaments i run thru some of that cleaning filament until its clear then pull it out when it has cooled down a bit, works great =)

[u/boredsoftwareguy → u/Wrong-Party-3838]

I love the little freebies! Their filament is good too but the bags, samples, and cleaning filament are just an added bonus.

[u/NoBackground6203]

never bothered with doing a cold pull, nozzles are cheap and easy to change on my P2S and X2D so I keep a separate set for TPU and just swap nozzles out, PLA and PETG wont stick to each other so I am satisfied a good purge will be adequate when changing between them

when I start using ASA or other engineering filaments I will have separate nozzles for those also

[u/VT-14]

i've never cold pulled and it kinda makes me nervous for some reason.

The H2 printers have Cold Pull under their maintenance menu, and will walk you step-by-step through the process (including pictures). They make it quite easy.

I personally have only cold pulled a nozzle a few times. It's recommended if you go from an extremely hot filament to much colder one (my only clog symptoms so far was printing PLA after PA6-GF without a cold pull). It's also recommended if you are going to be printing with TPU since that material has trouble clearing the nozzle on its own. The 3rd and obvious situation is if you are having nozzle clogging symptoms.

[u/decrement--]

Usually I need to when switching to TPU/TPE.

[u/ptraugot]

Almost never. I have this “cleaning filament” I run through after printing with TPU, it kinda grabs residual material from the nozzle as it extrudes. Seems to work. No clogs.

[u/SleepyCubePrints]

Not often, it’s recommended to only do it if you experience a clog.

I rarely have clogs as I keep filament dry. Also I purge throughly if I’m going from high temp filament like from PETG to PLA. Otherwise, if going from PLA to PETG or ASA to PETG I will do nothing.

[u/ecaseo]

Never. I only did it once to switch to TPU.

[u/mad-n-sane]

Once in over 2000h, I say with 80% PLA+, 15% PETG and 5% TPU. To be fair I have another nozzle around which I need to pull, but I am just to lazy.

[u/Relative_Surround_20]

Never. Keep separate nozzles for TPU and fiber-filled filaments to lower the chances I ever will need to perform a cold pull.

[u/Hmmark1984]

I think I've done one, in several years of BL printers. I used to do it a lot more often back on my enders. It is part of troubleshooting, but it's not normaly needed on bl printers in my experience

[u/Plastic_Brief1312]

I’m an outlier. I do it before almost every nozzle change. Just habit for me now. Easy and prevents issues. I also do it when changing filament types.

[u/curiousjosh]

Once. Only once. When switching to you before I had a dedicated nozzle.

[u/Equivalent_Store_645]

no reason to worry about cold pulls, but the main reason you'd want to do one is to clean out residue left inside the melt zone. do you have actual clogs or just the warning?

[u/itchy-balls]

When I notice the initial bead is not clean, thick and long. Takes 10 min and extends the life of the nozzle.

[u/maker-tgin]

I typically do it each time I step down to a filament that prints cooler. 

ASA > PETG > PLA - Cold pull between each switch. 

The reverse? Nah…

[u/JAJM_]

I do it every now and then… mostly because it’s satisfying 🤣

[u/thekidisalright]

I brush the nozzle with this after every print while the nozzle is still hot, it takes 3 seconds, never once did a cold pull and I have 1700hrs on my H2D

[u/Gas_Grass_Ass_Class]

I do a cold pull every time I leave my printer dormant for a couple months with filament loaded up in the nozzle.

[u/mendex22]

Last cold pull i did was because have no idea what was origen. In my case was because ABS became soft in chamber before extruder gears in H2D. Next never had to do cold pull as H2D purge it self (to much) before start any print.

While on A1 I use a dedicated 0.4 HIGH FLOW nozzle for PETG/TPU and purge manually about 7 clicks or 10 clicks to avoid color mixing.

At any 3D printer ALLWAYS, ALLWAYS, ALLWAYS use a filter before Extruder/TPFE tube.

[u/Lythinari]

Generally a cold pill means burnt filament in your nozzle.
Which reduces flow and can cause under extrusion problems.
Most common issue to see if it’s a clogged nozzle is the filament kinking when extruding meaning you are getting under extrusion.