I saw someone talking about using one of these to clear clogs. It looked pretty interesting . Was wondering if anyone had tried one and what they thought about it?
[Amazon Link](https://NoClogger The Must-Have 3D Printing Tool 1.75mm (Black))
I have one and only had to use it once. It was a life saver at that moment! I would only advise using it when there is such a severe blockage that you can’t get out with any other means, besides the drastic and dreadful disassembly option. You also have to use it exactly as prescribed, as it could break a part of the shaft off. The gears really grab it hard when they are not worn.
My Prusa arrived back from their repair center and they managed to clog it with a black glitter filament that they used, sigh. First print I did, not a single drop of PLA came out, no filament unload possible, not heating it up till I smelled the plastic, not even that, nada. My needle pokers kept breaking off! I could not get it out, it did not budge. I used the “no clogger” and almost a yard of cleaning filament after, as the black glitter stuff kept coming out!
I have used cleaning PLA too every now and then, especially when I have to switch from a dark to light color filament. I love that a lot.
It appears to be just a piece of 1.75mm (or slightly smaller) music wire with a handle on it. You could save a few bucks by going to hobby store and just buying a piece of 0.68" (1.727mm) music wire, cut to an appropriate length, and 3d print your own handle for it. Shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars.
I just had a fun thought. Print the handle in orange, and make the very end of the handle look like a plumber’s helper “suction cup”, and call it “The plunger”. It would be used upside down, but it’s the thought that counts 
1 Like
“Cleaning PLA” is just a low amount of transparent filament for a high price.
So you get the cheapest of all sorts of filament (no color) in a 20g bag for $15(?).
Just buy a spool of transparent filament, it does the same and you can use the filament to the end for cleaning. This also works with any other color, but if you want to clean the nozzle to get rid of black before printing white, it helps. White would do the same for cleaning in this case.
I to thought it looked like just a piece of wire with a handle. I do like your plunger idea. Guess I need to go to the hobby shop, hope. I can get out of there only buying a piece of wire. My other hobby is RC.
1 Like
There are STls for these. The wire is $6 on Amazon.
Cheers
I tried that, as I have enough of those, and tried them all. No debris came out after trying all of them. Then, to see if this cleaning PLA was not a scam, I tried eSun cleaning PLA right after and was amazed me on how much debris came out.