PLA blob holding extruder assembly stuck together
Last night, I started a print, and neglected to watch the first few layers. This morning, I woke up to this disaster:
I've cleared many, MANY blobs in the past, but this one is the only one I'm come across that's crept up into the extruder assembly. The steps I usually take to removing a blob:
- Heat the hotend to 30ºC + printing temp
- Disassemble the extruder assembly to gain access to the hotend (Didn't work because extruder assembly is stuck together by the blob)
- Pull the blob off
- Replace heater/thermistor if necessary
- Reassemble everything
In this case I can't even get past step 2.
Extra information:
- I have a mosquito hotend (most expensive part of the print head, so I want to salvage that)
- I don't have a heat gun
- I have a CHT 0.6mm nozzle (I'd also like to salvage at least that)
- Everything else except the PINDA probe (extruder motor, Noctua fan, print fan) I have replacements for
Help is greatly appreciated. Also, if you have a better set of steps to clearing a blob, please let me know.
Begin by carving away the worst with a soldering iron - then review.
Cheerio,
RE: PLA blob holding extruder assembly stuck together
Thank you for the quick reply. I'm hesitant to pull out the soldering iron because I don't want to melt the extruder parts, but I think heat is the only option at this point. I can try that and post my results back here.
RE: PLA blob holding extruder assembly stuck together
As @Diem said: Heat (with a soldering iron) could surely help. And I understand your hesitation about damaging stuff.
So maybe this may help:
- Find your self a, small, kettle or cooking pot (how you call such things in english :-)).
- Fill it with hot water, cook it
- Heat the heatbed uptill about 100 degrees.
- place the hot water below the extruder; lower it just above the water (not IN, you do not want electrical issues.
- you could even heat the nozzle up to about 100 degrees.
All this heat, will, (and it will take time) melt the PLA, so it drops down .
- hang a plastic bag around, so the heat is kept close to the extruder.
NB: Water is the best for this, because it can hold a lot of thermal energy, before cooling down.
We will do what we have always done. We will find hope in the impossible.
RE: PLA blob holding extruder assembly stuck together
Thank you for your help. I was able to successfully clear the blob by:
- Removing the bolts holding the extruder together
- Using a flathead to pull apart the print head, piece by piece
- Using a soldering iron + hair dryer to melt away the hotend from the blob
- Using some brute force helped with step 3. I'm really glad this was a Mosquito hotend because it's a lot more resilient to brute force.
@eef Thank you for your reply. I didn't see it until now, but this will be helpful to anyone who reads this, or if I get a blob again.
I am currently in the process of reassembling with a new heater and thermistor and can post back when I'm done.
RE: PLA blob holding extruder assembly stuck together
Final Update:
I replaced the thermistor and heater cartridge, and reprinted the broken parts:
- Fan shroud
- Fan holder
- Front of extruder assembly
Thank you again to everyone who helped me! I'm back to printing!