Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
Recent print job have a lot of strays and blobs. I noticed there are some yellow stuff leaking from the heater block. Do I need to replace the whole heater block?
Anyone have experience with this issue?
Thank you.
RE: Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
it looks to me, as if you have changed or cleaded your nozzle recently,
filament is leaking out of the heater block, because the nozzle is not tightened against the heat break!
this may be due to incorrect assembly, or using the wrong nozzle.
https://www.google.com/search?q=changing+nozzle+on+mk3+printer&oq=changing+nozzle+on+mk3+printer&aqs=chrome..69i57.20231j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_fvPEYtj_LomVgQarz6mYCw21
mk8 nozzles look the same as V6 nozzles, but they ate about 1mm shorter!
regards joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
I haven't changed the nozzle but I didn't use the printer for a few months.
There was no issue before. Everything was running smoothly. Prints were great.
Should I disassemble the nozzle head to clean up? Any ideas on what is that yellow stuff?
Why did you fit the blue sock?
Cheerio,
RE: Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
Why did you fit the blue sock?
I´d guess because this is the best protection against a heatblock and its cables drowning in filament in case of a blob of doom? In any case, its not the reason for the TO´s issue; I´m with Joan on the analysis.
Nothing wrong with the sock, which is an E3D standard part for the V6 extruder and which, as I noticed last week, even now has been made room for by Prusa by an apparently modified part cooling fan duct coming with the 3s+. It did not fit the duct of the 3s which resulted for me in just not using the duct, in favour of the sock.
Cheers
Chris
I try to give answers to the best of my ability, but I am not a 3D printing pro by any means, and anything you do you do at your own risk. BTW: I have no food for…
@justme3d
I´d guess
Don't guess. People can have very strange reasons for fitting pointless 'improvements' and sometimes the underlying cause of an issue is hidden behind them.
I too agree with @joantabb's analysis but the OP claims not to have changed the nozzle - so perhaps the sock is there for the wrong reason, it certainly prevents us seeing whether the nozzle fitting is correct...
just not using the duct, in favour of the sock
The BOD is pretty rare, once every few thousand prints - unless you interfere with cooling - so you fit a sock that messes with cooling to deal with the problem it just caused?
Cheerio,
RE: Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
I got the printer used back in 2021. It came fitted with the sock from the previous owner.
Why did you fit the blue sock?
Cheerio,
RE:
@justme3d
I´d guess
Don't guess. People can have very strange reasons for fitting pointless 'improvements' and sometimes the underlying cause of an issue is hidden behind them.
Agreed.
just not using the duct, in favour of the sock
The BOD is pretty rare, once every few thousand prints - unless you interfere with cooling - so you fit a sock that messes with cooling to deal with the problem it just caused?
Cheerio,
I for one never had an issue with part cooling, printing in a closed environment, and am able to print Spectrum ASA 275 with a bed temp of 60 degrees Celsius only, whilst others appear to print ASA with 110 degrees which may require a lot more parts cooling afterwards to prevent the top layer from cooking when laid down... . Instead I have a very stable nozzle temperature due to the sock and a clean heatblock where no debris falls off at the subsequent print (like so many others appear to suffer from). Thus, nothing wrong with the sock IMHO and even Prusa seems to have acknowledged that by modifying the duct.
I try to give answers to the best of my ability, but I am not a 3D printing pro by any means, and anything you do you do at your own risk. BTW: I have no food for…
OK, so we don't know what's under there - and a used printer was presumably not sold by anyone keen enough to be at the top of the game ...
So: Heat the hot end until the visible gunk goes soft and *carefully* pull the bulk away with needle nozed pliers. There are some fragile wires in there, look at a picture if you're not certain how they go. If you break those wires they cannot be fixed so the hotend will be junk.
Once the worst is gone let the printer cool and attempt to remove the sock - if it won't come you may have to work hot but avoid it if you can.
Show us a picture of whatever is underneath - we are betting there is not the correct spacing in the nozzle fitting. @joantabb's picture shows how it should be and she has linked to instructions that should help you fix it but come back if anything is not clear
Cheerio,.
RE: Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
Here is what the nozzle looks like after removing the socks and a bit of clean up.
This is what it looks like after a 1.5hr print job. I believed the filament is sneaking out from the gap between the melt zone and the heatsink. The filament is also coming out from where the white wires are.
OK. It looks like the previous owner changed the nozzle wrongly causing problems with a slow leak and covered it up before selling...
Luckily we know that one ... @joantabb nailed it upthread.
See her post and: https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/changing-or-replacing-the-nozzle-mk2-5s-mk3s-mk3s_2069
It might be worth buying a genuine V6 nozzle in case the one you have has the wrong length thread.
Cheerio,
RE: Yellow stuff leaking from heater block
Thank you.
Only the nozzle needs to be replaced? Do I need to disassemble and re-assemble the hotend as filament seems to be leaking above and below?
RE:
Thank you.
Only the nozzle needs to be replaced? Do I need to disassemble and re-assemble the hotend as filament seems to be leaking above and below?
You need to fix the underlying problem, i.e. the leakage between the heater block and the heatbreak, i.e. where the orange stuff is visible above the heatblock. Joan´s pic nicely shows the assembly.
IMHO it will be easiest if you remove the V6 as shown in Joan´s pic (i.e. including the heatsink) from the housing. This is possible without removing the cables from the Einsy board, so the whole thing will dangle from the carriage; the instructions are on the Prusa site. No need to remove the carriage from the rods; it´s all about losening several screws and the fans to be able to pull the V6 out. Then you should be able to remove the cables from the heatblock and then the heatblock, ready to clean things. Then it´s building up again, following the instructions how to neatly bring together heatbreak, heatblock and nozzle. Make sure it´s an original E3D nozzle by measuring the total length of the nozzle or, if the age of the nozzle is unknown, replace with a standard E3D .4mm brass nozzle for a couple of bucks.
I try to give answers to the best of my ability, but I am not a 3D printing pro by any means, and anything you do you do at your own risk. BTW: I have no food for…
Do I need to disassemble and re-assemble the hotend as filament seems to be leaking above and below?
It depends how clean you got everything and what the original owner got up to...
Only the nozzle needs changing if the the extruder is correctly assembled and if you got most of the gunk out. You might get one or two last drips if there is some left in the threads but it should stop quite quickly.
There is a significant risk of damaging the heatbreak if you strip it all down.
Being somewhat indolent I would probably change just the nozzle but monitor closely for a few days. If the oozing continued then I would rebuild the extruder - fortunately Prusa has all the parts in stock should it go wrong.
Cheerio,