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dan.t8
(@dan-t8)
New Member
How screwed am I?

I left a print to go overnight...came in and found this:

Is is possible to just replace what is hidden under the PLA or is there a possible fix? I disassembled to separate it down to the smallest parts.

Posted : 23/01/2020 4:35 pm
tj
 tj
(@tj-2)
Trusted Member
RE: How screwed am I?

First of all, i have never managed to get a blob on the hotend that large.

What you have there in the blob looks like the heat break, heat block, termistor, heater cartridge and nozzle plus the fan shroud (likely printed in ASA due to the close proximity to the heat)

All of them should be available to buy as spare parts from prusa eshop but i suggest you first try to remove the blob of plastic and see how many parts you can safely extract and salvage, then your list of things to replace goes down and with a bit of luck you might not need to buy anything.
Maybe a heat gun can soften the plastic enough to allow you to carefully remove the plastic.

Be careful around the cables to the heater cartridge and termistor, they can easily break

Posted : 24/01/2020 8:23 pm
dan.t8
(@dan-t8)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: How screwed am I?

@torbjorn-j3, 

Thank you for the advice. I tried a hair dryer; no luck. I'm going to try a heat gun next. 

 

Posted : 25/01/2020 5:11 am
cwbullet
(@cwbullet)
Member
RE: How screwed am I?

@dan-t8

Hair dryer is not hot enough.  The heat gun should work.  

--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog

Posted : 25/01/2020 6:01 pm
LittleNeutrino
(@littleneutrino)
Member
RE: How screwed am I?

I would say most likely , Yes you can get the material off with a heatgun, however, you are looking at needing to replace a few printed parts as well as probably at least the heatbreak, if not the whole hotend on that one.

Posted : 27/01/2020 7:14 pm
reneemar862
(@reneemar862)
New Member
RE: How screwed am I?
Posted by: @torbjorn-j3

First of all, i have never managed to get a blob on the hotend that large.

What you have there in the blob looks like the heat break, heat block, termistor, heater cartridge and nozzle plus the fan shroud (likely printed in ASA due to the close proximity to the heat)

All of them should be available to buy as spare parts from prusa eshop but i suggest you first try to remove the blob of plastic and see how many parts you can safely extract and salvage, then your list of things to replace goes down and with a bit of luck you might not need to buy anything.
Maybe a heat gun can soften the plastic enough to allow you to carefully remove the plastic.

Be careful around the cables to the heater cartridge and termistor, they can easily break

Thank you so much for sharing such a useful information. I will definitely share this with others.

mywegmansconnect
Posted : 30/01/2020 5:16 am
digbat
(@digbat)
Eminent Member
RE: How screwed am I?

Advice above is all good - after a bad leak I myself decided to deal with a blob (not quite as impressive as yours).

After a heat gun process I fully disassembled the hotend by melting bit by bit. I also put the hot end block in a small steel saucepan over a camping stove and this worked well to free up grub screws. After I had all the bits separated - "Imma get medieval on yo' ass" - and burnt off the plastic residue again using the camping stove (a jet cigarette lighter would also work for small parts) - I used a small wire brush to fully remove residue while it was hot. You of course need very good ventilation - flame hot - metal hot - fumes noxious - ventilate well or better upwind outside - be aware of the polution - don't try this at home, etc. It is brutal and quick and works, but please be aware of the safety issues.

I had broken the heater wires at the start of the process so I replaced that - the rest saw months of use after reassembly - the thermistor and the grub screws were still good to use. The only reason I replaced the block was to upgrade to a copper block - I am keeping the old one as a spare - still good to use if necessary.

And I learned:

* Disassembling and then assembling a hot end is not that scary, really - just bits that go together as they should.

* How important it is to print with a nozzle correctly seated against the heatbreak inside the block!

Cheers

Neil

TANSTAAFL

Posted : 04/02/2020 6:29 am
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