Post by 3DMS on Nov 12, 2015 13:17:13 GMT
The procedure is mainly the following:
- You need to do this operation while the hot end nozzle is hot. It needs to be hot enough so that the plastic inside it can melt (at least 180°C for PLA and 230°C for ABS)
- First, you can try to heat more than needed and push on the filament to see if the plastic start to get out of the nozzle freely.
- If not, you will need to unscrew the nozzle and clean it up as described in the following steps:
- Slightly unscrew the nozzle with very little force, be very careful to take the appropriate precautions to avoid to burn yourself with the hot nozzle!
- Once the nozzle is out, remove as much plastic as possible from inside the nozzle while it’s still hot.
- If the plastic is cooling down and hardening, the first thing to try is to place it into a glass full of Acetone, this should clean and soften a little bit the plastic.If you are using ABS, this should
- If you are using PLA, the easier and cheaper solution is to use a candle and a very thin needle:
- Light up the candle and use a pliers tool to hold the hot end nozzle and place it just over the candle flame .
- Keep the nozzle over the flame a little while , the remaining plastic inside the nozzle will start to melt.
- Take a needle and remove the plastic from inside the hot nozzle, this can take 10 to 15 minutes to make sure no more plastic or residue remains inside the nozzle.
- Once cleaned you should be able to see through the nozzle hole.
- Place the cleaned nozzle into a glass of Acetone, it will remove the black carbon traces from the candle, After a few minutes you can take a paper tissue to clean it up.
- You can now replace the nozzle into the hot end. Make sure the hot end is hot before doing to avoid any possible future leaking.