[How to clear plastic globbed in hot end?]

I'm in U.S. I think my printer is in the first batch shipping from the U.S. distributor last year.

The hot air gun did the trick - came off just like peeling a pile of old gum off something. I got almost everything, but there's still a little residue left in a few places. Printing great afterwards, but I think I shortened the PTFE coupler life (unfortunate since I just replaced it).

As great as it is getting quality time with my hot end, this is not something I'd like to repeat Do you know the name of the tiny white ring, or where I could order it?

Thanks!

[How to clear plastic globbed in hot end?]

I walked away from a print with ColorFabb XT, checking on it after a couple hours I found part of it had lifted off the bed and the nozzle was printing in air. This resulted in a lot of plastic ending up sticking to the nozzle and flowing up into the hot end. There is a large glob of solid plastic up in the hot end/nozzle and not sure the best way to salvage. Can I safely apply heat with a hot air gun to soften it?  I am getting a heater error when trying to heat the nozzle now. Thanks for any tips/advice!