The Plug is back - V2 HotEnd :-( How to clean?

[fuchs 0]

Today i got new, black Filament from fabberworld.com. Very nice, not translucent, deep black.

So I decided to give it a go and printed same parts of the InMoov Hand (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:17773). I printed them at 220 degrees, 2mm retraction. No Problems.

Then I decided to test the retraction capabilities and temperature characteristics of the Filament and printed (several times) the hollow calibration pyramid (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:21303).

First at 220 degrees, 2mm retraction (80mm/s speed). After that I tried 220 degrees and 4mm retraction. Went both kinda well (but not perfect). Then I tried 215 degrees, 4mm retraction and ran into problems, as the filament didn't look right anymore. Raised temperature to 220 (while printing) and that improved the situation a bit.

But at that time I noticed that some black PLA tried to leak out between the PEEK and the brass - it made a black shadow at the junction, but didn't flow out.

So tried to print the pyramid again at 230 degrees, 4mm retraction but after the basic layer, there was a lack of filament. I removed the filament and *tadaaa* pulled out a plug.

What the?

How to clean the Hotend now? Disassemble while hot and then what?

I understand that a too low temperature will form a plug as the filament doesn't get liquefied and pressure builds up (as in my case). But how to get rid of that plug for good? And what steps need to be taken to clean the Hotend???

HELP, plz! :(

[thevictor11 0]

I can't help you on the plug but I just cleaned the PLA off from my parts because of a leak. What I did was I seperated the parts from the heater block and heated the brass parts with a flame until the plastic liquefied and wiped it off with a cloth. I repeated the steps until they were clear, just make sure you free up the threads. I also took a flame to it before I connected the brass parts again to get rid of any fibers from the cloth.

Not sure how good this advice is since I haven't pieced mine back together 100% yet but the parts that did go back on, went without issue. Good luck!