How to clean a nozzle with melted filament around it.

[capsule 0]

What is the best way to clean a nozzle. I am not talking about a "clogged" nozzle but a nozzle that has a bunch of melted PLA around the top. Do you use soap and water? Other chemicals? Do I need to heat it up first before cleaning?

Any advice would help!

thanks

[gr5 2,172]

You only need to heat it up a bit and then you can pick it all off.  100C or even only 80C is plenty.  boiling water or just a hair dryer.  Not too hot to touch or maybe just a little too hot to touch.

[DidierKlein 729]

You can also do this:

Heat up to lets say 180°c and take a piece of filament, put it against your nozzle and make it melt on the areas you want to clean then cool it down like you do for atomics and continue pressing it on the nozzle, when it cools down the burned plastics will be caught by the melted plastic.

Then pull the filament gently and it should peel off the residues.

This can probably also work if you only heat up to 140°c and "brush" your nozzle with some filaments

[geert_2 557]

I usually heat it up to about 200°C and then wipe it with a thick (!!!) paper tissue. If I am around when the printer finishes printing, I immediately wipe the outside before it is cooled down.

Heating the nozzle up to about 120°C (depending on the material) and then wiping it with a piece of scrap filament also works.