Material behind the extruder of UM2, is this normal?

[mezger 0]

Hi,

im dismantling the print head because the top was a bit broken and I noticed that there is a lot of white material behind the extruder. Is this normal? If not, what is the best approach to remove it? 

 

Lease see see the pictures. Thanks. 

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @mezger, welcome to the Ultimaker community! 

 

How do you mean the top was broken, were there cracks in the black housing? If so, you (or another user), may have been tightening those thumbscrews too tight. Perhaps something to keep in mind for future use. Regarding this filament, it is not normal. Do you have the Olsson block installed, or another third party heaterblock which allows you to swap nozzles easily? When that is the case, at one occasion the nozzle may not have been fully inserted and this is the result of a leak. It can be that the leak is now sealed, and this is 'old', or the leak can still be there. 

By removing the other screws on your fan bracket, you can remove the metal part and easily access the blob. By heating up your heaterblock to approximately 150ºC you should be able to pull off pieces of plastic with some pliers after a few minutes. The heat will make it soft again. Do watch out with removing PLA from the wires. Especially the PT100 is the most sensitive one of the two, so don't use any force when removing any PLA surrounding that wire. (the small one). You can also decide to use external heat like a blowdryer. When you are done, it is possible the heaterblock may not look as new anymore but it should be functional. 

Good luck! 

[tinkergnome 927]

2 hours ago, SandervG said:

By heating up your heaterblock to approximately 150ºC you should be able to pull of pieces of plastic after a few minutes.

 

But keep in mind that 150°C is hot...    better use gloves and a pair of pliers / tweezers

[SandervG 1,521]

1 minute ago, tinkergnome said:

 

But keep in mind that 150°C is hot...    better use gloves and a pair of pliers / tweezers

 I wanted to add the pliers, must have slipped through. Thanks, good tip!

[mezger 0]

Thanks for the replies. 

Regarding the top: yes, the black case was broken, probably during transport or to high pressure on the screws. I glued it and wrap it with a strip, and it's holding fine for now. 

 

Regarding the filling. I think this is old. It was very brittle and I could take it out cold. I don't see how this could come out other than through the nose, so I suppose someone was playing with it and it went from the nose all the way up around it and into the compartment. that's weird, but the good news is that the nose doesn't have any holes :-) 

 

Thanks again for the help. I'm ready to print again.