The fan door is jammed open by flooded filament

[t-squareddesign 2]

While printing a small model using PLA, it appears that the fan door wasn't closed tight, and the model fell off the build plate and got stuck inside the fan door. Causing it to get stuck open and ajar like this. I cannot close or open the door any further because it's all jammed up inside.

 

What can I do?

 

Even though my printer is still under warranty, I'd rather fix the problem rather than having to get a brand new print head for it.

 

Should I just heat up the extruder and pick away at the leftover filament that's jamming everything? Or is there something else I can do?

[t-squareddesign 2]

Since starting this thread, I've been able to free the fan door to open all the way wide.

 

However, there's a pool of solid PLA that is preventing the fan door from closing again. Is there an easy way to remove the fan door and pick all this crud out?

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @t-squareddesign , thank you for your post. Sorry to hear (and see) that your print got loose and some filament managed to squeeze its way up there. 

First of all, I would always recommend to get in touch with your reseller. Both when your printer is under warranty and when it isn't, you should be able to count on our help. Especially when this has happened. They won't necessarily tell you to get a new print head, they may be able to provide you with instructions on how to clean it. 

And if during the cleaning process your print core would get damaged for example, there is a fair chance you could get a new one when it happened because of this leaked filament, but perhaps not when you broke it yourself (during cleaning). That is why it is good to, before you start, talk to your reseller. 

 

Anyway, can you take out the silicon cover from your print head so you have better access to pull the filament off? If the silicon cover can not be salvaged anymore, you could just get a new silicon cover. They are not expensive. But, you do need a silicon cover in there before you start another print. This is important to prevent something like this happening again (without the silicon cover the problem would have been much bigger!) and you need it to prevent cool air from the fans, to swirl up in your print head and cool down your print core. This could trigger an temperature error, because it can not reach the temperatures it is trying to reach.

 

Good luck, and make sure to get in touch with your reseller!