PrintCores Stuck

[gretah 1]

My printcores flooded into the ENTIRE printhead and I've gotten the burned filament mostly out however the printcores still will not come out for a complete cleaning. I've only been able to dismantle it so far because the screws keeping the rest of it together are full of filament. Is there anything else I can do to make this process easier. In the past I've used a soldering iron to heat up the filament enough for removal however the filament is jammed in the back of the printcore (or so I believe), and putting the heating element back there is not something I would like to do.  What would be the best way to remove the printcores for proper cleaning, and cause the least amount of damage?

[IRobertI 520]

Most likely the plastic right above the heater block is preventing the print core to compress the way it's supposed to in order to be removed. What usually works in this situation is to use a heat gun and _carefully_ heat things up until the plastic is soft enough to allow the core to move.

 

I usually heat things up, try to squeeze the "handle" of the core together as you would when removing the core normally, heat, squeeze, heat etc until I can feel it start to move a little bit. At that point I push the nozzle against a heat resistant surface while also squeezing the handle and that will usually be enough to allow the core to slide out.

 

The biggest risk when doing this is applying too much heat to the black parts of the core causing them to melt a little bit. But with a bit of patience it's very doable (I've done this many times).

[gretah 1]

This worked, thank you. Once I replace the lift switch I will be up and running!