Ultimaker 3 axial fan deep cleaning

[JohnInOttawa 103]

Another day, another adventure with this UM3X 'rescue printer'.  I think I found at least some of what was causing failures with the 0.25 printcore, the axial fan was affected by debris wrapped around the shaft.

 

I spent an hour removing what I could get at from the outside, it is better but still intermittent.  Worse when the printer is hot, which suggests to me there is still something in there that is swelling or sticking when hot.

 

I can't see anything further without removing the fan blade.  Has anyone tried this?  Would rather not break the thing entirely, at least not until I have a new one on hand.

 

Cheers

John