PLA seeping at heater block

[stephen100 0]

Just put together an Ultimaker original. I had my first go at printing, but the PLA is seeping out a little bit at the top of the heater block. Its also seeping out a little at the bottom of the heater block where it connects to the nozzle. I am a bit worried that this is going to get worse and that I might be doing damage to the ultimaker if I don't have this resolved.

Has anyone come across this problem and how did they fix it?. Is it possibly something that might not have been screwed tight enough when putting together the extruder component?. Is it possible to rebuild the extruder or would this possibly cause more problems.

Any help or comments would be welcome.

Stephen.

 

[IRobertI 520]

You probably just need to tighten it a bit more. And don't worry, some leaking PLA wont cause any more damage than making the block look ugly

First though, make sure that you assembled it correctly:

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Ultimaker_rev.4_assembly:_Extrusion_head#Lets_start.21

If you have then try to tighten it a bit more. You must do this at printing temperature (say 200-220C) or else the cold PLA will act as cement and you'll break something before you're able to tighten anything. So heat up the head and then tighten the nozzle tighter to the block. If that's not enough tighten the brass tube as well by holding the block still while twisting the PEEK (the brownish thing that the brass tube screws into). Be careful as the tube is quite thin and brass is a weak metal.

There might be a tiny bit of leakage even after tigthening but it will most likely plug itself after a while.

 

[gr5 2,189]

As long as it isn't dripping on your part I would ignore it. It will tend to cook over many days and turn into a gunk that will plug any leaks.

 

[illuminarti 18]

If the problem persists, post some photos here so we can see what it looks like.

 

[dashhunter 0]

I had the exact same problem with my new Ultimaker Original. There is even a faq entry on https://www.ultimaker.com/pages/support/faq/ultimaker-original-troubleshooting.

Look for "The hot end of my Ultimaker is leaking. There is plastic forming on top of the aluminum heater block."