1 Topic by edgeflyer

  • edgeflyer
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  • Registered: 2013-02-13
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Topic: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

My hot end is clogged, and I have tried the double nut trick to remove the threaded piece from the black part, but it is stuck! I even heated the threaded part while trying to remove it, and it would not budge. Any tips? I was just going to buy both of those pieces, but they're quite expensive and if they come as an assembly from solidoodle they will probably be stuck together also.

2 Reply by pcpoirier (edited by pcpoirier 2013-05-02 13:59:59)

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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

Heat the tip until it unscrews with little force. Heating the tip will make it bigger.

3 Reply by cmetzel

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  • From: Solidoodle2 #0091
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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

Solidoodle officially does not recommend removing the barrel from the peek because the threads in the peek may be damaged causing further problems.  Why are you removing the barrel?

4 Reply by edgeflyer

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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

The barrel is clogged. And I wanted to clean it out thoroughly as opposed to just poking a wire through it and having it clog again a few weeks later.

5 Reply by cmetzel

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  • From: Solidoodle2 #0091
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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

I've done it myself, I'm just issuing the same warning that SD has given that you may screw up the threads on the peek barrel and ruin it.  You need to get it hot enough that the ABS melts because that is locking you together.

6 Reply by cckens

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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

I've run an 1/8" bit by hand with the barrel attached to the PEEK.  Ran it up all the way to the PTFE so that I could see daylight through the top.  You'll want to be a bit careful as this is almost definitely hand-turn work and I sheared a bit in the barrel the first time I tried.

7 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

So the barrel is definitely clogged, and not the nozzle?  Did the nozzle come off?  If you have the nozzle and the heatcore off so it is just the brass barrel sticking out of the black PEEK, is the plastic inside the barrel the color it is supposed to be, or is it brown or blackened?

Does it look like this-

http://solidoodletips.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_5384.jpg

Or this -

http://solidoodletips.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_5385.jpg


If it is like the top picture, I wouldn't recommend trying to get it out.  If it is like the bottom, then you should try to remove it.  If the nozzle is completely clean and it still won't extrude, then there might be a problem at the junction between the PEEK and the top of the barrel inside.

The only reason I removed the barrel from the PEEK was it was loose enough that when I tried to unscrew the nozzle the barrel would unscrew from the PEEK instead.  If the plastic inside the barrel is burned, then you can try heating the end of it with the torch and trying to unscrew it every few seconds as the heat travels up the barrel to the plastic.  Don't try to twist the barrel too hard, because it will break more easily than you would expect.

8 Reply by mr_tim34

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Re: Hot end won't come apart for cleaning

IanJohnson wrote:

Don't try to twist the barrel too hard, because it will break more easily than you would expect.

I found this out the hard way, I locked two nuts onto the brass and started turning, pop goes the threaded barrel :-(  Now I know how hard not to turn things...

TiM