How Hard did I screw myself by """Cleaning""" the Nozzle at 300°C... Multiple Times...?
How Hard did I screw myself by """Cleaning""" the Nozzle at 300°C... Multiple Times...?
Back in December I got my P1S and since I mostly printed Vases and plant pots back then, I decided to mostly use PETG.
That PETG as I now know was just Wet, which caused it to ooze out of the nozzle after the print, a Fact I hated. Since at the time I must've be pretty stupid, I decided to clean it by Heating the Nozzle to the max of 300°C and let it ooze fully out. It did work and the prints after it where fine... so I did it another 10-20 times until I got a Brass Brush and started just using that...
In retrospective, Filament really shouldn't be heated over its limit... because that probably Backed in the PETG really hard. Mustve been to the point where the nozzle clogged, getting me to cold pull it a lot.
Big question is, is there still Backed in PETG in that nozzle, even after 20 or so Cold Pulls? It definetly seems to underextrude a noticable bit. Should I use the replacement nozzle or look into other reasons for said Underextrusion? Thanks!
Edit: Did as suggested and tried swapping the nozzle, thermistor was stuck and getting it out broke it, replacement thermistor is gonna take till thursday to arrive, god I hate this machine
First of all: Nozzles are replacable and they are also cheap. They are also wearing down with time. So if you worry, just replace the nozzle. And if you want to know if there is still filament stuck in there, unscrew the noozle and look at it.
It's a P1S. A nozzle that is hard/cumbersome to change is 15 USD. One that is almost as easy to change as a regular nozzle is 35 USD.
Add shipping costs, maybe taxes, the fact that they can have crazy delays...
I remember on my old printer I'd by a bag of nozzles even if I didn't need them. But on a Bambu... Yeah, I'd try to salvage the nozzle too.
I've been liking my oxbidian nozzle but not cheap at all. I've been throwing wood fiber pla and GID PETG at it and it seems to handle it well. Doesn't seem to be showing sign of wear after a year.
I've noticed partial internal blockages when switching between PETG and PLA; ie' when purging, the new filament curves as it's coming out and I'll get inconsistent extrusion till it shakes a small fragment of the old filament out in the next print.
While cleaning filament helps, I think that's mostly as I can run it at 290°C to flush the remaining anything out... Plus it's a much longer filament swap process to do cleaning filament in between...
While regular nozzles are super cheap, the nextruder nozzles from Prusa aren't, especially the High Flow ones, and double especially the high flow Obxidian ones... The high flow nozzles also don't let you cold pull them the same way, which sucks...
When I started with my first printer, the flashforge A3, someone suggested having separate nozzles for PLA from PETG... I used to do this and it prevented many problems I'd been having from ever starting. I'm beginning to think about doing the same with my Mk4S, and having a separate hotend/nozzle combo for PETG, PLA, and PCCF that I can just swap...
So then I'll just need two new mk4 silicon socks in colours other than black so I can tell them apart....
Echo others, nozzles are consumables, keep some on hand.
It's not unusual for PETG to ooze a little after a print in my experience, but it's been my experience that a quick brushing with a nylon or brass brush is enough, often I just knock off the bit that oozes out, haven't had issues with offset doing that.
Baked on PETG is awful, I've scrapped a v6 block that blobbed itself (my fault, probably loosened it accidentally after a nozzle change, I only use hotends that don't rotate now). Some solvents do work, but most of the stuff that dissolves petg is nasty, I don't recommend them.
You could try some cleaning filament, personally found it fairly effective at clearing partial clogs, good stuff to have on hand anyhow.
Would an ultrasonic bath clean off petg?
Tbh not sure, I don't have one to try with, baked on petg reminded me of enamel coatings. Solvents do work, just most of the ones I'm aware of for petg aren't pleasant, flammable and toxic stuff.
Nozzles are disposable. I would swap for piece of mind.
You really shouldn't overheat filaments that much. It changes the properties. Replacements are affordable, I would just swap it.
Just replace the nozzle. You can try using the cleaning filament in the future, I use it when I'm swapping filaments -especially when I change between different types.
I think the nozzle is fine. Get better filament.
Seconded, good filament stored with lots of Silica packets goes a long way towards ease of printing....
...as does playing around with settings until you understand them.