Hi Everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’ve noticed an excess of dark buildup / residue / gunk on the exterior of my nozzles on my FlashForge Creator Pro. Normally, I print with the right extruder.
As you can see, the gunk appears to be something burnt - it does scrape off, but I feel like I’m damaging the integrity of the nozzles by doing that. My questions are as follows (please see images for reference):
Does anyone have any idea what it might be? If it is melted ABS, why is it accumulating on the outside like that?
Is there a way to remove the nozzle and the affected assembly to clean it? If so, what methods would you recommend for cleaning?
Those yellow strips surrounding the nozzles - what are those? Are those even supposed to be there? They seem like they could be some sort of insulation material, but they also look like they might just be something that I didn’t know to take off upon assembling the unit.
I’ve had great luck on this forum, with a lot of helpful people pitching in to answer my (usually) dumb questions. So, if anyone has any ideas, I’d be very appreciative.
Thank you!
matt
DR3D
November 27, 2015, 7:47am
2
Hey Matt,
I’ve had the same thing happen to my printer as well. It’s completely normal. It’s little bits of ABS and ABS dust that gets stuck onto the print head and burns on. I usually use a chisel blade X-Acto knife to scrape it off. That doesn’t seem, to damage the nozzles at all, but you can also try using some Q-Tips dipped in Acetone to clean it off if you don’t want to use the X-Acto knife. As far as the yellow stuff goes, that is Kapton tape. It’s supposed to be there to provide some insulation to the heater element, so don’t remove it. Hope this helps!
Diego
Yes the yellow stuff is insulation, leave it on. As for the nozzles cleaning them won’t hurt them. I clean mine after every print while they are hot with a wire brush. It’s just part of printing that you will slowly accumulate stuff on the nozzles. It is best to clean it off sooner than latet
As the other folks mentioned, this is normal, and the yellow stuff is insulation tape to help keep a constant temperature on the head. You should leave it on, but if it rips and falls off its not a huge deal (mine ripped a while back while I was cleaning the head, been printing without issues since).
I second Phoenix3DS, a wire brush is a good way to clean off the gunk build up before or after each print.
To answer you second question, yes you can take about the extruder assembly, and you will have to to do it eventually to clean the extruder gear or clear a nasty clog. This video shows how to clean the gear. Check it out. THere are also videos on how to remove the extruder head for cleaning or replacement.
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the insight. I used a wire brush and some acetone, and I can see the residue starting to come off. I’m glad it wasn’t anything serious.
Thanks again!
matt
PS - I’m actually about to post for another problem, haha. Maybe some of you geniuses can weigh in on that one, too.
