Advice for cleaning V4 extruder

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Vandal968
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:30 am

Re: Advice for cleaning V4 extruder

Post by Vandal968 » Fri Sep 21, 2018 6:32 pm

Airscapes,
I just swapped from ABS to PETG and I ran 200mm of the cleaning filament at 100mm/min instead of the default rate of 300mm/min that I usually use. It did seem to take more before it ran clear, I had to run 200mm and usually 100mm is sufficient, so maybe it does capture more crud at the lower rate like you said. I'll see what happens over the next few days and report back. Thank you for the help.

cheers,
c

airscapes
Posts: 594
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:36 pm

Re: Advice for cleaning V4 extruder

Post by airscapes » Fri Sep 21, 2018 7:00 pm

I sometime even stop and let is sit for 30 seconds.. let the cleaning plastic melt and blend with what is still in there .. then finish the extrude..

Vandal968
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:30 am

Re: Advice for cleaning V4 extruder

Post by Vandal968 » Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:36 pm

WIll do.

I just torched my badly PETG-clogged nozzle. Heated it until dull orange and then just let it sit on the fire brick for 5mins until it was cool enough to handle. I have a nice microscope so I examined the bore after the torching. There was a pretty clear hole thru, probably 75% clear and what was in it looked like ash so filament probably would have pushed it out easily. I then stuck it in the ultrasonic with alcohol for (4) 480 second blasts, then back to the microscope. The alcohol didn't seem to pick up much contamination, so I didn't expect a huge difference, but there was. The inside of the nozzle looked much better and the bore was 100% clear and shiny. Again, this might have just been delicate ash that the filament would have knocked out anyway, but the ultrasonic really did clean it up nicely.

cheers,
c
Last edited by Vandal968 on Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Vandal968
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:30 am

Re: Advice for cleaning V4 extruder

Post by Vandal968 » Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:54 pm

I wish I had taken some "Before" pics. Before the torch and before the ultrasonic. This is the after. The picture makes it look very dark since I'm basically taking a picture at the bottom of a cave and the light is mostly illuminating the outside of the nozzle. Trust me , it looks 100x better through the eyepiece than it does on the screencap. After the torch but before the ultrasonic, there were blobs stuck onto the inside surfaces, now it is all smooth and the bore is round. The iridescent color gives a hint that it actually shines through the eyepiece (expensive scope, cheap camera).

cheers,
c
Attachments
Makergear nozzle cleaned s1280.jpg

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