remove baked on Pla from nozzle?

[jferguson]

I was punished for not sufficiently tightening the nozzle after cleaning by the Pla oozing out and covering it and then bakinbg on. I was able to get it off and replace it with a new one, this one installed more snuggly.

But how to get the baked-on Pla off?

How about boiling it in a pot for a while?

or possibly burning it off in our spare toaster oven -- in the garage? Or torching it off?

Or?? Any suggestions?

[Gwhite]

I believe torching it off is traditional. I have a brass one soaking in "Zar Paint and Varnish Remover" which is 90% methylene chloride (very nasty stuff). It loosened a lot of it, but it didn't dissolve it as quickly as I had hoped.

I have found that the stainless steel nozzles seem to clean up much easier. Once PLA gets cooked onto the brass, it's pretty tenacious. The stainless just wipes off with a cotton swab.

[airscapes]

I use one of these https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogse ... icro+torch
use a pair of vice grips (very loosely do not distort the nozzle, should not need force to lock them) and heat of the nozzle till the pla is ash.

[jferguson]

Nozzle is brass. I have a small pfopane torch, sounds like the way to go.

Is there a good reason to use brass nozzles when stainless seems more resilient?

[Gwhite]

Brass is probably a slightly better thermal conductor, so it might maintain temperature out to the tip a bit better. As a practical matter, I doubt you could tell the difference, but more experienced users may have more info.

[insta]

Brass prints "better". I can hit higher speeds and a bit less stringing.

[jferguson]

Good to know. Thanks much Insta.

[zemlin]

Brass is probably a slightly better thermal conductor

by about 9x over 303 stainless. The difference is not slight.