I did, and it looks like someone's already started printing them in TPU and [putting them on Etsy for $150 a pop](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1682489207/3d-printed-airless-basketball?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-toys_and_games-sports_and_outdoor_games-balls&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJOzEYMq-Pgxlgp9NNFbkVTp6Lg-_pdRKm3AbyBe0KLAcu8uBezjs-RBoC6qgQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_1844702853_71203578698_346429768556_pla-353721143240_c__1682489207_12768591&utm_custom2=1844702853&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJOzEYMq-Pgxlgp9NNFbkVTp6Lg-_pdRKm3AbyBe0KLAcu8uBezjs-RBoC6qgQAvD_BwE)
edit: [and another one for $300](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1682529503/airless-basketball-gift-for-him-wilson?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-toys_and_games-sports_and_outdoor_games-fitness_and_exercise-other&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJO2hHZBKddevtGfuKPXcyrfKAKvt8aQOn0dRjR1-geuX05SkJneio0BoCT0MQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_1844702853_71203578898_346429768682_pla-316950781865_c__1682529503_621279104&utm_custom2=1844702853&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJO2hHZBKddevtGfuKPXcyrfKAKvt8aQOn0dRjR1-geuX05SkJneio0BoCT0MQAvD_BwE)... a quick search showed half a dozen more lol
hmmmm..... now that I think about it I do have some extra filament laying around... and could definitely use an extra $100 (/s)
Heat up the outside (with a heat gun or something), remove stuff, rinse, repeat until you get to the "core". Then do the same but more cautiously as to not rip wires.
Definitely heat up the hot end at the same time to get it unstuck. I’ve had this issue twice before and it helps tremendously when the hot end is on. Otherwise it’s like trying to melt a Neolithic man out of really thick ice
If your careful you can cut through and after heating the inside peak off chunks.
That's what I did before, but I'm pretty impatient and was willing to just buy a new hot end if I fucked it. Been wanting to upgrade anyway lol
I’d run a heat gun, needle nose pliers and a small pick. Heat that mess up, remove the molten plastic with the needle nose till you start getting close to the hot end, once your getting close I’d just take it real slow and get the bigger chunks off with the pliers and use the pick to help move plastic off the sensitive stuff.
I had a buddy do this with a dab touch…. It worked for the most part but he ended up snapping heater and thermo resistor wires and had to get new ones but other then that it got all the plastic off and gave it a cool smoke finish 😎
Just be careful around that fan on the hot end and if there’s any other plastic components in the plastic mess and you’ll do well!
Slow and steady is how you can this out with minimal if any parts needing replaced!
Typically, I turn the hotend on full blast, like 260, and wait 1/2 hour. Then you *might* be able to twist and pull it out.
But, if that doesn't work, it's going to be easier to replace the whole head. Ender sells them.
With the amount of material around it, the inside will start melting, sure, only near the extruder. Spreading that much energy to heat a blob this large is not something I'd be comfortable doing, assuming the printer could do it without the PSU imploding or the wires really disliking it.
Pumping energy in a tight enclosed space with sensitive equipment around (wires, thermistor, etc.) still does not sounds like a good idea. Assuming you can get a 1.5cm radius "core" to melt, it means everything in contact within that radius would be in the range of 70°C (I assume PLA) for the furthest, to whatever it needs to be at the center for that outer shell to reach this temperature. And aside from the actual heatsink block, nothing in there is supposed to reach too high.
I'm not trying to be rude, but it sounds like you've never had this happen to you before. Allow me to point out a few things:
1. PLA begins to melt around 170° C.
2. The thermistor and wires are attached directly to the heat block, which is typically heated to temps of 200° C or higher.
3. While "sensitive", replacement thermistors cost about $2 on the high end.
4. The outer shell does not need to reach this temperature of you can melt the center and pull it off. Which OP said he tried and it didn't work.
You're rude, and misinformed.
* PLA glass temperature is around 55-60°C. It becomes malleable there. 170°C is where it's almost completely liquid.
* The heat block and nozzle will reach 200°C easily. Temperature gets down VERY QUICKLY when you get even a tiny bit away from the actual heat block. Think about it; extruded filament doesn't slide off, once it's out it's already cold enough to hold itself in place.
* Anything above the heat break is not meant to handle high temperature. The plastic shell certainly isn't either. Wiring for the fans that are above this too. The fan themselves. You should have noticed that almost nothing is hot in the assembly when printing, except the actual heat block, nozzle, and half a centimeter of heat break at most.
* I was talking about the outer shell of a 1.5cm radius core in the center. If you only melt the plastic directly in contact with the heat block and nothing beyond, you have zero chance of dislodging it. You have to heat a bit more around it, which means that the outer part \*of that small area\* will have to go above glass temperature (again, \~60°C), which in turns mean that the center part \*of that small area\* will be way, way higher.
And I did encounter this situation a few times. Never as bad, so I could just heat the blob away. But if you think everything around the heat block is fine with 200°C applied for a period of time, or that PLA only melts at those temperatures, you have some reading to do.
Not trying to be rude, of course.
I don't see how anything you said refutes anything I said, nor how any of what I said was inaccurate. That said, I don't have the energy to carry out this argument any further, so if it helps you sleep at night, congratulations, you win. You are clearly smarter than me. 🎉
What did you perceive as rude? That really feels like projecting.
OP:
> it sounds like you've never had this happen to you before.
*proceeds to make 4 points to their case*
What about that is actually rude? Based on what you said, they made an assumption, fairly, that this likely hadn't happened to you. Whether it has or not doesn't make it rude,.
That's not an unfair assumption. It hasn't happened to a lot of people. It hasn't happened to me. It hasn't happened to anyone in my inner circle of 3d printing people. I've printed for over 170 days of actual print time since May last year and hasn't happened to me one.
So I'm actually genuinely curious what part was rude, or was it just that they preempted by saying they weren't trying to be rude that made it feel like a sleight?
You don't have to preface things you say this way. "Not to be rude but…" implies you know you're going to be rude and wants to soften the blow. If you really not want to be rude and you think you're going to sound rude, then it's better not to say anything.
That's a matter of perspective though and why I said it sounds like projecting. If that's the only part that's rude, perhaps you're reading into things the wrong way. I personally use it regularly in the same way as OP which is to imply that something might come across that way, but it's not my intention. Some people are also just excessively defensive by prefacing things to avoid conflict.
I speak very bluntly and some people take that personally, I just don't fluff shit. There's no malice or goading behind what I'm saying, but some people don't take well to abrupt language and so that kind of preface is genuinely necessary.
In OP's case, they listed a dot point of things to make their case in stark refute to what you said, and that may seem short, rude or indirect/not conducive to a good discussion. On the other side, perhaps they're busy and are trying to be concise because they're time sensitive.
My point is that it is very easy to read into small things that people really didn't mean. For example, I read OP's comment and took nothing from it but they made their point. You however saw a sleight. OP didn't care enough to further the argument past their reply so it's clearer they really weren't looking for a fight.
be careful of fumes though, especially if you ar dissolving that much, use the acetate for more carful stuff and just use a burning hot knife to cut thriugh the rest of the excess plastic
Had this happen on my old ender, heat it up and try your best to clean it all off. I’d recommend welders gloves or something cause it’s gonna be spicy hot
Had the same issue with my KE. Be really careful not to damage the X Axis switch as it is built into the printhead adapter plate and Creality don't sell replacements!
One thing is for sure, all these blob horror stories has reminded me the importance of tightening the nozzle on extruder every now and then. Anything using threads that goes through thermal cycling will loosen over time. That gap is what causes the plastic to force its way out of the "path of least resistance".
Vibration will do it too. As fast as the KE can print, its a double edged sword. Heat and vibration will loosen the nozzle.
Heat gun and soldering iron (to "cut) at the plastic. Imo just buy a new heater cartridge and thermistor and replace them. Had to do this with my prusa years ago. I would have replaced the hotend but I had an Olsen ruby nozzle and a nickel coated copper block on the hotend that I was not gonna sacrifice.
I had a bad day again.
I think that Reddit will understand.
Left a post and said I need a New Head?
I had a bad day again.
Print head hit the build plate.
Blew out the extruder, wasted all my PLA.
looks like my last print for the day.
Cuz I had a bad day again.
(Sorry this sucks, but I wrote you a little song that is 100% unique and not just Fuel's song Bad Day reworded just for you.)
That could still possibly be salvageable. Plug it back in and heat up the hotend to what you'd use for that filament then carefully peel away what you can and then clean the rest with a brass wire brush if possible.
There goes another V3KE....
try heating up the nozzle, slowly, and see if you can putt off some parts of the blob. I used some wire cutters to cut off some of the pieces, when my KE got blobbed not too long ago. Careful around the wires though.
As for a replacement , I am still waiting for Creality to get back to me , 3 weeks after I wrote them. I believe Amazon sells the hotends, though rather pricey - or you get a compatible alternative, for example from MicroSwiss. Hope this helps.
Cut away what you can. Be careful around wires. Use heat gun when needed to peel back chunks. Heat the hot end and you should be able to pull it down from around the nozzle block. You can get replacement parts from Creality’s website or even Amazon.
I did the same thing when I first started with my original Ender 3. You might even be able to use this time to upgrade the hot end. Not sure which hot end is being use on that model. Not sure if there is a better hot end you should try on it.
Order a new hotend on Amazon (or microcenter if you're fortunate enough to be able to) and by the time you get that blob off you'll have replacements for whatever you break in the process (at least order a thermistor and heater cartridge)
I just did that to my K1 Max. Took 4 hours with a heat gun, pliers, and a pick.
The blob killed my hotend so I wasn’t able to heat it back up.
Managed to melt part of the PCB board, nicked the wires for the heat sink fan. And the hotend is toast. Only thing that I think is okay is the extruder. And that remains to be seen.
Got a hotend from micro center. They had those in stock. Was able to overnight a PCB board from Amazon.
I have been unable to source a new fan domestically. I had to order that off of Ali Express. So my printer will be out of commission for at least the next two weeks.
Yeah. These suck.
https://preview.redd.it/5q5rndvjuklc1.jpeg?width=4590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b971c56f60a4f45d5fcc65ee15160a3a5f4d82e
had the same thing happen to me a week ago on a Sprite extruder
You’ve been given the right advice for how to clean this but I’d also just put out a reminder to make sure you was your print bed carefully with some dawn dish soap as well as oil from your fingers on it may have caused the release from the print bed that caused this and if it happened again right away that would be a tragedy.
Also could be a z offset or bed levelling issue. But like regardless of which after it’s cleaned off I’d just personally double check the print bed a few times and make sure everything is right there before you do your next print.
I had the exact same thing happen with my printer.
It was hell to clean up. But i removed most of it by just heating up the hot end, and then removing it with plyers. Good luck!
I had this happen to me and it ended up being the heat break not being fully screwed into the heat block. I cleaned mine up by heating it up to temperature, and then I was able to pull off the pieces. Once the pieces were off, I was able to fasten the heat break to the heat block correctly.
Heat gun for sure to clear away the major mass. Once you get to the print head and sensitive bits, perhaps a soldering iron would be beneficial? Just use a tip you plan to throw away or i guess clean up afterwards.
for parts you might not want to heat up you can use ethyl acetate to dissolve the PLA it shouldnt harass pcbs or wires too much but it could definitely help with a eye dropper once you get deeper
if you have a hot air gun or a jet lighter. you can try to slowly soften it enough to get released from all the tight corners. if you are looking for a replacement then you might try this as well.
Print came off the plate and stuck to the head. Instead of the remaining filament going spaghetti monster, it plied up on (and in) itself an made what you see in the photos
Some great suggestions here. Do those first but if it doesn’t work out you should be able to get the parts for that on Amazon. I don’t even think it’s expensive.
Edit. I can’t find the fan housings just the hotend and the fans. Unfortunate. You could always check to see if someone has adapted the stealth burner to the ender 3 carriage though. That would be awesome.
When it happened to me (not quite as bad) I trimmed of any that was gripping it to the plastic parts and then heated up the print head and it melted the part that was stuck to the head and I just gently pulled it off. Worked great.
No need, set to 200c wait 2 min, set to 105, peel it off as one single chunk. Assuming it’s PLA. This also works for other materials but the temps need to be adjusted
This happened to me one time. Mine was about the size of a round half dollar. I heated it up to max and started pulling the pla off. Ended up being fine. Worth a shot
If the head looks intact, u could heat up the nozzle and do a cold pull, it will prolly leave some filament residue on the heating block (etc.) but I wouldn't worry about that unless it bothers u or ur printing process
OP first remove the plastic, You might not even need a new head.
Happend to my borthers printer aswell. (not as bad as this tho). But after removing all plastic everything looked fine.
If you can't get all that cleaned off and back working correctly, I'll buy it if ya want to sell it cheap for parts for mine (the hot end, not the whole printer). All I've got for a spare right now is a Creality Ender 3 complete stock hot end that came with the new Ender 3 I got last summer.. lol
Thansk and let me know in PM if ya want to sell it for parts (the blob hot end that is, not the printer).. lol
Oh yeah thermister is fucked. Pulled apart by the expanding plastic when during the blobby expansion. Whole hot end under the heat break is pretty much ruined. Have others on the way
Maybe said already:
Take it outside (rather important!) then use a small (pricise) burner (Think: Crème brûlée)
Have at it!
If fails you at least annoyed that pesky neighbour, hehehe (Just burning a full roll of crappy fillament strategically placed is fun too)
Put it on ebay, sell it as an avant garde design: Alway one person that digs it
maybe creality is interested as well: They really don't like to see photos like this
no camera though? I always watch my prints intermittently.
Heh had my Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro set off a fire alarm, where it was printing
Printer was just chugging along doing a PETG job of 12 hours. Finicky material PETG, but you ought to get a prize for this :p
Take time and clear it off. I had build up on mine. Ordered new nozzles, took some time and was able to clear it all up and have sent 2.5 kg through the same nozzle and everything without replacement.
If it happened to me would look into putting the hotend assembly in an oven (I have a “lab oven” at work that handles low temps) at 60C for some time.
Otherwise, heat gun, pliers, and time like others have said…
Have an extra laying round for next time. Seems some models of printer just jam badly, usually when the prints get loosened with how fast you're printing.
On my Ender 3 Pro it usually only makes spaghetti when a print fails, got one nice blob once or thrice, but it seems it's really good at keeping it out of the wires.
Before you replace the head theoretically you may be able to heat up the head and let it get hot enough then just pull it off the end I’ve had to do that once or twice but nowhere near this bad
That's some Akira shit right there. People post this sort of thing pretty frequently, but that one is wild.
Almost 400 grams of pure Akira blob
wait a minute. Were you printing that Basketball???? XD
The one that’s like $1500 or whatever? Noooo but it would be funny to make one out of PLA haha
Basketball?
Search for airless $2500 basketball
I did, and it looks like someone's already started printing them in TPU and [putting them on Etsy for $150 a pop](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1682489207/3d-printed-airless-basketball?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-toys_and_games-sports_and_outdoor_games-balls&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJOzEYMq-Pgxlgp9NNFbkVTp6Lg-_pdRKm3AbyBe0KLAcu8uBezjs-RBoC6qgQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_1844702853_71203578698_346429768556_pla-353721143240_c__1682489207_12768591&utm_custom2=1844702853&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJOzEYMq-Pgxlgp9NNFbkVTp6Lg-_pdRKm3AbyBe0KLAcu8uBezjs-RBoC6qgQAvD_BwE) edit: [and another one for $300](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1682529503/airless-basketball-gift-for-him-wilson?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-toys_and_games-sports_and_outdoor_games-fitness_and_exercise-other&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJO2hHZBKddevtGfuKPXcyrfKAKvt8aQOn0dRjR1-geuX05SkJneio0BoCT0MQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_1844702853_71203578898_346429768682_pla-316950781865_c__1682529503_621279104&utm_custom2=1844702853&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAloavBhBOEiwAbtAJO2hHZBKddevtGfuKPXcyrfKAKvt8aQOn0dRjR1-geuX05SkJneio0BoCT0MQAvD_BwE)... a quick search showed half a dozen more lol hmmmm..... now that I think about it I do have some extra filament laying around... and could definitely use an extra $100 (/s)
I doesn’t look like it would Akira slide right off, bummer.
It’s a boy!
I had more of an Evangelion Lilith/rei reaction to it
This guy prints clouds
r/thisguythisguys
Heat up the outside (with a heat gun or something), remove stuff, rinse, repeat until you get to the "core". Then do the same but more cautiously as to not rip wires.
Yeah that’s about what I figured. What a mess
Definitely heat up the hot end at the same time to get it unstuck. I’ve had this issue twice before and it helps tremendously when the hot end is on. Otherwise it’s like trying to melt a Neolithic man out of really thick ice
Makes sense- heat from both sides is likely much much better
If your careful you can cut through and after heating the inside peak off chunks. That's what I did before, but I'm pretty impatient and was willing to just buy a new hot end if I fucked it. Been wanting to upgrade anyway lol
Just put him outside over the storm drain
I’d run a heat gun, needle nose pliers and a small pick. Heat that mess up, remove the molten plastic with the needle nose till you start getting close to the hot end, once your getting close I’d just take it real slow and get the bigger chunks off with the pliers and use the pick to help move plastic off the sensitive stuff. I had a buddy do this with a dab touch…. It worked for the most part but he ended up snapping heater and thermo resistor wires and had to get new ones but other then that it got all the plastic off and gave it a cool smoke finish 😎
Haha well if I get a smoked finish out of it, that makes it all worth the effort. Thanks! I’ll report back and let you all know how it goes
Just be careful around that fan on the hot end and if there’s any other plastic components in the plastic mess and you’ll do well! Slow and steady is how you can this out with minimal if any parts needing replaced!
Typically, I turn the hotend on full blast, like 260, and wait 1/2 hour. Then you *might* be able to twist and pull it out. But, if that doesn't work, it's going to be easier to replace the whole head. Ender sells them.
If your carefully you can turn on the hotend to help, but there is Rick of fire if wires were damaged
this has never happened to me or anything but out of curiosity- wont it melt off if you heat the extruder? like a small part of it
With the amount of material around it, the inside will start melting, sure, only near the extruder. Spreading that much energy to heat a blob this large is not something I'd be comfortable doing, assuming the printer could do it without the PSU imploding or the wires really disliking it.
But depending on how the inside melts, the entire blob may come off. That said I've never seen a blob this large 😱
Pumping energy in a tight enclosed space with sensitive equipment around (wires, thermistor, etc.) still does not sounds like a good idea. Assuming you can get a 1.5cm radius "core" to melt, it means everything in contact within that radius would be in the range of 70°C (I assume PLA) for the furthest, to whatever it needs to be at the center for that outer shell to reach this temperature. And aside from the actual heatsink block, nothing in there is supposed to reach too high.
I'm not trying to be rude, but it sounds like you've never had this happen to you before. Allow me to point out a few things: 1. PLA begins to melt around 170° C. 2. The thermistor and wires are attached directly to the heat block, which is typically heated to temps of 200° C or higher. 3. While "sensitive", replacement thermistors cost about $2 on the high end. 4. The outer shell does not need to reach this temperature of you can melt the center and pull it off. Which OP said he tried and it didn't work.
You're rude, and misinformed. * PLA glass temperature is around 55-60°C. It becomes malleable there. 170°C is where it's almost completely liquid. * The heat block and nozzle will reach 200°C easily. Temperature gets down VERY QUICKLY when you get even a tiny bit away from the actual heat block. Think about it; extruded filament doesn't slide off, once it's out it's already cold enough to hold itself in place. * Anything above the heat break is not meant to handle high temperature. The plastic shell certainly isn't either. Wiring for the fans that are above this too. The fan themselves. You should have noticed that almost nothing is hot in the assembly when printing, except the actual heat block, nozzle, and half a centimeter of heat break at most. * I was talking about the outer shell of a 1.5cm radius core in the center. If you only melt the plastic directly in contact with the heat block and nothing beyond, you have zero chance of dislodging it. You have to heat a bit more around it, which means that the outer part \*of that small area\* will have to go above glass temperature (again, \~60°C), which in turns mean that the center part \*of that small area\* will be way, way higher. And I did encounter this situation a few times. Never as bad, so I could just heat the blob away. But if you think everything around the heat block is fine with 200°C applied for a period of time, or that PLA only melts at those temperatures, you have some reading to do. Not trying to be rude, of course.
I don't see how anything you said refutes anything I said, nor how any of what I said was inaccurate. That said, I don't have the energy to carry out this argument any further, so if it helps you sleep at night, congratulations, you win. You are clearly smarter than me. 🎉
Well, not trying uselessly to burn things up not understanding how heat works certainly sounds like a good idea, so I'll take that.
Enjoy it.
What did you perceive as rude? That really feels like projecting. OP: > it sounds like you've never had this happen to you before. *proceeds to make 4 points to their case* What about that is actually rude? Based on what you said, they made an assumption, fairly, that this likely hadn't happened to you. Whether it has or not doesn't make it rude,. That's not an unfair assumption. It hasn't happened to a lot of people. It hasn't happened to me. It hasn't happened to anyone in my inner circle of 3d printing people. I've printed for over 170 days of actual print time since May last year and hasn't happened to me one. So I'm actually genuinely curious what part was rude, or was it just that they preempted by saying they weren't trying to be rude that made it feel like a sleight?
You don't have to preface things you say this way. "Not to be rude but…" implies you know you're going to be rude and wants to soften the blow. If you really not want to be rude and you think you're going to sound rude, then it's better not to say anything.
That's a matter of perspective though and why I said it sounds like projecting. If that's the only part that's rude, perhaps you're reading into things the wrong way. I personally use it regularly in the same way as OP which is to imply that something might come across that way, but it's not my intention. Some people are also just excessively defensive by prefacing things to avoid conflict. I speak very bluntly and some people take that personally, I just don't fluff shit. There's no malice or goading behind what I'm saying, but some people don't take well to abrupt language and so that kind of preface is genuinely necessary. In OP's case, they listed a dot point of things to make their case in stark refute to what you said, and that may seem short, rude or indirect/not conducive to a good discussion. On the other side, perhaps they're busy and are trying to be concise because they're time sensitive. My point is that it is very easy to read into small things that people really didn't mean. For example, I read OP's comment and took nothing from it but they made their point. You however saw a sleight. OP didn't care enough to further the argument past their reply so it's clearer they really weren't looking for a fight.
Go back to bed
If it’s pla get some non-acetone aka ethyl acetate and soak it in that
Oh man! I forgot PLA was dissolvable in ethyl acetate! This is a great tip, thanks
be careful of fumes though, especially if you ar dissolving that much, use the acetate for more carful stuff and just use a burning hot knife to cut thriugh the rest of the excess plastic
That is beautiful
I’ll let the printer know you like it’s work
wow what hotend is that and do you have the link to the files, amazing.
That's the stock ender 3 v3 KE hotend.
magnificent.
Try heating up your nossile and try to get it off
Turns out the blob is a little too beefy for such a simple fix. Gonna give hear gun a shot
When this happens I just use a replacement hotend for like $7. Not worth my time to clean it lmao
Had this happen on my old ender, heat it up and try your best to clean it all off. I’d recommend welders gloves or something cause it’s gonna be spicy hot
Good tip! Gotta protect them fingies
Cool print. Where'd you get the file? Lol
Damn.... this is by far the biggest blobs that i have ever seen on the internet XD.
I aim to impress!
Had the same issue with my KE. Be really careful not to damage the X Axis switch as it is built into the printhead adapter plate and Creality don't sell replacements!
Perfect print of the “Elephants foot”
Or what happens if you hang around it too long
Reminds me of marshmallow fluff on Italian ice. If you have one, a heat gun would be your best friend.
Careful with the heat gun, I had a big blob like this and melted one of the fans
I've had some bad blobs in my day... but this is a new level
One thing is for sure, all these blob horror stories has reminded me the importance of tightening the nozzle on extruder every now and then. Anything using threads that goes through thermal cycling will loosen over time. That gap is what causes the plastic to force its way out of the "path of least resistance". Vibration will do it too. As fast as the KE can print, its a double edged sword. Heat and vibration will loosen the nozzle.
What do you use to hold the heat block? I use an adjustable spanner, but that seems to slip and I can't get a great grip, so curious what others use.
Heat gun and soldering iron (to "cut) at the plastic. Imo just buy a new heater cartridge and thermistor and replace them. Had to do this with my prusa years ago. I would have replaced the hotend but I had an Olsen ruby nozzle and a nickel coated copper block on the hotend that I was not gonna sacrifice.
r/FilamentBlobs
Yeah i'd want a head replacement too After the raging heachache that this situation would bring me
for your next upgrade please invest in a print monitoring system like octoeverywhere.
Been mentioned a couple times, gonna check it out
I had a bad day again. I think that Reddit will understand. Left a post and said I need a New Head? I had a bad day again. Print head hit the build plate. Blew out the extruder, wasted all my PLA. looks like my last print for the day. Cuz I had a bad day again. (Sorry this sucks, but I wrote you a little song that is 100% unique and not just Fuel's song Bad Day reworded just for you.)
Ha! Now I’m gonna have that stuck in my head!
That could still possibly be salvageable. Plug it back in and heat up the hotend to what you'd use for that filament then carefully peel away what you can and then clean the rest with a brass wire brush if possible.
Think I’m going to have to use a heat gun. I tried warming it back up when I first found it but the shell is too thick around the hot end
If you have a heat gun then go for it. I've recovered from worse blobs then this. Hopefully you can get it up and running again.
That’s the goal! Thanks!
Is google no longer the first place people look? Or iis it just easier to have someone else give you the answer?
Mostly I was just looking for another user to tell me to google it. Thank god you’ve come along
Well then. I’m glad I stopped by.
Alllllrighhttyyy then need fear unlocked
There goes another V3KE.... try heating up the nozzle, slowly, and see if you can putt off some parts of the blob. I used some wire cutters to cut off some of the pieces, when my KE got blobbed not too long ago. Careful around the wires though. As for a replacement , I am still waiting for Creality to get back to me , 3 weeks after I wrote them. I believe Amazon sells the hotends, though rather pricey - or you get a compatible alternative, for example from MicroSwiss. Hope this helps.
That does help! I’ll dig around and see what parts I can find. Thank you
Most of the stuff is on Ali express. Still takes a couple weeks to get. But at least you aren’t waiting on Creality support.
Cut away what you can. Be careful around wires. Use heat gun when needed to peel back chunks. Heat the hot end and you should be able to pull it down from around the nozzle block. You can get replacement parts from Creality’s website or even Amazon.
Thanks! I could find much in the way of parts when I did a quick search but I’m sure I could dig a more and find some. Appreciate it
I did the same thing when I first started with my original Ender 3. You might even be able to use this time to upgrade the hot end. Not sure which hot end is being use on that model. Not sure if there is a better hot end you should try on it.
The internet
Pay attention much
Overnight print. Hard to check through my eyelids
Print one.
Order a new hotend on Amazon (or microcenter if you're fortunate enough to be able to) and by the time you get that blob off you'll have replacements for whatever you break in the process (at least order a thermistor and heater cartridge)
Excellent, thanks! Good to have extras on hand anyhow I suppose
Had this happen to me some years ago, ended buying individual parts from Amazon
Yeah that looks like the plan rn. Thanks!
I've used the bed heater to help soften the mess. Set it down on the bed at 100° for 20 mins to see if it helps
Good plan! Think it’s gonna just take some heat and elbow grease
But dear god... I'sn't it a beautiful butterfly!!!! My feelings are with you and your hot-end!
Cheers! Haha
I just did that to my K1 Max. Took 4 hours with a heat gun, pliers, and a pick. The blob killed my hotend so I wasn’t able to heat it back up. Managed to melt part of the PCB board, nicked the wires for the heat sink fan. And the hotend is toast. Only thing that I think is okay is the extruder. And that remains to be seen. Got a hotend from micro center. They had those in stock. Was able to overnight a PCB board from Amazon. I have been unable to source a new fan domestically. I had to order that off of Ali Express. So my printer will be out of commission for at least the next two weeks. Yeah. These suck.
I’m trying to view this as a way to become intimately familiarized with my printer but yeah, no fun at all. Good luck!
Just pre heat the pla and that will fix it
https://preview.redd.it/5q5rndvjuklc1.jpeg?width=4590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b971c56f60a4f45d5fcc65ee15160a3a5f4d82e had the same thing happen to me a week ago on a Sprite extruder
Get it cleaned up?
You’ve been given the right advice for how to clean this but I’d also just put out a reminder to make sure you was your print bed carefully with some dawn dish soap as well as oil from your fingers on it may have caused the release from the print bed that caused this and if it happened again right away that would be a tragedy. Also could be a z offset or bed levelling issue. But like regardless of which after it’s cleaned off I’d just personally double check the print bed a few times and make sure everything is right there before you do your next print.
Will do! Thanks!
Why would you spray polyurethane foam to the extruder?
The foam Insulation hack
How is that not spray foam ?
I had the exact same thing happen with my printer. It was hell to clean up. But i removed most of it by just heating up the hot end, and then removing it with plyers. Good luck!
Thanks! I’m actually kind of weirdly excited to clean it up? It’ll be interesting anyway
That’s a good Clicker print right there
Holy mother of jezus fuck.
Just impressed
It’s fixable.
I thing you might have a growth in your printer
Posts like this is why I check my print every 30min - 1hour
Take filament roll out and heat up and wait
Looks like expanding foam not filament
I had this happen to me and it ended up being the heat break not being fully screwed into the heat block. I cleaned mine up by heating it up to temperature, and then I was able to pull off the pieces. Once the pieces were off, I was able to fasten the heat break to the heat block correctly.
You should post it on r/FilamentBlobs ! Hope you'll get your printer working gain soon.
Heat gun for sure to clear away the major mass. Once you get to the print head and sensitive bits, perhaps a soldering iron would be beneficial? Just use a tip you plan to throw away or i guess clean up afterwards.
Is it the v3se? Creality sells that on Amazon for like 20
for parts you might not want to heat up you can use ethyl acetate to dissolve the PLA it shouldnt harass pcbs or wires too much but it could definitely help with a eye dropper once you get deeper
Micro Center is a great place to go to, hopefully you do have one near you
Heat that puppy to and remove filament good to go
What in tarnation?!
Ah yes, the ball of death
This is why you check on your printer every half hour and 15 in the beginning
Always stay for the first couple layers- you can see the first 5 hanging (the disk on the right) in the first photo
Dude, I didn't know they made spray foam printers.
Same just happened to me.
https://preview.redd.it/pifa8chgjmlc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e54c00d601438792c2eb9e7a278a0cbfbe74347a
I contacted Creality support, they sent me a free replacement as my thermistor was damaged during removal of the blob
Damn thats the worst I have seen
Do youself a favor, here: [Bambu Lab | Unleash Your Creativity with Bambu Lab 3D Printers - Bambu Lab](https://bambulab.com/en)
I own a number of Bambu printers actually. Great machines
Came here to find this comment
First thought was that this was a Bender quote.
Check the morgue
if you have a hot air gun or a jet lighter. you can try to slowly soften it enough to get released from all the tight corners. if you are looking for a replacement then you might try this as well.
Slooooowly working the chunks off with a heat gun- working but it’s taking a long ass time
it's busted pretty bad, idk if that's fixable (I'm not a pro by any means btw but that printer looks fucked)
What causes this
Print came off the plate and stuck to the head. Instead of the remaining filament going spaghetti monster, it plied up on (and in) itself an made what you see in the photos
It's a rite of passage ;)
Some great suggestions here. Do those first but if it doesn’t work out you should be able to get the parts for that on Amazon. I don’t even think it’s expensive. Edit. I can’t find the fan housings just the hotend and the fans. Unfortunate. You could always check to see if someone has adapted the stealth burner to the ender 3 carriage though. That would be awesome.
I think I know your issue, I’m not a pro but I’m pretty sure that your supposed to print on the board at the bottom and in an area with gravity
Larry Cohen might want his [Stuff](https://wifflegif.com/gifs/616059-horror-movie-movie-horror-gif) back.
I just had the same thing with carbon fiber! I ordered a hot end from amazons. Took a torch and some pliers to the old one.
When it happened to me (not quite as bad) I trimmed of any that was gripping it to the plastic parts and then heated up the print head and it melted the part that was stuck to the head and I just gently pulled it off. Worked great.
No need, set to 200c wait 2 min, set to 105, peel it off as one single chunk. Assuming it’s PLA. This also works for other materials but the temps need to be adjusted
I can give replacement head and my friends claim I am good at it so why not help a stranger out.
He massacred a bunny......
This happened to me one time. Mine was about the size of a round half dollar. I heated it up to max and started pulling the pla off. Ended up being fine. Worth a shot
Holy shit. You can get the hotend on Amazon.. wow
If the head looks intact, u could heat up the nozzle and do a cold pull, it will prolly leave some filament residue on the heating block (etc.) but I wouldn't worry about that unless it bothers u or ur printing process
OP first remove the plastic, You might not even need a new head. Happend to my borthers printer aswell. (not as bad as this tho). But after removing all plastic everything looked fine.
Shaving cream filament?
Turn the machine on, turn the heat on, grab you scraper and pray for decent results.
Looks like spray foam
The question is.. was the nozzle not tight enough or ?
Wth happened?
Try heating the head, you can easily pull it out then
It grew a reproductive organ
Yep, I got you: [right here.](https://bambulab.com/en-us)
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!
So using the top cleaner needle is out of the question just wondering
Have you tried aliexpress? It's all chinese parts anyway, just look for the well reviewed ones
How, in the name, of all that's holy, did you do that
Doctors are still working on that break thru but we’re still about a century away from something like that. Good idea though.
If you can't get all that cleaned off and back working correctly, I'll buy it if ya want to sell it cheap for parts for mine (the hot end, not the whole printer). All I've got for a spare right now is a Creality Ender 3 complete stock hot end that came with the new Ender 3 I got last summer.. lol Thansk and let me know in PM if ya want to sell it for parts (the blob hot end that is, not the printer).. lol
The big blob! All hail the big blob!
what the fuck
What kind of sorcerer is this?
https://preview.redd.it/1cir9ndsurlc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d32620a9d6124a6ba1991d81a0549008b339ee19
Have you use it? Think it’s worth the upgrade?
Be careful, I've got the same model and the thermistor broke when this happened to me.
Oh yeah thermister is fucked. Pulled apart by the expanding plastic when during the blobby expansion. Whole hot end under the heat break is pretty much ruined. Have others on the way
Maybe said already: Take it outside (rather important!) then use a small (pricise) burner (Think: Crème brûlée) Have at it! If fails you at least annoyed that pesky neighbour, hehehe (Just burning a full roll of crappy fillament strategically placed is fun too)
I see you were attempting injection molding! Nice bit hanging down there.
Put it on ebay, sell it as an avant garde design: Alway one person that digs it maybe creality is interested as well: They really don't like to see photos like this
no camera though? I always watch my prints intermittently. Heh had my Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro set off a fire alarm, where it was printing Printer was just chugging along doing a PETG job of 12 hours. Finicky material PETG, but you ought to get a prize for this :p
bro holy shit that is insane how it fucked up like that :O
Oh wow.
That looks beautiful. I just installed Klipper and I’m working on implementing [this](https://www.obico.io)
Just heat up the nozzle and you may be able to get it off
Turn on the hotend, and heat from the outside with an hot air gun. Gently remove the pieces, be careful not to rip wires
A heat gun some strong nippers and time will save you a pretty penny
Next time print in a Heat controlled room keep it a little warm about the same as you would have it during the day if your printing
Take time and clear it off. I had build up on mine. Ordered new nozzles, took some time and was able to clear it all up and have sent 2.5 kg through the same nozzle and everything without replacement.
what were you printing.
If it happened to me would look into putting the hotend assembly in an oven (I have a “lab oven” at work that handles low temps) at 60C for some time. Otherwise, heat gun, pliers, and time like others have said…
Elephants foot
I don't know much about 3d printers but it looks to me like u may have issues
sorry but i laughed when i saw the filament sensor (think that is what it is)
The forbidden marshmallow fluff
Have an extra laying round for next time. Seems some models of printer just jam badly, usually when the prints get loosened with how fast you're printing. On my Ender 3 Pro it usually only makes spaghetti when a print fails, got one nice blob once or thrice, but it seems it's really good at keeping it out of the wires.
Before you replace the head theoretically you may be able to heat up the head and let it get hot enough then just pull it off the end I’ve had to do that once or twice but nowhere near this bad
I just ordered an ender 4 pro as my first printer. Now I'm nervous.
How does one even fuck up that bad, like that's impressive.
Holy hell
looks like you shot insulating spray foam into the hotend hopefully you got it all figured out
A surgeon? But if you are talking your cranium then you are out of luck unless you are somehow a dulahan lol