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So I left my printer running while I was at work, forgot to check up on it with octoprint, and the print failed. A dumb mistake, I know
The problem is, the massive blob of hardened PLA is covering the thermosister and its wire, causing it to read at 0 degrees. This means I get an error messsage when I turn the printer on, and cant heat the nozzle up.
How can I safely remove the material without damaging the printer? I'm using a Prusa Mk3s.
I would use a soldering iron and carefully push away the material from the nozzle. If one uses great care and has a hot air gun with a reduction nozzle, one could also heat up the PLA and push it off with a utensil. PLA will heat quickly throughout the mass, so expect that a large portion will droop, drip or otherwise move once the necessary temperature is reached.
You could also uses a hair dryer, it should get to a high enough temp to carefully remove the PLA.
If your temp reading is zero degrees C then you may have a dead thermister or unplugged thermister.
what fred said :-)
So I tried using my heatgun and ended up melting the cooling fan and the bottom of a few other parts, thankfully I dont think only the bit holding the fan needs to be replaced, the damage on the rest doesnt look serious, but I figured I should probably stop doing that. I found where the thermosister cable is in the lump of plastic, dunno how to get it out though
I got a soddering iron and a plan that might work. If I melt away some of the plastic and touch the soddering iron to the nozzle, it should heat up like it would when printing and melt away the plastic, right? Would that not work for some reason I'm not thinking of at the moment, I dont want to just try it and maybe make the situation worse
Do not believe you can make this situation much worst.
What you can do is to save as much as possible as this point.
Using a Wood Burning Tip Soldering Iron would allow you to easily cut away the larger plastic.
This can be found at any hobby store even Walmart has them.
fred is right... :)