Heat Block leak filament from above

[reef fox]

I got Ender 3 S1 Pro I need help with doing this I got no clue how to do that, my heat block leak filament from above and I tried tighten everything the nozzle + the heat block and its still leaking so if anyone know how to do something like the picture please help, I did not print for days because of this.

[jaunty dagger]

AI Help

It sounds like you may need to replace the heat break on your Ender 3 and properly assemble it to prevent filament leaks. Here are the general steps to follow:

1. Fully disassemble the hotend, including removing the heat break and nozzle.
2. Clean any existing filament residue from all components.
3. Install a new heat break and reassemble the hotend, ensuring all components are tightened properly.
4. Perform a test print to check for any further leaks.

If you need more specific guidance or step-by-step instructions, please refer to the Ender 3 S1 Pro user manual or contact the manufacturer for assistance.

WARNING: This response is AI generated and may contain errors.

[sleek kindle]

by "top", do you mean on the top of the heater block closest to the heat break?

[sleek kindle]

ah, ok

so

disassemble it and clean off the plastic

when you go to reassemble it, thread the nozzle all the way till you cant turn it anymore WITH YOUR FINGERS

actually, before that, do you know how to disassemble it and clean it?

[reef fox]

no..

[sleek kindle]

ok

let me see if i can find a video

[reef fox]

I found one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bZ_ETKBipQ&t=0s this?

[sleek kindle]

i actually am watching a video from him right now to see if its good, a different video though

[reef fox]

okk

[sleek kindle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCFOI5kUWQg

eh

i like your video better, it tells you how to disassemble it

[reef fox]

okk will try it now

ty

so just cleaning was the issue?

or the way that I tight it

[sleek kindle]

no, you didnt tighten the nozzle properly which left gaps in the thread where the plastic could escape

[reef fox]

it was working well

but then

I got to change the nozzle

and when I changed it that what happened

[sleek kindle]

when changing a nozzle, you first finger tighten it all the way and then untighten it a half to full turn

you then thread the heat break / throat in all the way until it stops

[reef fox]

but its hot so I used a drill

I think thats the issue

[sleek kindle]

wait what

[reef fox]

well

I dont have tools

I bought the printer used

and the seller did not give me the tools so that what I got

[sleek kindle]

by drill, do you mean like a power drill or the drill bits that create holes in things

[reef fox]

it look like drill it tight things

[sleek kindle]

ok, do you have any hand tools? like a socket wrench, pliers, channel locks, etc.

[reef fox]

socket wrench no I use the drill instead

wait

I will look for tools at home

my father have alot

but its not organized

they are all over the home

so I gotta search for em

[sleek kindle]

you really only need something to firmly hold the heater block while you tighten the nozzle for the finaly time

i wouldn't recommend using power tools as you could strip the threads

[reef fox]

I used my scissor

will try to find one tho

[sleek kindle]

and you kept your fingers?

[reef fox]

ye did nt work obviously

if I was an octobus might work

[sleek kindle]

eh, flesh isnt ideal for this

when you tighen it for the final time, you need to actually preheat the nozzle and heater block

so it will get hot

i recommend looking for these to hold onto the heater block while you do this

aside from that, a normal crescent or socket wrench that fits onto the nozzle should be fine

[reef fox]

I found almost everything

but did not find gloves

[sleek kindle]

id say those are optional, just be careful not to touch the hot metal

and really, you should be able to get away heating it up briefly to peel away the plastic and take it apart, let it cools to do some more cleaning, and then only heat it back up for the final tighten

[reef fox]

I think thats everything right?

[reef fox]

I will look again for gloves

[reef fox]

they was one that huge but did not find it yet

[sleek kindle]

and which ever of these fit nicely on the nozzle itself

[reef fox]

ah

did not find any gloves

I will go to the near store

might find one

[sleek kindle]

while you go for the gloves, make sure to also leave with the tools necessary for this repair if you dont have them already

if they sell any

[reef fox]

is there something messing?

this one works with the heatblock

I think thats all from my experience till now

[sleek kindle]

Aside from that allen key, i would make sure to have a set of tools to disassemble the hotend. So something like those channellocks I mentioned before, that adjustable wrench will work, but also something to turn the nozzle itself (so like a socket or other type of wrench that will fit it)

personally, if you dont have any full set of tools, i recommend keeping an eye out for some sale on a cheapish multi-piece set

my dad too has a bunch of tools, but it's so disorganized and missing too many tools that I got sick of it and bought a Husky tool set since it was on sale

[reef fox]

back

[sleek kindle]

woah, that was indeed near

[reef fox]

u mean something like this

[sleek kindle]

sort of, those are good for a power drill, i was more thinking of regular hand tools

but this is what you used before to tighten the nozzle, right?

[reef fox]

yes

[reef fox]

they might work with this one

on the left

I will try to plug it

it fit

[sleek kindle]

ok, now to actually disassemble the hotend

[reef fox]

it should be hot right

[sleek kindle]

yes, though you dont need to make it too hot

just enough to soften the plastic as it'll make things harder when it's cold

[reef fox]

so what degree

[sleek kindle]

probably 110 to 150c i think should be good

with the adjustable wrench you had pictured before (with the weird spiral thing), grip the heater block

if you cant grab it easily because the shroud is in the way, remove that

[reef fox]

okk

[sleek kindle]

make sure the socket is set properly to loosen things, then once the hotend is warm and you have a firm grip with the adjustable wrench, slip that socket wrench on the nozzle and turn

[reef fox]

what socket

[sleek kindle]

this is a socket wrench

[reef fox]

I dont think this gloves prevent from hot things

xD

[sleek kindle]

is it coming off?

[reef fox]

the nozzle ?

ye

[sleek kindle]

ok, you can turn off the heater block now

[reef fox]

so I just take off the nozzle for now ?

[sleek kindle]

yes

[reef fox]

and cool it

ok

[sleek kindle]

while it's cooling you can clean off any filament that may have oozed out on to the threads

it becomes easier to grab with tweezers when it's cooler than printing temp because it's still somewhat solid and will simply peel off

[reef fox]

I threw it

it have stuff filament

luckilly my nozzle order arrived yesterday

I got alot now

like 30

[sleek kindle]

oh, ok

honestly, with that much you probably didn't pay a whole lot of money, so you may be changing these frequently then

cheap nozzles and all

clean the heater block then of filament

[reef fox]

I paid 3 dollars

is cheap nozzle bad?

it says creality on them dk if they are original xD

[sleek kindle]

$0.10 a nozzle at $3 for 30

[reef fox]

should I take off this when its hot or when its cool

[reef fox]

is that cheap or good price idk

[sleek kindle]

touch it when it's cool, but while it's cooling try to clean the filament you can

[reef fox]

because

I got annoyed days ago

I went for 100km away store

and he sold me a single piece of nozzle

for 3 dollar or 2.6

thats pretty high Ig for a nozzle

so I ordered those

[sleek kindle]

cheaper nozzles probably dont have very good quality control on them

so the actual 0.4mm hole may not be exactly 0.4, it may be more of an oval, and or it may not be perfectly concentric

[reef fox]

oh

ama get that one back xD

[sleek kindle]

lol

[reef fox]

but I will test those first

am lost

do I have to take off the heat block ?

[sleek kindle]

from the printer gantry? i would

it can be done with it still on, but it becomes a bit more fiddly

can you take a picture of what it looks like right now?

[reef fox]

am confused now I just took off the nozzle

is there any step I should do?

like how to clean it or take it off or something

aaa

[reef fox]

ye

sure

[sleek kindle]

I was gonna say to get at section there, but that may or may not be actually needed

what ultimately needs to be done is to butt the nozzle up against the head break pictured here

[reef fox]

but I did not clean the heat block from inside

is that what are we doing?

[sleek kindle]

try and clean it if you can, but to fully clean it you may need to take the heater block off

[reef fox]

I will try

there is wires tho

am nervouse a bit

[sleek kindle]

what you could do is preheat the block to about 100c and then turn the printer fully off and try to peel the plastic away while it cools naturally

that way you wont have to worry about bridging the wires from the heater itself

if the heater block stays on the gantry as it is in the pictures, then you shouldn't have to worry too much about ripping them

still worry, but it's not gonna magically break on you

i recently clean my own nozzle because it was clogged, i had the damn thing hanging by heater and thermistor wires because i just didnt want to hold it while it cooled in between cold-pull attempts

[reef fox]

bad news

one of the screw is lose

and could not take it off

or move it

[reef fox]

the one above the big circle

[sleek kindle]

in this picture?

[reef fox]

yes

[sleek kindle]

that holds the heater cartridge itself in place

its fine to no fully remove it, but it becomes a pain when you cant take the heater out because of it (if you ever need to)

[reef fox]

bro

am really lost

idk what to do

like

what should I clean?

and how?

[sleek kindle]

you said it came from the top, right?

[reef fox]

yes

[sleek kindle]

is that top clean

[reef fox]

no

I will clean it now

what else need to be cleaned

[sleek kindle]

anywhere you see melted purple filament

the more you can remove from the threads the better, but it's fine if there is some left over

but it's also why I was wondering if it was possible to remove the heater block from the gantry itself, so that you may better get to the parts you need to

[reef fox]

ye

[reef fox]

whats after that

[sleek kindle]

while it is cold, finger tighten the nozzle back on

ideally, you would then finger tighten the heat break / heat throat untill it is stopped by the nozzle

[reef fox]

wait wait

heat break

whats that

[sleek kindle]

its the section that links the heater block to the heat sinks

[reef fox]

I never touched that before

so I have to untight it?

[sleek kindle]

well, finger tighten until its up against the nozzle

the heat break and nozzle are threaded into the same hole, the leaks are caused by the gaps between the two parts

[reef fox]

wait bro how I dont even see it

the throat thing

[sleek kindle]

its in the middle of the block

[reef fox]

how my finger should fit there

[sleek kindle]

thats why i was asking about removing it from the gantry

are you able to get a more close up image of that section?

[sleek kindle]

ah, I was hoping more from the front

what exact printer model is this?

ill see if i can find an image

[reef fox]

ender 3 s1 pro

I did it

I unscrew the lose one

some how it worked

I guess it was some filament there and I thought its lose

so now I can take off the heat block

[sleek kindle]

does it look like this?

oh shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnKe5KIgI4Y

[reef fox]

mine is pro

S1 pro

might be diffrent or same idk

[sleek kindle]

the differences usually end up being like a size thing or something to do with controls

[reef fox]

omg

[sleek kindle]

as far as i know, the hotends tend to be the same

[reef fox]

am afraid I break something

wtf is even that

[sleek kindle]

with printers there are two types of hotends, either it is PTFE (that white tube) lined or "All-metal"

with the ptfe lined hotends, that plastic tube goes all the way into the heater block and makes contact with the nozzle

[reef fox]

from where I get that?

[sleek kindle]

it really depends if yours needs replacing, but amazon is a good option, though there are better options than the basic white tube

[reef fox]

oh so I dont really need to replace it

[sleek kindle]

probably not

[reef fox]

so what should I do now

like clean that teflon?

[sleek kindle]

did you take the hotend off?

[reef fox]

no

[sleek kindle]

did you do anything else the last photo you sent?

[reef fox]

no

[sleek kindle]

ok, like in the video there should be 3 screws to undo that will remove the heater block from the gantry

[reef fox]

oh ok

so I do this video

[sleek kindle]

seems like it, unless you find your whole assembly is different

[reef fox]

ok will try now

I should cool it and turn it off ig

[sleek kindle]

yes

ill brb while you do that, food

and back

oh, 7 screws actually

that tiny grub screw is hidden behind everything where you need to dismount the whole assembly first like at the start of that video

[reef fox]

am stuck here

this one dont move

weird

its a circle

[sleek kindle]

it's called a "grub screw" or "set screw"

[reef fox]

aahh

how should I take that

;-;

[sleek kindle]

does your allen key just spin inside it?

[reef fox]

yes

[sleek kindle]

do you have another allen key about the same size?

[reef fox]

no

I have only this one

I found one with the drill that fit

but it refuse to move

[sleek kindle]

is it entirely circular inside that thing or does it look like a hexagon?

[reef fox]

circle

[sleek kindle]

best image i could find, but thats what it should looks like

[reef fox]

no

its a circle inside

[sleek kindle]

the previous owner stripped it

nice

[reef fox]

;-;;

is bambu lap have less headache than this creality ?

[sleek kindle]

all printers are gonna have some headache or another at some point

[reef fox]

ah

[sleek kindle]

but out of the box, i believe so

[reef fox]

well less headache

[sleek kindle]

i dont own a bambu printer so i cant tell you for sure, but considering the money and what ive heard

[reef fox]

I have seen alot of videos

they all saying its less headache like everything is auto ig

could not afford it here its so pricy in my region due the shipping fees

[sleek kindle]

do you have a hardware store in the area?

[reef fox]

nah

there is in the closet country

dubai is near

like 4 hours

I believe they have one

so this is 489

[reef fox]

625.92

[reef fox]

734.82

idk whats the diffrence between this 2 combos

cn version and intl version

[sleek kindle]

i couldnt tell you

[reef fox]

oh waIT

[sleek kindle]

i think the cheapest option would be to find another allen key to try

[reef fox]

AND THOSE ARE MINI

xD

I combared A1 to A1 mini

[reef fox]

I found one with the drill

if the drill did not do it I dont think allen will do

its illiterly a circle

[sleek kindle]

go for it then

[reef fox]

800 dollar

almost double the price

idk what difrence with this version but this one is 979 dollar

or maybe attaching the nozzle probably will fix it

so as u said

I should finger tight it now

then?

[sleek kindle]

i mean, hopefully it will work, but the reason why i was going down the rabbit hole of taking out the heater block was so that you could thread that heat break further into the heater block

to see where it comes into contact with the nozzle

[reef fox]

omg

[sleek kindle]

otherwise there will be a gap between the heat break and nozzle which will lead to the filament leaking again

while this isnt exactly your hotend, it should give you an idea of what im talking about

this section here

the blue is the heat break and the gold is the nozzle

any gaps will allow filament to ooze out like it did for you originally

[sleek kindle]

if you were to thread more of the heat break into the heater block until it comes into contact with the nozzle, you can then see if there was any space between them. if not, then this whole thing could have been fixed with tightening the nozzle further while it is preheated

[reef fox]

I did fully tight it before

[sleek kindle]

while the nozzle was hot?

[reef fox]

ye

[sleek kindle]

then the nozzle did not reach the heat break, which is all the more reason to remove that grub screw

[reef fox]

is it removable

after that?

[sleek kindle]

once the grub screw is out the heat break can be unthreaded from the heater block or thread further into it, you could attempt now but there are wires in the way

[reef fox]

I mean the grub screw

is there a way to take it off

[sleek kindle]

did you try that drill bit you mentioned before? with that allen key shape?

[reef fox]

yes

[sleek kindle]

no good?

[reef fox]

no

[sleek kindle]

so i can think of two options: 1) destructive method of removing it with a actual drill bit, the sharp spirally thing, in which you will destroy the drub screw and hopefully not the heatsink / thread it is in. 2) isolate as much of that heat sink as you can (remove screws until its the only part in your hand) and buy a replacement with as few parts as you can get away with

or 2.5) just buy a whole new assembly and not bother with dismantling it further

there could be some other methods of removing the stripped grub screw, but i dont know of any

[reef fox]

what does assembly mean

[sleek kindle]

an "assembly" refers to a bunch of smaller parts being put together, it has to be "assembled". In this context I am referring to that big thing with that fans, heater block, nozzle, leveling probe, extruder, and extruder stepper motor.

[reef fox]

oh

I dont think that available

where I can find this ?

[sleek kindle]

https://store.creality.com/collections/accessories/products/sprite-extruder-pro-300℃-printing?spm=..collection_cc8cf8b4-3da1-49c7-bc32-dd0e246caef8.collection_custom_1.10&spm_prev=..product_f5e8cc96-3061-4873-a826-24ebd089e586.header_1.1

i think that

[reef fox]

they dont ship out side the us

bruh

[sleek kindle]

i feel like they should be able to, but my browser set it to the US

look in the top right of the page?

where it says "English" right next to the US flag icon

[reef fox]

I did

not even avaialbla

u try

put asia

[sleek kindle]

wtf

let me see if i can find an Aliexpress link

[reef fox]

https://ar.aliexpress.com/i/1005004111870252.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2ara

this ?

180 dollar to ship

ama buy new printer with this

[sleek kindle]

yeah, looks like it, but fuck that shipping price

do you know anyone that is more comfortable with handling drills? could they help you remove the grub screw? (though, once removed you will need to replace it somehow)

[reef fox]

idk

I will go to store maybe they got tools that they can take it off or something

[sleek kindle]

bring it with you if you are able

you shouldnt need to power it while the grub screw is being removed

[reef fox]

ye I will

I will still buy new printer I hate this one

bambu lab is so fast they say I want that so bad

I will try to sell this one after fixing that

also idk if this screw common so I can replace it or something

[sleek kindle]

idk if its common in your area, but it's common enough here in the US

[reef fox]

if its only designed for this I won't find it

if the screw common like used for other things I might find it

[sleek kindle]

its common in that other machines can use it if yours wasnt stripped to hell

but they would probably all be for a similar purpose between different machines

like if you were to look on your lead screw coupler, you will see more grub screws

[reef fox]

okk

I will go after 4 to 7 hours and see if someone could do it

then I got to clean the plastic thing inside right?

oh no

tight the thing

I will just screw it off and when u be here will do it

thank you u are so patient

aaa

[sleek kindle]

this chat will time out after a while, but i think you should be able to message in it again and probably @ me any time

and i think your have the all metal version of the heat break, which is better than PTFE lined

the Ender 3 S1 Pro, right?

[reef fox]

idk

[reef fox]

ye its s1 pro

[sleek kindle]

you should have the "all-metal" hotend variant then, from what I gather

"All-Metal" hotends, unlike their lined counterparts, do NOT have that white tube going all the way into the heater block

This allows for printing at hotter temperatures and less maintenance as there is no white tube degrading and eventually clogging the nozzle. As you print around 240c+, the white tube starts to burn and eventually constrict. The burning tube is actually the teflon plastic breaking down, during this process the teflon releases some pretty toxic gases that you really don't want to breath in (it's actually lethal for birds).

[reef fox]

hmmm

mine goes to 300c so I guess it dont have that thing

[sleek kindle]

no, im sure you do after looking at creality's site

usually 300c is the max anyway for printers like these, as anything hotter is getting into the territory of engineering grade plastics, but those need an heated enclosure

from their site

[reef fox]

ye I meant I dont have the plastic things since it goes to 300

[sleek kindle]

ah