Wow, I’m batting a thousand here in trying to perform even the simplest maintenance or upgrades for my Wanhao i3…
Anyway, last time I used my printer the PLA had jammed and oozed all over my heating block. It got everywhere, including over the very fragile wires of the thermistor, and even UNDER the tape of all things. I tried to clean as much as I can, but there was a lot just gunked over everywhere:
https://i.imgur.com/ViPEZzd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yJBdRzI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dLTL06G.jpg
I am not even sure how ruined that is with the PLA getting into the felt washer that holds the thermistor in place. (I am quite worried about touching that thing since everyone has told me it is EXTREMELY sensitive and I have seen multiple forum posts of people who broke theirs. Would this felt washer need to be replaced if it is caked with PLA? I haven’t been able to find any local stores that carry them, and online they are only available at either ridiculous prices or in large packs for a high price.)
Anyway, since I was about to do some extensive parts replacements to the extruder (both the hotend and coldend with all-metal parts, as well as replacing the bearings holding it to the x-axis rods) I thought this would be taken care of in the upgrade kits… but I neglected to realize that the ONE part in all of this mess that would not be replaced and I am still supposed to re-use… is the heating block.
I tried looking up information on replacing or cleaning the block, but most information I found was about the heating cartridge or thermistor, the only useful information I could find was this:
I suppose since the all-metal hotend requires me to completely remove the heating block anyway, this would be as good a time as any to try to fix this mess, but I am not too sure how to go about it.
First of all… did this PLA cause any damage and I should worry so much about replacing everything? I actually haven’t used this printer that heavily yet. And if so, first issue I have is trying to find the “ceramic tape” as they (though apparently not others) call it. The previous links that used to sell it, such as these:
Appear to have been sold out for a while… not to mention want to charge about $7 or so for a single strip. Other random sites also want to charge as much for shipping as the part itself.
“Generic” ones which do not have holes pre-cut seem to be sold as “Heating Block Cotton”… except they are intentionally misleading as they are literally just the cotton part without the tape itself. Does this “ceramic tape” (not sure why it’s called that as it does not appear to have any ceramic parts in it) sold under any other names in hardware stores? It seems like I am paying far more for some generic part that is just simply being priced higher because it’s being sold as if it’s a specific special part.
Second, what is even the purpose of this tape? I couldn’t find any information on it, and it dosen’t appear to be preventing heat from reaching any other parts, plus I have seen printers with the same type of heating block without it. Is it important?
Third… would I need to replace the felt washer of the thermistor too? Again, I am quite worried about having to mess with this thing due to how fragile it is, especially with how it’s wires are stuck to the heating block. Also if I would need to replace the felt washer if PLA got in it as I can’t seen to find them for sale anywhere decent.
And finally… any other advice about this anyone else can offer about trying to fix this mess? Thanks.
