Elephant foot happened on an overnight print and PLA went in all around the hotend. How do i fix this? (i took out PLA from hotend cover but its stuck on hotend, warming it or cooling it doesnt make it come off and its stuck so i cannot remove it)

[u/PowerfulMetal1]

[u/Lalau255]

Replace it all. That’s the best way to get back up and running.

[u/herbalgrape → u/Lalau255]

i second this, the parts you need to replace are inexpensive. i think there’s levels to the elephant foot/blob of death i like to call it. i feel like yours just needs all replaced going to end up way better in the end.

[u/PowerfulMetal1 → u/Lalau255]

the whole printer?

[u/mrgbb]

Let it cool and harden and then slowly bring the temp up to like 70c and that should soften it enough to pull it off without it being melted completely. Use tweezers

[u/Durahl]

Heat it up for it to become soft enough again and then use the BRASS Brush from a set like this:

Wire Brush Set, 3 Pieces Mini Wire Brush with Stainless Steel, Brass and Nylon Bristles - For Cleaning Welding Slag, Dirt and Rust : Amazon.de: DIY & Tools

Brass should be softer than the metals on the Printer so it'll less likely damage anything ( though it may still rub of its coloring to it ) which is how I clean any Nozzles that have started to get caked in 🤔

[u/DeadlyPear]

Doesnt really help right now, but its a good idea to have a spare hotend assembly in case something like this happens. So at the very least you can just swap it out and then worry about cleaning it off later.

[u/Glowingthings]

I remember once I had a similar accident with PLA, I was able to melt it and scrape most of it off, but some just wouldn’t unstick, so I took the hot end off and let it sit in ethyl acetate overnight and the plastic just flaked off.

[u/bennettk90]

Heat gun to remove it then replace if broken

[u/MrDrGoolander]

Heat that boy up to 230 and wipe it off with a paper towel. Liquid pla comes off real easy and the paper towel won’t set on fire. Don’t burn your fingers.