There are a few things you're going to want to check fairly regularly to ensure your printer is operating at it's full potential.
These will be sorted by easiest to do/most common parts to clean, to more difficult to do/less common parts.
It is important to check all of these to ensure reliable perforamnce.
- Cleaning the Nozzle
- Cleaning the Build Plate
- Cleaning the Rails
- Cleaning the Idlers
The Nozzle is likely to be the messiest part of the printer, for obvious reasons.
If you ever get a lot of filament drool on the nozzle/silicone sock, try this;
- Heat the nozzle to about 200°C
- This should soften most plastics, but increase as needed, you want the filament to be plyable, not necessarily molten.
- Use a wire brush to scrape off any filament that's attached itself to the nozzle.
- A paper towel could help remove additional residue.
Remember to clean your nozzle regularly, this is a pretty quick thing to do.
Cleaning your Glass Bed is easy, but there are some important disclosures.
- Do Not Spray Solvent Cleaners onto the bed
- This Includes Isopropyl Alcohol
- You may use IPA to clean the print side, but don't spray it. If it gets onto the ITO Coating, it can damage it.
- Use non abbrasive Soap and Water
- A soft sponge or towel will be good
The following steps will outline how to clean the back of the glass (The heating side with the PCB) and the front of the glass (The printing side).
- The ITO Coating is prone to solvents, if you've used IPA to clean it already once or twice, that's okay, but you should stop doing that.
- The ITO Coating is fairly durable, but it's only a few microns thin, so any abbrasive cleaning solution or abbrasive cleaning tool like a brillo pad could scratch off the coating.
- The cleaning process is simialr to cleaning a pair of glasses with special coatings.
- Wash off the bed with luke warm water to remove any and all dust.
- With a damp microfiber cloth, apply a bit of soap (we're talking like, a tear drop), and gently rub in circles covering the back of the glass.
- Wash off with luke warm water, and dry with a Microfiber cloth.
- Wait for the PCB to dry before plugging it back in.
- Spray a paper towel or soft absorbant sponge with Isopropyl alcohol
- You can use IPA on this side, but don't spray it onto the glass. Spraying onto the glass could risk it dripping onto the other side.
- Rub in circles until bed is clean.
Yeah this one is much easier to do. There's no special coating on this side, it's just glass.
Clean it like you would any PEI bed;
- Remove your PEI Sheet
- Run it under warm water
- Use your preferred solution of IPA or Soap
- Scrub with a Paper Towel or Absorbant Sponge
- Wipe with a damp paper towel.
- Let it dry before using.
There is a chance for filament to fall onto the Y rail, for the most part this will get knocked out of the way, but if it happens, just wipe it down, and remove filament scraps.
You shouldn't have to dismantle much of anything to do this.
Since the Positron Kinematic System is at the bottom of the printer, it is only inevitable that filament will get caught between the belt and the idler.
- Check your Idlers
- If you notice a strange bulge where the belt wraps around an idler, you may have filament stuck on the idler.
- Undo the belt from the Idler
- You will loose tension in your belt, there are some tools you can use to clamp the belts to prevent totall loss of tension.
- Check to see if any filament has bound to the idler, remove it with something metal to scrape it off.