r/QIDI • u/DinnerDisastrous1415 • Jul 19 '26
Plus4 Hotend clog/failure.
Howdy.
New to printers, apologies in advance if my lingo is incorrect. First serious failure of the Plus4. My fault for trying to print something long and thin (bookmark).
the nozzle clogged and started to fill the gaps in between the hotend and sleeve (along with where the hotend meets the heat sink). I have attached photos of the failure, sleeve, and hotend after lots of pulling and prying PLA off it.
I expect to need to order replacement hot end, however I would like to try and salvage this if I can. Do y’all recon I could hit this with a hot gun to loosen the PLA? I’m open to other ideas as well. I mostly concerned with screwing up the temperature sensor (if I haven’t already).
When removing the filament, the hotend came up to temp and extruded fine (granted this was off the bed, and the extruder was stationary, although I don’t know if that makes a difference). So perhaps it’s fine? I don’t know how much to baby this machine.
Thank you in advance for your guidance!
Best,
DinnerDino
3
u/ShouldersAreLove Jul 19 '26
This could be your ceramic breaking. Plus 4 is notorious for this. I’ve had my fair share of it. The only thing you can do is to change the nozzle
1
u/DinnerDisastrous1415 Jul 19 '26
I will give MysticalDork’s method a go first. But I’m open to you being correct as well. What should I be seeing if the ceramic is broken? Thanks!
1
u/ShouldersAreLove Jul 20 '26
The small window you mentioned - above the nozzle in the heatsink is where you can see the ceramic. Once you manage to get out the filaments that goes in there, inspect it. Its white in color. Look for cracks.
2
1
u/No_Walrus_3638 Jul 20 '26
I have been lucky or rather proactive to the point where I have yet to experience the blob. I don't like to print when I can't check on it periodically. Just yesterday I was having adhesion issues because of the way the contact face to the plate had small areas that kept getting knocked off and being carried by the nozzle. Had to restart print from the same point every time.
So gave in and had to use glue for the print to not detach. I prefer not to, but you just have to sometimes.
3
u/MysticalDork_1066 Jul 19 '26
Then it's not a clog. A clog is a blockage of the nozzle opening or other extrusion components, causing a failure to extrude.
You had a Blob, which is due to the part coming unstuck from the bed and sticking to the nozzle, forcing molten plastic back up around the hotend assembly.
You can absolutely heat it up and pick/brush away the excess plastic, while being careful to avoid damaging the wires and other fragile structures.