Apologies, I’m in verbose mode.
Full disclosure, this problem was of my own doing. I had a clog that I was unable to clear. I replaced the nozzle but the clog extended up into the heat break as well. I disassembled the hotend and managed to clear the clog from the heat break and just went with a new nozzle. I’m printing again and ‘assumed’ all was well but, and I don’t recall what prompted me to look, I discovered that under the silicon sock I had a hot mess if you will. So I removed the hotend, separated the heat break and the heater block, as much as I could, to clean things up. I stripped the screw head that hold the heater and nothing, heating it to 260C and trying again and again failed. I inquired about adding a replacement heat block to my order but was told the there was no plan to offer those now or in the future. I let them know that I didn’t think that would be acceptable to the J1 community. That put me on a search for a replacement that I found on Amazon, but it’s aluminum, is that going to be a problem, I don’t know. Back to the original heater block, feeling I had nothing to lose, I applied penetrating oil, drill out the screw and was able to remove it with an E-Z out. No heat involved. Currently it is soaking in acetone to soften the remaining material before I reassemble.
I have a couple of thoughts on the reassembly that I could use some guidance on. They are the use of thermal compound between parts that might benefits from that, and what they are. Also the use of anti-seize compound on the threads of the retaining screws on the heater block. Has anyone replaced the round head, almost flat, hex screw with a screw with a larger head? The only potential problems I could see was that it shouldn’t extend below the nozzle, and I don’t think it will, and the silicon sock will need to be modified for the screw head to pass through, if it needs to.
All guidance is welcomed and appreciated. hth
