We recommend cleaning the
Vanadium™ Nozzles and
Mosquito® or
Copperhead® Hot Blocks by either heating them up on your 3D printer or with a heat gun, then wiping off the plastic residue with a cotton swab. You can also bake off the residue in an oven or kiln (
not one used for food consumption) at 400°C for an hour
. The combustion gases must safely vent to a laboratory fume hood featuring HEPA and active carbon filtration because they're likely toxic.
We do not recommend using steel bristle brushes to clean
Vanadium™ Nozzles, as they tend to leave behind material fragments that can generate rust on the surface of your nozzle. You can use a metal bristle brush, but then your nozzle will be ugly. And you will be sad.
For cleaning the Mako FIN nozzle: The easiest method is to leave the hotend installed on the printer and set the nozzle temperature to 300°C. Using a wire or silicone brush, wipe and scrape old filament and residue off the nozzle.
For cleaning the Mako Hot Block itself: If you face the rare occurrence of filament oozing around the hot block from a bad clog, cleaning will be a bit more intensive. If not too messy, you can simply leave the hotend on the printer, set the nozzle temp to 300°C, and brush residue off with a wire or silicone brush.
If the entire hot block is covered in filament, then you will need to remove the hotend from the printer. It is highly recommended to then remove the fan to avoid melting the wires, and use a heat gun to heat the hot block up, then brush off the filament.
If the silicone boot is stuck, heat it up first and carefully try to remove it, but damage is likely to occur to the boot, and a replacement may be needed. The same is true if the filament has covered the heater and thermistor. Some filament residue on the heater usually does not cause an issue. However, be careful when brushing so as not to damage the thermistor or heater wires. You should not need to remove either the heater or the thermistor during this process.
If you do need to remove the heater/thermistor for replacement, and they are both coated in filament, then use a scraper or flathead screwdriver and don't be scared to scrape off filament until you can remove the heater/thermistor. If they are already damaged, then there is no need to be gentle when getting them off. The Mako hotblock and body itself are very strong and can handle a few scratches here and there. As long as the nozzle threads are not damaged and nothing is bent, the hotend will work perfectly fine once a new heater and thermistor are installed.
If you had a blob-like clog that filled the silicone boot and covered the hot block, this is often caused by filament being inside the Mako hot block on the nozzle threads. Heat the hot block up with a heat gun. Then, using a wire brush and possibly a needle, clean out as much filament as you can from the threads inside the hot block (and make sure the threads on the nozzle itself are clean too). You can use a tiny flathead screwdriver or metal pick as well, but be careful not to damage any threads.
Once clean, reinstall the fan, reinstall the hotend on the printer, set the nozzle temp to 280°C, and torque the nozzle on using the Nozzle Swapping Guide.