First time use: clam knife fail

So… just got a lulzbot taz 6 and used the included clam knife to pry off the print. Ended up putting a deep scratch in the surface on the first print.

Looks like the general suggestion is to “put the clam knife in the drawer” and use something else.

Anyway - what should I do? Sand it out? Replace the PEI?

Looks minimal. Leave it. If you didn’t cut through the PEI, just keep on printing.

I switched to a chisel and the buildtak spatula.

Lay the chisel flat against the bed and tap it under the part on the bed to loosen up an edge. Use the buildtak spatula to lift the part off.

-Jim

Thanks - I guess it’s not so bad. You can see on the printed parts where the print surfaced is scratched, but it doesn’t bother me.

Should I print a set of printer parts as replacements now that I have it setup? I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere.

Not really. From my experience if something is going to fail, it will crack first and you’ll know you need to print a new part. The nice thing is, these parts are ABS so you can acetone weld them back together so you can print a replacement. Just give your printer a once over once in a while and look for any new cracks forming and you should be fine.

I totally second Jim! Buildtak Spatula!

I think it is the single greatest tool I have gotten my hands on so far for printing!

, https://www.amazon.com/BuildTak-BT30185-Spatula/dp/B017XGEDOM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494182213&sr=8-1&keywords=buildtak+spatula.

What kind of chisel?

nothing special, I use a 3/4 SHARP chisel. Lay the flat side down FLAT against the bed with the wedge side up towards the sky(important so you don’t damage your PEI sheet). A couple light taps under any corner of the part pops its’ right off.