Installed E3D

Will test printing tomorrow. The firmware was updated (flaky USB cable complicated that) tested thermistor. So far so good (did the burn in as well)

That was an amazing PITA to do, even for a technical kinda dude. A lot of the assembly of the hot end should (or COULD) be done before you see it, but nah. Why take the FUN out of it. I can see why people have issue with it. We need a thread with pictures (and no, I did not take any either--shame on me).

Thanks to the FAQ (thanks Melody) and a lot of other hints scattered hither and yon, we did get the majority of it done (I think). (and yes those #$%^M3 screws want to strip--or at least one did) but it is far enough in for it to work until the kit from McMaster get here (which will include the upgraded metric rods and nuts along with the correct screws).

Remembered the silly X axis limit screw at the last minute but found one that would work in my scrap screw drawer.

 

The FAQ is terrific, here are spots I stumbled on. (and those M3 bolts Melody referred to are nasty and will likely strip so GO get new ones before you start).

1) The E3D assembly docs show two different thermistor wires (you will only have ONE of them) that they direct you to strip.
2) Make sure you have everything layed out ahead of time, including any parts you need to print (like a new PARTS FAN mount--there are a number to chose from). I actually printed out three different ones and just picked the one that looked easiest when the time came. Have all the tools (a small metric socket set, wire strippers, wire cutters, screw drivers, an exacto knife or something similar and a small crescent wrench at a minimum)
3) It is clear where the new thermistor goes, but not so much how to route the wires. Probably too printer specific for E3D to document. Just route it so that it works for you. You have plenty of extra Kapton tape.
4) Set the max temp of the hot end in the firmware to 330 or so. You have to burn in at 300 and while that max be the suggested max, the hot end itself can do much more and if you set the limit to 300 you can't burn in at 300 (it just E-stops the heat when it gets there--it is the limit after all). The hot end is good well beyond 300 anyway.
5) Take off and re-use the wire bundle wrap that is with the unit, it could be replaced by a wad of zip-ties, but that is a nicer solution so spend the time to unwrap and re-wrap it.

Took me 3-4 hours, I was in no rush and had too look up a few parts. You do NOT have to disassemble the X axis rig/belts/assembly to do this (although it will make it easier to get to some things). I left mine largely assembled to ease resetting it all back up. Your Mileage May Vary.

 

P.S. and I hope at some point someone does an video of this. I should have thought about that and drug a webcam over to watch.

 

Yes, it will be more difficult then. It is not super-technical, but it does require some finesse. Just read the instructions carefully and take your time. The only soldering I had to do was the wires from thermistor where is comes out of the new hot end to the existing wiring to the RAMPS board. Saved me running a new wire back there. It was heat-shrinked in a small bundle with the original hot end wires (which you do not want to re-use) so I just removed the heat-shrink from the two pairs and re-used the thermistor ones.

The rest is mostly cutting/replacing zip ties and landing wires on terminals The actual replacement of the hot-end is mostly mechanical. Just take great care with the thermistor as it is the most sensitive part. You have to splice to it (they provide special crimp ferrules) and wrap it in the kapton tape and finally insert it into head. Not complicated, but touchy since the thermistor is small and easily damaged.

 

Yes, you need to replace the screw used for the X axis limit switch trigger with a longer one (it only needs to be roughly a 1/4 inch longer).

Rewrapping everything into the wire loom helps tighten it up and then judicious use of zip ties took care of the rest.

I do not know exactly what size that was as I forgot to prep that ahead of time and just dug around in my magic jar of screw holding (where all the odd-ball screws, nuts, bolts get tossed) until I found one that would work. Someone documented it (I think) so it is probably in the FAQ.

 

It is not hard if you have some basic electrical/electronic skills, but it is not a trivial job either. I would rather not have had to do it myself as well From what I had read here I expected it to be a little more straightforward than it was. Had to go back this morning and play with wire loom as the thermistor was reading incorrectly. Got that sorted (probably got knocked around putting the loom back in place around the wire bundle).

Yea removing and reinstalling the loom is a PITA.

 

If you do not need it for exotic filament or problems with the original hot end, it is probably not worth it.

 

Well, the test results for the .4 mm nozzle with a .1 mm layer height are in. I did a 3 layer bed calibration/.level test print and good lord is it sweet. The resolution is astoundingly good. That almost makes up for the hassle of installing it

 

Added a couple of web cams to keep an eye on the print in progress (because I am too lazy to keep running to the other end of the house to check on it). One from above and one from the side. Best 14 bucks ever.

Sweetness.

So far no complaints about the new extruder, works well (does what is says on the tin).

 

SO, after a chat with tesseract and more experimenting today, it is finally working as intended.

The replacement head/thermistor meant all of the recorded sweet spot temps were now garbage and I have to retest. Now that I realize I am going to need to run things hotter I can get it working (the clear PLA roll I got working needed about 5 degrees more than before).

It was frustration until I realized it was simply stopping extruding at points (because it was not hot enough) thus failing the print. In many cases it would *almost* finish, but not quite That is now sorted.

When it works, the quality is simply awesome. Even at higher speeds.