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Is the E3D V6 compatible with R2?

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by DavidR, Mar 29, 2018.

  1. DavidR

    DavidR Member

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    Can I replace the stock hot end with an E3D V6 on the R2?
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not without replacing the entire housing/carriage
    You can print one probably :) Not really worth the effort, the Hexagon is not terrible.
     
  3. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    It can be done but it will be a destructive modification. I did it to mine and even though I don't regret dumping the Hexagon, it is not for the faint of heart and I don't recommend others do the same modification.
     
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  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    man if only someone would chuck the cold end in lathe and turn down the OD of the V6 mounting position..... :D (psst... @mark tomlinson I'm lookin at you)
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Whut? :)
    Sure, pile another project on the plate.

    Not a bad idea tho'
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, Mar 30, 2018
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2018
  6. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    right now bad at all! and you need more projects
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I will look at the E3D cold end and see how much aluminum stock there is in there. Probably more than enough to turn it some :)
     
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  8. Larry Garrido

    Larry Garrido Member

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    I did this and it works just fine, you barely need to remove any material from the OD to make it fit right in, I also shortened it by 6mm to match the length of the hex so no other mods were necessary except for changing the thermistor setting in the config.h file.
     
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  9. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Pictures?
     
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  10. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    @Larry Garrido Yes please right this up because when I did my version it was very destructive A write up and pictures can be placed in a new thread in the Mods section for the R2.
     
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  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Or, it didn't happen :)
     
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  12. Larry Garrido

    Larry Garrido Member

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    Here is a pic, I don't have it on the machine right now I have the top end off working on a new extruder mount. Keep in mind I do have a lathe and a Mill so it was pretty simple for me to do, took less than an hour but I believe if your are good with hand tools it can be done without machining.

    Im doing quite a few other mods too and I will post up a complete thread on all of it in the next couple weeks (been out of town the last 2 weeks), with plenty of pictures!

    What I did first was remove about 7mm from the top of the groove mount, the top smaller cooling fin on the E3D V6 now goes all the way up into the metal plate on the print head, the original bottom ring on the V6 groove mount is now the top ring, I also made a spacer ring out of 7075 (on the very top) to fill in the smaller diameter piece that was left on top after cutting off the 7mm and pressed it on with my vise, I then put it in the lathe and turned down all 3 rings 0.15mm, you could probably mount the V6 in a drill press or (big) drill (put a long 4mm bolt through the V6 with washers and a nut and tighten it down to allow you to chuck it up) and use some sandpaper to remove the little amount of material needed to get it to fit in the mount. The top spacer ring I put on is totally unnecessary, it fits just fine and is very sturdy without it, Id say even better than the hex did because with the small cooling fin and the top ring (original lower groove mount ring) now contacts the aluminum plate on the print head in 2 places keeping it from tilting. I've been printing with this for about 3 or 4 weeks now without a hitch. I also re-designed the fan shroud and removed the fan mount in the back and put in a grill to let air flow through to the cold end fan mounted on the V6, the heat creep issues I was having with some materials is completely gone now! I'll try to get a pic of that up tomorrow.

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    nicely done! Good job!
     
  14. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Very nice job. Because of how you modified the E3D, this won't be for everyone. If you do multiple mods, please make them separate writeups as that makes it easier for people to ask questions and pick an chose what mods they want to attempt.
     
  15. Larry Garrido

    Larry Garrido Member

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    Thanks!

    Here is the shroud, still tweaking it a bit though. Printed with NylonX

    [​IMG]
     
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  16. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    @Larry Garrido, when you write up the process, make sure you include the 3D CAD files not just the STL. That way others can modify it to their own needs if they so choose.
     
  17. Larry Garrido

    Larry Garrido Member

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    Of course!
     
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  18. drbanks

    drbanks Active Member

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    I have a 24V E3D V6 in my new Prusa i3, and while it seems like a polite enough hot end, it also seems to have this nasty little habit of making the filament stick to it to the degree that it pretty much destroys itself in a few minutes.

    Not having had that issue with the Hexagon on the R2, I'm led to ask what the benefits of the V6 would be in the R2?
     
  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Replacement parts mostly. The E3D is technically a better hotend, but realistically being able to easily replace any given part is the real advantage over the hexagon. There are some materials (but odd ones) that it will likely perform reasonably better. All metal hotend is generally an all metal hotend.

    realistically that is not all hotend :) There are a lot of variables there... just swapping the hotend is not the key one for that specific symptom, but ... it is fixable too.
     
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  20. drbanks

    drbanks Active Member

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    Well, I've got one spare Hexagon and two spare V6s, although one of those two spares is about to cease being a spare.
     
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