Solved Hot end: Price vs Quality???

OK, I will lay it on the line.
I have a V6 kit and a Hex kit.
To install the V6 kit, I have to remove the old fan mount that also mounts the bed fan. This means making or procuring new parts in order to have clearance for the 20mm cooling fins and a place to mount the bed fan.
The V6 kit comes with a 25W heater while the hex comes with a 30W heater.. The Hex kit comes with connectors on the heater and thermistor although I did have to lengthen the heater wires. Both kits come with plenty of spare wire. The thermistor in the Hex kit is plug and play, while the one in the V6 kit requires reprogramming. The V6 thermistor has a screw attachment, while the Hex relies on a rubber boot to hold it in.
I don.t like the boot and used silicone high.temp. sealer to mount the hex thermistor
Now the nozzle of the Hex required a reaming with a .40 drill to clean it out, but the V6 nozzle fit the .40 drill perfectly. The V6 nozzle cost $17 EACH, while you can get a bag of Hex nozzles cheaper.
Both kits have Chinese small extruder fans and the Hex kit included the larger bed fan.
The V6 cost app. twice as much as the Hex which is a direct replacement. That is no mods required.
I am getting excellent quality from the Hex and I have made several 10+ hour prints so far.
Yes the Hex kit comes from China, But so does at least part of the V6 kit.

Am I missing something here?
.

 

Well, I have spare heater, thermistor and nozzles for the hex, What else is there to go up?
I have a spare complete hex extruder ready to drop in, Maybe a 5 min. job. 2 bolts, two plugs.

The V6 has a plastic filament guide inside the finned area. The Hex is metal all the way.
What can you do with a V6 that you can't do with a hex?
The only thing that I saw that was better right out of the box is the V6 nozzle, and that fits on the Hex, but at $17,
I think it is way over priced.
I am old school. I look for equipment that is good enough to do the job, Not just newer and more expensive.

The Hex that came with my R1 was cheaply built. The finned top portion just slid over that connecting tube. Only the part that went into the hot end was threaded. A set screw held the finned top portion on. That is why they leak. It was like putting copper plumbing together without soldering.

Back in the old days, a brand name meant something, not today. The game has changed. Magnavox means "musicbox" The name meant quality. I use to repair there equipment and it was quality. Now a days it is licensed for some junk products.
Most corporations were started by a man with a dream to build a quality product. When he passes away, the corp. raiders descend on there golden parachutes.
Yea, I know, all those years have gotten to me. lol

 

xxx

 

Yea, I think we think alike on that point. We don't buy names, we buy demonstrated utility.
I was thinking about Ninjaflex. Why would the extruder make a difference? The hex has a higher wattage heater.
I thought the feed system would be the problem because of the softer filament.

 

My V6 came with a 40W heater from printedsolid. The blue is 25w and the Red is 40. Maybe I got lucky.

 

Maybe he's looking at the E3D v6/Volcano kit that's on E3D now (which has a whole lot of stuff in it, both hotends, full range of nozzles for both, all the bells and whistles) instead of just the v6 and not noticing?

 

People are bad about not reading the actual product description page and just looking at the thumbnail listing and price.

 

You know there is a brass screw in plug in the top of the hex! I think the PTFE will fit in there when the plug is removed.
That could take it right up to the drive bolt to get the same non bow feed. I might try it on the backup hex I have.

 

Well, I searched the pricing on Amazon.
The problem With the V6 is it is not a direct replacement! The barrel, 'cooling fins', are about 2mm larger in diameter. This makes it necessary to remove the small fan mounting bracket. That bracket also holds the large fan, another problem. The larger fin area on the V6 doesn't give you any more cooling because they furnish the same Chinese fan the hex comes with.
In the future, I am going to take that V6 I got from you and turn down the fins 2mm, then it will be a direct replacement, that is except for the different thermistor it comes with. I will use the stock thermistor, I think it is a EPCOS, thermistor.I will also use the hex 30W heater in place of the V6 25W heater. JUST SOME THOUGHTS!

 

Normally, I read the specs, then the questions/answers, then the reviews. I spent 32 years in engineering. Read a lot of specs and service manuals along the way. The thing is, as you get older you like to get the most and best results from the least amount of work.
I agree, the hex that came with the R1 was junk that leaked badly at the connections. I sealed all the connections as I assembled the replacement. It appears to be the long runs, over 6 hours, that take there toll on the extruders. So far the new Hex has run a night and day constantly with no leaks and beautiful models .As the old saying goes, only time will tell.
Hay I have a backup Hex fully assembled, just in case. A 10 minute repair! Frank

 

Why not just print a new parts fan holder? You can print without a parts fan on at all. Not sure why you are making this more difficult than it should be. Use the supplied parts that you get in the kit and be done. Plenty of parts fan holders you can print.

 

Actually, I like it simple, not difficult. With the hex, it's a 10 minute job. Remove two bolts and disconnect two plugs. it's that simple.
If the V6 had a barrel of the same diameter, it would be that simple too. Think about it.

 

Use the Hex to print the 1.75mm version of this and then do the v6 whenever you feel like you want to upgrade.

Or do this one and be prepared for whatever you want to use in the future.

 

The V6 is worth the time of install. Instead of ruining a whole hotend when you get a jam or something you can just disassemble it and fix it. Also the larger diameter of hotend allows for larger filament tolerances. I had a spool that averaged 1.9mm on diameter. Would do nothing but jam in the hex. I printed the whole spool of it on the v6 without any issues. The ease of disassembly and being able to clear jams is well worth the 1 hour to wire it up.