A quickie

looks pretty sweet.

 

Mark what were some of the parameters you were using (speed, heat, supports, hot end tip size, etc). Any thing special you need to do when printing with wood?

 

Thanks Matt, do you sell a .8mm nozzle for a hexagon hot and for a e3d v6 hot end.

 

Sweet! Do the wheels turn?

I've just discovered Slic3r's pillar supports; they've (so far) been a silver bullet to the on-going support problems I've been having.

Makes me think we should run occasional print competitions - present a challenging-to-print model and see who can get the best results. Would be a good way of discussing optimal settings and sharing the knowledge

 

I can vouch for using the e3d nozzle on the hex hotend. I bought the e3d V6 from Printed Solid (great service all around from there btw) and got some extra nozzles for it. However, I was new and still working on getting good prints. I ended up clogging my stock nozzle for the Hex, and instead of installing the new hot end I decided to just replace the nozzle so I could finish the print I had going.

I have to say, that was one of the best things to do, the shape of the e3d nozzle has a flat tip which helps smooth out the layer unlike the stock nozzle. Everything seems to print so much better now. Everything is going so well, I haven't even put in the e3d hotend yet. I will as soon as I get time to design a new fan bracket for it with my 12 V blowers.

I would say everyone should replace the stock nozzle with the e3d nozzle right away, and get some wire (http://www.mcmaster.com/#6517k63/=vnz1am) to shove into the nozzle as it heats up on every print. Since I started this I have completed two 25 hour prints and a 40 hour print without problems.

 

Brian, the wire you are talking about in the above post, what size nozzle are you using, and why are you using the wire on every print.
Also are you using 2 fans for cooling the parts and if you are how does your hot end fan attach

 

That specific wire is just slightly smaller than a .4 mm diameter nozzle (just multiply inches by 25.4, so this case ~.356 mm). You can get all kinds of different sized wire for different nozzles. I do it before my long prints and maybe every 3 or 4 shorter prints to break up any gunk on the inside of the nozzle and let it come out. That way it wont slowly build up and clog up the nozzle like a heart attack.

As far as cooling, currently I am rocking the stock cooling but do have plans to upgrade that in the near future. Right now I have been printing in ABS (which I love, but did have to get two heat lamps to tame warping) a lot so I am not using any cooling.

 

Brian what is the procedure you use with the wire, for example.
1. Heat up the hot end
2. retract the filament
3. insert the wire, move it around to cleanup what's inside the tip.
Is this correct or am I missing something

 

Usually my last print finished off the build platform by a few inches at least. So on the next print as the print head is heating up I bend the end of the wire with ~1/2" sticking up at a 90 degree angle. I grab that piece with a pair of needle nose pliers and once the extruder temp is over 100-150 C or so, I shove the wire in the nozzle and wiggle it around trying to rub against each side.

Really nothing too special. I don't do any retraction or anything prior to reaming out the nozzle. Sometimes it comes out clean, sometimes there is some black gunk on it. I do all of this before the heat finishes heating up so I don't interrupt the print at all.

I have also used this wire to clear a plugged nozzle. I heated it up with a lighter and worked on the old hex head nozzle until i was able to completely clear it out.

 

Brain, thanks for the response.
When do you think you will be switching over to the E3D hotend and when you do, are you going to run new heater wire back to the Ramps card or use the existing heater wire that is there from the Hexagon hotend?

 

Started a conversation with you to avoid hijacking this thread