E3D Volcano Discussion

I would guess the volcano is such a small subset of sales they just don't see the demand.
Give how many nozzles I have worn out (1) compared to the dozens (more than 4) of spools of filament I have run through this thing...
not sure it is a crisis.

 

It is a different heater, heat block and nozzles, everything else is the same as the original E3D.

 

@WheresWaldo E3D started selling the stainless nozzles for medical users who needed to not have the brass due to cytotoxicity concerns. They didn't intend for it to be a solution for abrasives and it's only a marginal solution at that. It still wears, but about 4X slower.
I know they are working on a better solution. My guess that will be rolled out for the volcano as well.

I'll also mention that I have feedback from customers that the larger diameters (like 0.8) don't wear as quickly. This makes sense because you are getting 4X increase in volume fed through the nozzle with only 2X increase in metal surface area for the abrasive to contact. There may also be a pressure thing going on, but I haven't fully thought that through, so maybe not

 

OK, I just had a D'Oh moment. Good point.

 

@Printed Solid & @mark tomlinson Thanks guys. I always figured I could buy a whole lot of brass nozzles for the cost of one Stainless, but I was curious nonetheless.

 

Well, you can buy 2.5 good brass nozzles for the cost of one good stainless nozzle with about a 4X wear rate difference. Still a net gain, but the stainless prints differently. So, I'd still be inclined to stick with brass unless you are doing really long print.