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Why E3D??

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Voyager1, May 16, 2014.

  1. Voyager1

    Voyager1 New Member

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    Hi guys,
    Sorry if I'm missing something but...I'm interested to know - why are people upgrading to the E3D hot end? What are the benefits over the "standard" hot end shipped with the Robo?
     
    #1 Voyager1, May 16, 2014
  2. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    The E3D (or other all metal hot ends) has the advantage of going to higher temperatures. The robo hot end contains a piece of PTFE that will soften and can deform at temperatures over about 250. It's a perfectly good hot end for PLA, but if you're going to try nylons or some of the other higher temp materials, an all metal hot end will be needed.
     
    #2 Printed Solid, May 16, 2014
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  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    What he said :)
    If you are happy with PLA (or even ABS) then the stock hotend is fine. I had really nice prints from it once everything else was sorted. The E3D (or other) replacement all-metal hotends allow you to explore other materials. Some of those are really nice...
     
    #3 mark tomlinson, May 17, 2014
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  4. Galaxius

    Galaxius Well-Known Member

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    Mark, having said that I'm replacing my stock hotend, that I've only been printing PLA with, because of weird leakage issues and it struggling to hold a steady temp when the fan is active, even at a fan speed of just 50%. I'm installing a Hexagon at the moment and will give feed back and post photo's once it's done.
     
    #4 Galaxius, May 17, 2014
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  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Let us know. I have not looked at the Hexagon or other models, all are a huge improvement over stock.

    I even ordered several different sized nozzles for the E3D (although I have not yet gotten around to using anything other than the 0.4) The real win is the flexibility to use alternative materials (some of which are awesome).
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, May 18, 2014
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  6. Denys Dmytriyenko

    Denys Dmytriyenko Active Member

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    Another issue with stock hotend is it tends to develop a crack in the PTFE tube and starts leaking molten plastic from the side. Apparently, many people suffered from this already. But maybe it was a bad batch though...

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
     
    #6 Denys Dmytriyenko, May 18, 2014
  7. Galaxius

    Galaxius Well-Known Member

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    Hexagon has been installed and with great success. I'll post more details to the hexagon thread.
     
    #7 Galaxius, May 18, 2014
  8. Voyager1

    Voyager1 New Member

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    Thanks for all your feedback. It seems my query was timely as last night my extruder blocked. This morning I went to get the filament out again to start a new print and ... the filament snapped inside the extruder head. I cannot get it out, so think that I'd be better to just upgrade the hot end rather than much around trying to fix the old one.

    So my next question is - which hot end to buy?? I've been to the e3d website and there are full kits or metal only and Bowden or direct to choose from. What's everyone else done?

    Also, given I now can't print anything - a post in another forum topic suggested just blowing a fan across the heat bed once the new extruder is installed to allow me to print the new fan mount. Will that work?
     
    #8 Voyager1, May 18, 2014
  9. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    You should be fine printing the fan mount without a fan.

    The E3D direct full kit is what you want.

    The all metal kit was because they were out of stock on fans and people needed replacement kits.
     
    #9 Mike Kelly, May 19, 2014
  10. Kangaroo and Koalas

    Kangaroo and Koalas New Member

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    Hi all,

    I can't seam to find a solve for this but I have suffered a tip blockage. Biggest problem is that is was half way through 10hr print so whatever blocked it has caused the PLA to all but burn inside. I have tried cleaning it out without disassembling and heat and cool while manually driving the extruder to try pick up and crumbs but no success.

    Any suggestions would be great.
     
    #10 Kangaroo and Koalas, Sep 8, 2014
  11. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Assuming it's just plastic in there, you should be able to heat it up until the PLA is like water, around 250, and it will run right out.
    If that doesn't work, try taking the nozzle off and hit it with a torch.

    If you don't mind waiting a few days, Toybuilderlabs.com now sells a cleanout filament. I highly recommend it. Just extrude 4 inches or so and everything is clean.
     
    #11 Printed Solid, Sep 8, 2014

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