So I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but I cant seem to find a clear answer in my searches. What is a heater cartridge and how does it work? I know how the typical resistor hotend works but am just blurry on these. What are the pros and cons of cartridge vs a style like a J-hotend? Size differences?

If it is just easier to point me to a different topic that you know of, please do. Thanks in advance for any info.

---

Ryan
Quality Engineer & Hobbyist
thingsandtrains.blogspot.com

A heater cartridge is basically the same thing as the wire-wound resistors used in most hot ends. Both use wound nickel chrome resistance wire internally to generate heat. Some less expensive resistors (that still work fine) are made with high temperature resin whereas cartridges are typically made with ceramic guts and an Inconel or stainless steel casing to protect it.

Both will work - but a cartridge heater is designed for this use vs. the resistor is being abused outside of it's intended operating range. The cartridge heater *should* last longer, but as a mechanical engineer who's used plenty of cartridge heaters in different machines - that hasn't always been my experience. A cartridge heater will also be *much* more expensive - probably at least $20-30 vs. a resistor ~$0.50.

A cartridge heater would be "nice", but it's hard for me to buy the argument that it's cost effective.