Hotend Heater failed

Hi all,

During a small print, the hotend of my Prusa i3 stopped working. The temperature began droping and it was so indicated on the Promterface console (echo: Heating Failed). Inmeditelly I tried it again and, when trying to heat up, the LCD screen also started flickering.

I've disassembled the RAMPS board and I checked both the thermistor and the heating element on the extruder. The thermistor shows a resistance of 125 KOhms whereas the heating element shows infinite resistance.

I've read that the heating element should show a resistance of aprox 4 Ohm, so I'm guessing that that element just broke. Before I order a new one, I'd like to know if this is a usual thing or if there is something else I should be checking before I order extra parts and also if somebody knows the reason for that to happen.

Thanks in advance!

One thing you didn't mention is how old it was? New, few weeks, a year old?

Failure on that kind of items is normal it's a heating element, but how long before it happens will depend on manufacturing quality, can be a day, a week, a year. Keep always a couple of them as backup.

Duplicate post

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2014 06:59AM by ggherbaz.

Quote
Hauser
Hi all,

During a small print, the hotend of my Prusa i3 stopped working. The temperature began droping and it was so indicated on the Promterface console (echo: Heating Failed). Inmeditelly I tried it again and, when trying to heat up, the LCD screen also started flickering.

I've disassembled the RAMPS board and I checked both the thermistor and the heating element on the extruder. The thermistor shows a resistance of 125 KOhms whereas the heating element shows infinite resistance.

I've read that the heating element should show a resistance of aprox 4 Ohm, so I'm guessing that that element just broke. Before I order a new one, I'd like to know if this is a usual thing or if there is something else I should be checking before I order extra parts and also if somebody knows the reason for that to happen.

Thanks in advance!

Hi
It is a usual thing for a heater resistor to ware off. It happend to me a couple of times. The contact of the resistor inside the heater block needs to be perfect. There should be no side of the resistor that is in free air. If something is free air than it doesn't transfer heat correctly. Then it overheats in order to reach the desired temperature that thermistor is telling it to achieve. And, eventually, it breaks.

There are heater cartridges that have much longer life then the regular heater resistors. You just need to find the way to incorporate them onto your print head-
[www.ebay.com]
they are much more durable

cheers

Thanks you both. The printer and all its components are only 2 weeks old, so I guess I got a not-so-good one. I already ordered 3 new ones and they look just like those you showed me, however here in Germany they cost much more than in the States (6.45 Eur)...

Wow, for that much I can get a pack of 5. Have you checked Aliexpress?

Quote
ggherbaz
Wow, for that much I can get a pack of 5. Have you checked Aliexpress?

yeah... "Estimated delivery time: between 15 and 34 days". Sometimes beign an european citizen just sucks.

Now you can order from chinese in advance

Well, as your nickname it sounds like you are German, I think you are able to get a heater cartridge much quicker over there!

Fabber-parts has one for 3,90
[fabber-parts.de]

There are way more shops, but this is the one I bought my (Merlin) hotend from.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/