Extruders and HotEnds everywhere !

So, which extruder + hot head are you using, and why is it good / bad ?

Here are the ones I know about:

J-Head hotend, which seem expensive (worth it ?)

qu-bd
[store.qu-bd.com]
Cheap !

Another hotend, even more expensive:
[gadgets3d.com]

And the default PG35L extruder that seems to be everywhere.

Did I miss something ?

Well you missed this one Budaschnozzle v1.3

Lots of people print with JHeads and have excellent results, IMO it's not particularly expensive, cheaper than many options.
Lots of people bought the qu-bd on the Kickstarter, and I've heard very little positive about it.
I have a Jhead V5 which I like.
I have a buddaschnozzle which I like, but they are not cheap.
I have a couple of SeeMeCNC Steve's hotends, which I think are OK and relatively cheap.
There are several new all metal hotends, which I'd try if I could find one actually available for sale.
There are a huge number of Hotend variants, if I were building my first printer I'd use something other people were using successfully, then when you have issues people can help.

On the extruder the Wades/Greg's is by far the most popular design though recently, as you point ou the PG35L geared stepper has been fairly popular.

Build my own hot ends-its not difficult.

I bought four QU-BD extruders, worst mistake I ever made, they are absolute rubbish. I had to make several changes to them and still they are not that much good. I wonder what their other products will be like???

I am now looking for PG35L geared stepper in order to make a descent extruder that will do the job.
Not available in Australia however, so I may have to look elsewhere for the PG35L geared stepper motors. If anyone has any information I would appreciate it.

I've only ever used J-heads, MK IV and MK V. Never had a non-user issue with them. I broke one by accident, but that was it. Waiting for the Prusa hotend to come out before I try out something else.

But the new Budaschnozzle looks nice.

---

- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]

I've used several and the best ones I have is a modified QU-BD. It's cheap and reliable.
What I've done to make the QU-BD so good is
1 MK7 gear
2 ballbearing speing lever
3 PFTE tubing installed in the barrel (http://www.buildlog.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1977)

I have a Makergear stepstrudder that I have not finnished yet.

Rodney

Bought a Budaschnozzle v1.2 this week, very curious how it will perform!

Ohmarinus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bought a Budaschnozzle v1.2 this week, very
> curious how it will perform!


Really? They have them back in stock. They aren't supposed to be getting anymore v1.2 since v2.0 is supposed to be released now

Bought it on Ebay from Fabster3D who resells them from Gadget3D Gadget3D also still have them in stock!

But, I am really anxious to see what kind of hotends will be developed the coming six months!




lotw Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ohmarinus Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Bought a Budaschnozzle v1.2 this week, very
> > curious how it will perform!
>
>
> Really? They have them back in stock. They
> aren't supposed to be getting anymore v1.2 since
> v2.0 is supposed to be released now

I started with a Makergear but started making my own J- heads. The j head seems much superior to me. Not a single non user caused jam in almost a year of printing on two machines with my own j heads.

I used the Greg's Wade for a long time, but could never quite get them to print with full satisfaction. Now I use a variant called UniXwade, or UniX Wade. It's on thingiverse. somewhere.

Hello all.

I am building an extruder to fit on a 6050 engraving/milling machine and designing it myself for this purpose. Almost true to reprap as most of the components are being made on the milling machine.

When designing the hot end I am wondering about the function of the the fan; is it to keep the outside surfaces of the hot end cool, or is it to blow warm air down onto the work? If it is the former would it not be better to insulate the hot end and not use a fan? The fan may have some other function that I have not thought of, can anyone help?

The fan is to keep the cold part cold, so the melt doesnt crawl up and solidify higher up, jamming the printer. For me at least the cold end really is cold to the touch.(careful trying it tho)

You also want to cool the extruded and layed down, when you have single thin high parts you can notice that it may drag the print around because it has sufficiently solidified yet.

I think i actually saw things meant to redirect the cold-end air into the print to help this. With slic3r, probably an easier way to deal with it is `slowdown_below_layer_time`.

Note that ABS may suffer from warpage, so that can be kept warm to limit it. Afaik this is often done with a heated bed and/or isolated build chamber. But it still has to be at a temperature where it is solid. For PLA the heated bed is there so it keeps sticking. when the bed cools down the PLA contracts more than the glass and pops right off. There are also other ways to do it; some kinds of tape hold on to PLA well.

(hope i was factually accurate..)

I (and almost every printer I have seen in person) uses the GRRF hot end. Although the design is a little bit quirky with a big nut essentially working as a heat sink directly in contact with the brass nozzle piece, I have successfully printed ABS and Taulman 618 PA (1.75mm, have not tried PLA with this newer version yet) and ABS and PLA (3mm) with it.
The workshop I work in has got one of these (3mm version) running for about 3/4 of a year or so without a jam as far as I can remember. Switching filament also seems to be trouble-free.

The GRRF hot end is in the upper price range, though, with the 1.75mm being a little bit more expensive than the 3mm one.

Here is a link to their site. The google results only seem to point to defunct ones.

For the extruder, I have made good experiences with Jonas Kühling's Greg's Wade Extruder for 3mm filament and an own direct drive design for 1.75mm.

Oh, actually, here in Holland there is a manufacturer that makes this one:
[www.ebay.nl]

I absolutely love it, the only trouble it's giving me is having it well connected to my extruder. It's hard to attach firmly. Hasn't given me any trouble yet, and never seems to jam. Also, comes good to the desired temperature and you can print with it for hours without having to cool down the extruder, though it's recommended. I am currently developing a 40mm fan-mount with two outputs, one output that blows cool air onto the top part of the hotend where it goes into the extruder, and another air-output around the nozzle that blows down onto the printed work. This way the ABS will set better and it's easier for me to bridge. I have a lot of problems with my ABS not cooling down quick enough, so I really hope this will be worth it

Still haven't received my package from Fabbster3D, this friday I will receive it...

Two more hot ends:

[trinitylabs.com]

[prusanozzle.org]