K Extruders

I've gone a brought a 3d REPRAP printer on line and was trying to find out some more information on it.
I was hoping to have the STL files for the Extruder but I can't seem to find them, are they out there to download.
The site that sold this printer said that the printer could print 1.73/3mm filament, when it arrived it only had a 3mm J-Head so I brought a 1.75mm J-Head to go on but I haven't all sorts of problems printer like the filment getting block up the inner of the J-Head and the direct gear slipping.

Do people print successfully with the Extruder and 1.75 filament?

Printer in question which I brought was this one [www.aliexpress.com]
Extruder is this one [reprap.org]
J-Head I brought was this one [www.aliexpress.com]

My end thoughts is that the gear and tension system on this extruder just doesn't suit the 1.75 (PLA)

Hence the questions
Where can I get the STL files
Do these Extruders work with 1.75

Ta

Yes they work with 1.75....

Your problem is almost guaranteed to be the cheap components you are buying. Tons of people use j-heads with 1.75 in PLA. I used a hotend very similar to a j-head with a bowden tube and direct drive extruder with very few issues.

Go buy a decent hotend not from some apartment in China.

That J-head (its not a real j-head) looks like it has an injection moulded barrel which is odd and I have never seen before. It also looks terribly made. Buy a real J-head and you will have better luck.

Being new it is easy to get lost with this but in my hand does look like the one on this page [reprap.org] , the barrel is moulded but runs a PTFE liner down the middle. Taking the J-Head out of the equation for the moment, I thinking the K-extruder is more of the issue with 1.75 filament.

Lazzymonk why do you say it looks terribly, what should I be looking at here as in the pictures it seems ok, can you suggest a bitter one/place for the K-extruder setup?

Quote
john230873
Being new it is easy to get lost with this but in my hand does look like the one on this page [reprap.org] , the barrel is moulded but runs a PTFE liner down the middle. Taking the J-Head out of the equation for the moment, I thinking the K-extruder is more of the issue with 1.75 filament.

Lazzymonk why do you say it looks terribly, what should I be looking at here as in the pictures it seems ok, can you suggest a bitter one/place for the K-extruder setup?

There is nothing wrong with your extruder, many direct drive setups are used. Go buy a decent hotend, I don't see anything on alibab/aliexpress being worth any amount of time. Yes these hotends cost more than $25...


[www.hotends.com] - j-head

[www.lulzbot.com] - budaschnozzle

[e3d-online.com] - e3d

[store.makerstoolworks.com] - e3d

[3d-industries.myshopify.com] - jollygrimreaper hotends

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2014 01:31PM by tjb1.

Heacent are cheap, but already have a reputation for poor quality. Even if it looks superficially like the "real deal", the materials and construction of the hotend can vary significantly.

There are some parts where cheapness is less of a problem, at least if you can print or obtain common off the shelf parts, but the extruder and hotend are probably not worth getting the cheapest.

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Ok I learning fast, first off I need a better JHead, the e3d looks really good so that will be the next investment. What next do you think needs to be changed on the Heacent clone, I plan to re-print all the parts as I don't like the quantity (hence the question about the STL files) but from there and a new head I'm thinking I should be ok. Am I missing anything here?

As for filament, which is the easier to print basic prints with ABS or PLA as I'm hearing a mix reports with both.

How is the Filament form China, as hit or miss as others ?

You have to print some parts in ABS as it can handle heating better than pla. Any part that a motor, hotend or heated bed is in contact with should be ABS. You can get away with other parts in pla but often easier to do it all in abs