Recommendation on a cheap hot end?

Hi all,

can someone recommend a cheap chinese hot end from eBay, that works?

Long story:

I have used a couple of different of hot ends (makergear, extrude3d from Australia and the original J-head MKV) and recently I bought a chinese hot-end for $37 wiht free shipping on eBay.

By far the chinese one is the most polished of them, at least visually. They have sent me a 3mm one instead of the 1.75mm, reason why I didn't have a chance to test it. I am already paying the price of being cheap...
Cons: it has got only 4 orifices in the PFTE, rather than 5 which you find in the original ones and it could have an impact in cooling it, specially for PLA printing.
Pros: the heater and thermistor are screwed to the heat core and the cables are isolated with a red coat that gives it a very professional look.

Being able to disconnect the heater and thermistor are a big plus for me, because I use the bulldog extruder and the way it is design, it forces me to bend the wires down when giving maintenance, which obviously tear them quite quickly.

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Cheers,
Franklin Dattein

In my experience, hotends are one thing that you don't want to skimp on. Ive had a couple cheap ones throughout the years and its not worth the headache. I recommend the ubis hotend, E3D and the magma. The best part about e3d is that its all metal and can be used with almost any type of filament on the market. I hope your Chinese one works for ya.

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E3D - much cheaper to buy one decent hotend than monthly replacements for poor quality ones.

Hi guys,

thanks for the tips. I am all set to try an all metal hot end sometime, but I heard that can be a bit of a pain when printing PLA, specially if cooling of the cold end isn't done right..

I guess I wasn't very clear in my first post and I should have mentioned that I am actually after a relieable quality hot end, that offer the same finishing as the cheap chinese ones and that low price isn't the main driver.
The original j-head is great and works flawlessly, but it doesn't come with an easy to remove heater and thermistor nor nicely assembled wires, with bullet proof coating. In other words, the chinese ones have better finishing when it comes to these parts.

Also, I've already searched across the reliable providers for something with those features and I didn't find anything. That leaves with the option to try one of this "unbranded" versions.

Quote
fsamir
Hi guys,

thanks for the tips. I am all set to try an all metal hot end sometime, but I heard that can be a bit of a pain when printing PLA, specially if cooling of the cold end isn't done right..

I guess I wasn't very clear in my first post and I should have mentioned that I am actually after a relieable quality hot end, that offer the same finishing as the cheap chinese ones and that low price isn't the main driver.
The original j-head is great and works flawlessly, but it doesn't come with an easy to remove heater and thermistor nor nicely assembled wires, with bullet proof coating. In other words, the chinese ones have better finishing when it comes to these parts.

Also, I've already searched across the reliable providers for something with those features and I didn't find anything. That leaves with the option to try one of this "unbranded" versions.

low melting point plastic in a hotend designed primarily for high temperatures, yeah kind of spells trouble in the "right tool for the job" dept

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Quote
fsamir
Pros: the heater and thermistor are screwed to the heat core and the cables are isolated with a red coat that gives it a very professional look.

Quote
fsamir
an easy to remove heater and thermistor nor nicely assembled wires, with bullet proof coating.

Post a pic, what does easy to remove heater look like.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2014 11:39PM by A2.

First image is an easy to disconnect heater with the nice red wire cover.



Next one is a not so easy to remove, because the cables come out of both sides of the heat core. Most reputable providers sell this type.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2014 01:01AM by fsamir.

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Cheers,
Franklin Dattein

The 2nd looks like a a resistor. I've been using the E3D with PLA for a couple of months printing PLA. It has a heater as shown in the first picture. I fitted a 40mm fan for the cool end cooling:
[forum.e3d-online.com]

Tks for the pics, now I understand.

So you are looking for a polished turd?

Quote
tjb1
So you are looking for a polished turd?

... a cheap one

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I had the opportunity to beta test the hexagon hotend. If i were in the market for a reliable full metal hotend, thats what i would get.

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It's a fallacy to think price correlates to quality or effectiveness.

Quote
techshop
It's a fallacy to think price correlates to quality or effectiveness.

\

You go buy a $30 ebay hotend and let us know how it works.

I started with e Chinese knock-off j-head and had nothing but trouble. Bit the bullet and bought a E3D, all I can say is WOW!! This hotend rocks, J-head wouldn't print on the glass, had to use blue tape and elmers glue stick.

Well worth the price, not much more than the "cheap" j-head. My hobbed bolt limits me to 225mm/s extrusions any faster and it just slips before the filament hits the heater block.
I can heat from room temp to 240C in less than a minute, now if my heated bed would heat that fast.....

Take a look at the Aluhotend V5.
I only print 1.75mm PLA. I've been using a V4 Aluhotend for almost a year without issues.

And it's cheap:

[3d-industries.myshopify.com]