Cheap eBay hotends

As with so many things RepRap, the price of hotends on eBay has been coming down. I found a clone of the E3D v5 for $34 and there are quite a few more. What strikes me about these is that because they're all-metal there doesn't seem to be much room for them to be built badly.

Has anyone tried these hotends? I think my J-head is nearing the end of its life...

Many of them are actually not a clone, but a similar design with the name "E3D" tacked onto it. Wether they work? Maybe, maybe not. It's a gamble.

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

we have a page on the wiki which lists some of popular hotends and where to get the genuine article http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Hotend_Comparison

---

-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

Some Genuine Hot-ends are made in china, Yes, Its true.
These parts are produced in bulk and Original Designer gets the order, but also extra is made...
Different companies buy these parts from these manufacturers and put together there own hot-end assemblies.

at the same time, companies get a genuine hot-end
(lets not say genuine, lets say Quality)
At the same time, companies acquire quality hotends, or get the open source designs,
they build them to spec.

whether they build them to proper spec, or updated spec is unknown until you try it out.

sometimes, these hot-ends are just bad quality.

its mostly trial and error,
if you do not like trial and error, just buy a quality product with a good reputation, and mostly it means to buy genuine.

Quote
epicepee
As with so many things RepRap, the price of hotends on eBay has been coming down. I found a clone of the E3D v5 for $34 and there are quite a few more. What strikes me about these is that because they're all-metal there doesn't seem to be much room for them to be built badly.

Has anyone tried these hotends? I think my J-head is nearing the end of its life...

Actually there's lots of room to be built badly. Surface finish is everything on an all metal hotend. Buy genuine E3D, or buy twice. Your call!

Quote
greenman100
Actually there's lots of room to be built badly. Surface finish is everything on an all metal hotend. Buy genuine E3D, or buy twice. Your call!

I can understand that they'd be a bit hit-and-miss, but since they're less than half the price of a real E3D, I figured they might be worth a shot.

Why exactly does the surface finish matter so much?

Because surface finish dictates friction coefficient, and you want as little friction in a hotend as possible. This is why non-metal hotends are lined with PTFE.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 01:03PM by greenman100.