Authentic E3DLite6 or Knock off E3DV6?

After my last hotend literally fell apart during a print I am in the market for a new hotend. Right now I am looking at a authentic E3DLite6 or a knockoff V6 with a PTFE tube instead of all metal. I am only printing in PLA and may move to ABS when I need to. The knock offs are half the price of the lite 6 but does that mean twice the trouble? Should I go with the real deal from the start or give the knockoff a try and return it if it doesn't work out?

Also here is a good example of what happens when your Folger Tech hotend decides to seperate while printing.The smell of the melting fan shroud and the hissing of plastic burning could be smelt and heard from down the hall. Also a good reason not to print unattended.
PICTURES!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2015 07:12PM by gmckee.

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Prusa i3 Rework - Ramps 1.4 - E3d Lite6 - Full Graphic LCD Controller

Being tight-fisted, I have several knock-off "E3DV6"s. They're all different, so it's difficult to say how much trouble you'll have (if any). I can say that the one without the PTFE liner was hopeless for PLA... I haven't graduated to ABS yet. The ones with the liner both work OK. If you go this route, I suggest you get some spare liners (10ft of PTFE tube is as cheap as 4 * 1" liners). Probably also get a spare heater cartridge or two, and thermistors. Maybe also a spare heat-break.

I don't think I actually saved any money by buying the cheapos, but I do at least have enough parts to fix it if it does break.

Buy a real E3DV6, or a real E3DLite6, save yourself the frustration of a fake E3D. As for the Lite6 it does not need spare heat breaks as it is built into the stainless steel heatsink, it also uses a PTFE liner all the way down to the nozzle hence the limit of 260c. IDK where you live but a Lite6 is about $40 usd max and a real all metal V6 is only $80 usd so it is well worth it to buy the real deal. I have both after wasting money on knockoffs and will not be going back.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2015 08:40PM by zerodameaon.

I can get the lite6 from the makerfarm website, a e3d distributor, for $36 shipped. The knock off v6 are about $15 through Amazon. I live in the USA.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2015 11:48PM by gmckee.

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Prusa i3 Rework - Ramps 1.4 - E3d Lite6 - Full Graphic LCD Controller

Buy the Lite6, I got mine from Filastruder for the same price, I was just rounding up a little. I bought the 15 dollar V6 off of Amazon, it would not do PLA and had a really hard time with ABS unless I oiled it before it went down the barrel.

EDIT: I should say I have a dual extruder setup with one V6 and a Lite6 and am happy with both.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2015 08:54PM by zerodameaon.

There is a video where a guy prepares a knock of e3d with normal tools, I using originals myself but would be interested to see someone else confirm his method.

Try this if you decide to go the knock off route.

This is the heatbreak polish. [www.youtube.com]

This is the rework for the hot end. [www.youtube.com]

It has worked for me and a bunch of the viewers on youtube. Whatever route you go, disassemble the hot end and make sure its clean. I only print with abs.

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Modicum V1 sold on e-bay user jaguarking11

I followed the youtube videos on my even cheaper Chinese knock off (I actually bought 3 for $15 total and rearranged for the best parts) and have had good results with it so far (after realizing that PLA wasn't going to work with the metal heatbreak I switched back to the ptfe lined heatbreak and it has been smooth sailing since then). I say, if you want an out-of-the-box solution buy the real-deal. If you're "frugal" and don't mind suffering until you get it tweaked up then buy the knock-off and put the work into it.

Edited to add: the manufacturers of the original hot-ends have been bemoaning the cheap Chinese competition and some have apparently stopped releasing updates because of it. I agree that is it tough to compete against them on price. Complete hot-ends (heater cartridge, compressor fitting, etc. the whole thing) for $5 shipped is ridiculous and for me is so cheap that I can't in any way justify spending $35 for the real deal despite my guilt. But, they can certainly compete on quality. The Chinese products (not just on these hot-ends but on all of the parts I have bought for my printer) appear to have absolutely no quality control. One of the heat sinks of the hot-ends I bought was packed with metal filings to the point that I had to re-drill it. The connector for the cheap LCD package had all of the components soldered to the wrong side of the pcb. All of the components for my Ramps 1.4 clone are soldered to the board at an odd angle, all of them (but it does still work). So, as I said above, if you have the time and energy buy the knock-off and expect to put some work into it. If you want guaranteed quality buy the real-deal.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2015 11:28AM by MichaelBrock.

my folgerShit i3 hotned fall apart too during print, kinda steered me away from cheap knock off and I went for the genuine E3D v6 bought direct from them in UK, just to make sure I get the real thing, I couldn't be happier to be honest, I did a 0.03mm print on a small little ball, that never happened with the FolgerShit, be lucky to get a clean print let alone such high res.

I went ahead and bought the lite6 from a US distributer of the lite6. I figured I would be better getting the real deal and hopefully avoid the headache.

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Prusa i3 Rework - Ramps 1.4 - E3d Lite6 - Full Graphic LCD Controller

good choice to go for the real deal, I have had no jam since I got mine, as long as it is all setup correctly, I don't think you get any headache at all, I didn't and still haven't

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MichaelBrock
The Chinese products (not just on these hot-ends but on all of the parts I have bought for my printer) appear to have absolutely no quality control.

I suspect that there is in fact quality control... there is a range of prices, and I think that *probably* the more expensive Chinese items are QCed. They then sell the stuff that fails their QC to people who may fix it, or just sell it really cheap. So, if you buy really cheap stuff, you can pretty much guarantee that it has failed QC and won't work properly until you fix it yourself. (This was exactly what used to happen in the magnetized mylar (cassette tapes, floppy disks) industry back in the 1980s-90s).

The problem is that there's also rip-off merchants who sell the (possibly refurbished) QC-failed stuff at full price, so even if you buy at full price you don't know what you're getting until it's too late.

Hello!

The folgertech hotend is a chinese J-Head knock-off and has not been properly machined. If those PEEK threads are not right, the hot-end will fall apart.

If you are going to buy an e3d, support e3d and buy from them. They did the research and development, they took the risks, they will use some of the money to do research and development for new hot-ends. If you would rather buy cheap chinese garbage, don't expect the innovators to keep innovating.

I also have real, genuine, guaranteed to work J-Head hot-ends at [www.hotends.com] I guarantee they will work as I care about my product. Thus far, J-heads (properly made J-Heads) are the best at printing PLA due to their design and the fact that they use an insulator to ensure that the hot-zone stays where it belongs.

Best Regards,

Brian

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reifsnyderb
Hello!

The folgertech hotend is a chinese J-Head knock-off and has not been properly machined. If those PEEK threads are not right, the hot-end will fall apart.

If you are going to buy an e3d, support e3d and buy from them. They did the research and development, they took the risks, they will use some of the money to do research and development for new hot-ends. If you would rather buy cheap chinese garbage, don't expect the innovators to keep innovating.

I also have real, genuine, guaranteed to work J-Head hot-ends at [www.hotends.com] I guarantee they will work as I care about my product. Thus far, J-heads (properly made J-Heads) are the best at printing PLA due to their design and the fact that they use an insulator to ensure that the hot-zone stays where it belongs.

Best Regards,

Brian

I totally agree with the above sentiments. Support the innovators and they will continue to innovate. We wouldn't have this cool hobby (becoming consumer) without them.

Also, if you actually put a price to your time (I do as I work long hours so don't get much hobby time, I cost my time at my effective salary rate) then you will often find that the time spent fiddling with an inferior product ends up costing you more than the genuine item would have in the first place.

To be clear, I have no direct interest in any of the products noted in this thread other than being a satisfied customer of E3D and an admirer over the years of Brian's work.

Craig

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2015 02:51AM by CraigRK.

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I much prefer to give money to the designers - E3D will deliver (in the UK) within 2 days, instead of 3 - 4 weeks from China. I can also buy spares at a moment's notice, and discuss problems by email or phone (I've done both).

They also sell other useful bits and pieces for 3D printing...

(another satisfied customer)

I bought the lite from a distributor as named on E3d'so website. I should get it in a few days.

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Prusa i3 Rework - Ramps 1.4 - E3d Lite6 - Full Graphic LCD Controller

Filastruder won me over with gummy bears. So far I got a bad fan from my Lite6, but that is my only real complaint of part failures. After a few hundred hours my thermistor broke but that is about 85% my fault.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2015 05:51PM by zerodameaon.

I didn't see a link to the real E3D.
I googled it and found
[e3d-online.com]
is this the correct website to the real one?

YES.

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