Need help to choose hotend

Hello,

I'm really sorry for all those beginner questions, please help me.
I used a simple J-head Hotend with PEEK insulatorfor now, attached to my MK8. I now chose to use a better hotend. While waiting for my new ramps board to arrive, I looked for cheap possibilities. I now want to use V6 clones with a Dondolo setup. Unfortunately most of them have a heatbreak with teflon insert and a taller bowden adapter. This is why I chose to buy the parts individually to select what I need. Now I need some help please :

For the heatsink :
should I choose a proximity heatsink like this : goo.gl/N4LIgY
Or should I use one with a big hole (long distance heatsink) for a bowden coupling and print myself a bowden coupling with the right size : goo.gl/Cyc8d7
If I use a proximity heatsink with 3mm hole, can I use a 3mm teflon tube to guide 1.75mm filament in ? (so that I can use the dondolo)

For the heat block :
Is an e3d v6 with volcano upgrade and 0.4mm nozzle more, less or as precise as an e3d v6 without upgrade ?

For the nozzle :
Are the clone steel nozzles really better than the brass nozzles ?

The long distance on a Bowden at 1.75 in theory should give less problems, IF it will fit.

The main difference between a big nozzle and a little nozzle is how fine detail is captured, or not. The actual dimensions of a print are not altered, so while a Volcano isn't going to print as detailed with a big nozzle, it will print objects as accurately.

Nothing to stop you putting a 0.1mm nozzle on a Volcano, if you can source such a nozzle... BUT... limits you to printing ONLY in translucent dyed PLA. Other filaments might work, but will usually have a bigger grain size and might well block such a small nozzle. Also, the pressure needed for smaller nozzles require good extruders, big extruder torque, and slow speeds. Volcano is more about production printing than prototypes or test designs.

Brass is not that hard a metal, printing filament with carbon fiber or steel will quickly wear out the hole. Steel nozzles last longer.

Printing Bowden parts isn't that smart, a metal cut piece will generally hold more pressure than a plastic piece.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2016 09:50AM by DragonFire.

Looks to me like, if you use Dondolo, you will need a longer anti-ooze bar at the bottom to fit two Volcanoes.

[www.thingiverse.com]

You are looking at quite a heavy x-carriage load if you don't go Bowden, and fitting the heater cartridges might be a hassle (they go vertically).

Thank you very much for your quick answer !

So the volcanoes won't print as precise with exotic or colored filaments as the classical v6 would ?

The best would be to remix the dondolo to make it bowden so that less pressure is on the x-carriage and so that the bowden adapter holds into it, am I right ? If I design this, will I loose the power to print flexibles ?

In fact, I don't really understand the way the anti-ooze bars are working. Will the nozzle simply stay above the nozzle so that the plastic falls on it ?

I'm really sorry for all those questions but I want to make all right

No, Volcanoes are actually better for exotic filaments. They are for printing large engineering objects for machines very well and very quickly. A 3D Printer kit printed on a Volcano should be quality, it just won't have the fine surface detail possible (but slower and more tricky) than the narrower nozzles. A 0.4 Volcano will look just as good as any other 0.4 E3D hotend. It comes down to the nozzle, they are the same. Bigger nozzles print quicker, but with the loss of detail. You will still be making shapes as good, and very tough.

In my opinion, redo the Dondolo idea. The Dondolo does a lot of tricks to stop and start each filament, and the little metal bar at the bottom can move either way toto cut off either nozzle. Kind of like a movable drip tray to catch any drips. Instead of a big chunky Nema motor, do it with a servo or servos. Dondolo is heavy for what it does.

If you just go with the Bowdens for feeding both of them with the stock solution, you should get very nice prints quickly. Maybe not as clean as the Dondolo, but that way is heavier and slower. Why complicate things for slower prints?

If you want the Dondolo to use particular filaments, then it makes sense to try that way. I am not that familiar with the design. Drip trays are useful on extruders. I can't really see what else it does.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2016 01:12PM by DragonFire.

I think I'll start without vocano, maybe I'll upgrade to it later to try
I will make my own pendulum carriage, simplier and better than dondolo. It will of course take alot of time as dondolo is really good made, but I'll go to holidays in three days so I will have much time during the fly

Thank you very much DragonFire !

Quote
DragonFire
No, Volcanoes are actually better for exotic filaments. They are for printing large engineering objects for machines very well and very quickly. A 3D Printer kit printed on a Volcano should be quality, it just won't have the fine surface detail possible (but slower and more tricky) than the narrower nozzles. A 0.4 Volcano will look just as good as any other 0.4 E3D hotend. It comes down to the nozzle, they are the same. Bigger nozzles print quicker, but with the loss of detail. You will still be making shapes as good, and very tough.

I'd agree with much of that, volcano enables printing with larger nozzles, as it can melt more plastic than a v6 type hotend, this means stronger parts but with less fine detail, assuming you are using the large nozzles (0.6-1.0mm).

However I do find that they are fractionally less precise in their filament control as the long melt zone means slightly less control. I find with some cheaper filaments there is more breakdown of the filament, as it is heated for longer in the hotend, so colours are slightly less bright, more gas is produced by the filament breaking down. I could turn the hot end temperature down, but then I can't print as quickly with the large nozzle, which is one of the selling points.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions