Hot end for Greg's hinged accessible extruder

Someone has offered to print Greg Frost's version of Wade's extruder ( [www.thingiverse.com] ) at a reasonable price for me.
Before doing so, however, they need to know what hot end I want to use with it. And, frankly, I don't know.

Looking at the openscad file, there seems to be an option between six different hot ends - defined by the following variables:
malcolm_hotend_mount=1;
groovemount=2;
peek_reprapsource_mount=4;
arcol_hotend_mount=8;//not yet supported.
mendel_parts_v6_mount=16;
grrf_peek_mount_holes=32;

If anyone has experience with this extruder, and positive reports regarding a particular hot end in conjunction with it, advice is welcome.

It depends what part of the world you are and what your budget is.
I can say that a vast majority would recommend makergears hot end:
[www.makergear.com]
They use groovemount to fix the hot end to extruder. In Europe mendel parts is probably the most popular but that openscad is already outdated as they just released a new hot end.

Hi there. Thanks for the response. I think I'll probably be going with the makergear extruder - based on the positive reports you've referred to.

I'll try to post updates here.

The Wildseyed Simple Hot End uses a 40mm - 1/2" round rod as the thermal barrier. This fits the Greg's Hinged Extruder body perfectly. Four 8mm set screws hold it on just fine. There's a low component count, and you can source most of the parts locally.

As for reliability, I've printed about 15 pounds of PLA and 12 pounds of ABS on a single nozzle.

PM me if you want one made, or DIY.

@jcabrer: I'll have a closer look at the hole for the hot end when my ordered parts arrive. If they are compatible with your hot end I will definitely look into it.

dslc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @jcabrer: I'll have a closer look at the hole for
> the hot end when my ordered parts arrive. If they
> are compatible with your hot end I will definitely
> look into it.

I have a makergear hot end and am wanting to upgrade to greg's hinged extruder. It's not plug and play, you'll have to do a little bit of drilling/dremeling.

There is a difference in the mounting patterns: the hole pattern on the standard wade's extruder and wooded mount (from makergear) has the large hole for the hot end offset between the two mounting holes vs the greg's hinged extruder where the large hole for the hot end is centered between the two mounting holes.

pictures below illustrate this:
Greg's hinged extruder: [www.thingiverse.com]
makergear wade's hot end mount: [www.makergear.com]#

I believe all that needs to be done to make them work is to drill mounting holes a bit over so that they're centered on the hot end hole.

Gregs wade has many configuration options, one of them being for groovemount. Print the right version and It is then plug and play

+1 Makergear

loheiman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dslc Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > @jcabrer: I'll have a closer look at the hole
> for
> > the hot end when my ordered parts arrive. If
> they
> > are compatible with your hot end I will
> definitely
> > look into it.
>
> I have a makergear hot end and am wanting to
> upgrade to greg's hinged extruder. It's not plug
> and play, you'll have to do a little bit of
> drilling/dremeling.
>
> There is a difference in the mounting patterns:
> the hole pattern on the standard wade's extruder
> and wooded mount (from makergear) has the large
> hole for the hot end offset between the two
> mounting holes vs the greg's hinged extruder where
> the large hole for the hot end is centered between
> the two mounting holes.
>
> pictures below illustrate this:
> Greg's hinged extruder:
> [www.thingiverse.com]
> makergear wade's hot end mount:
> [www.makergear.com]
> cement-parts#
>
> I believe all that needs to be done to make them
> work is to drill mounting holes a bit over so that
> they're centered on the hot end hole.

yydoctt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gregs wade has many configuration options, one of
> them being for groovemount. Print the right
> version and It is then plug and play
>
> +1 Makergear
>


I dont believe that's correct. Take a look at the pictures i linked. The screw are the same distance apart, but on Greg's extruder the hot end hole is centered, on the standard Wade's it's offset.

You have to open the OpenScad file in order to modify the mounting options in Greg's hinged extruder. You can download it from here.

that's an option also. i think i rather modify the wooden mounting bracket than the extruder so that my hot end/extruder is centered rather than offset to the left. As it is now, my prusa only gets about 180mm of X travel before the extruder's motor bracket runs into my X side idler.

Yes you have to use openscad to change the mounting option, which is obviously better than changing the groovemount to fit a different configuration. I, for the record, have done the same as you and changed the groovemount to fit the gregs version I was printed. If I was printing it myself, I would of course print the groovemount option. It does not have any offset as you suggest though, don't know why you think it would, the holes are in relation to the central filament hole, which never changes, no matter which mounting option.

Also Greg recommends that you mount the extruder at a diagonal (your choice which way) to increase X distance. It may, take away some Z distance instead (extruder hits the triangular bar sooner).

Hope that helps.


loheiman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> that's an option also. i think i rather modify the
> wooden mounting bracket than the extruder so that
> my hot end/extruder is centered rather than offset
> to the left. As it is now, my prusa only gets
> about 180mm of X travel before the extruder's
> motor bracket runs into my X side idler.

Greg Frost has added support in the latest scad file for the Wildseyed Hot End

I'm working on assembly videos for the hot end at the moment. Should be done sometime tomorrow. Don't know when I'll get around to finishing these, but the first one will be up in a bit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2011 11:04AM by jcabrer.

I found the Wilseyed mounting option works perfectly for the J-Head nozzle too. I am glad I figured that out before spending too much more time futzing with the retaining washer. It is by far the most straightforward and I like how it doesn't obstruct the view of the extruding tip.

I am screwing the set screws into PEEK instead of PTFE, but I imagine that won't be an issue.

Hi all. I might finally have time to work on my Prusa again at the end of the month. So, was wondering ...

The model for the extruder I have was configured with

wade(hotend_mount=groovemount+peek_reprapsource_mount);

in the OpenSCAD source file (or at least that's what I asked my friend Alan to compile it with). So I basically have two options - a Makergear (groovemount) or Reprapsource hotend.

Makergear hotend

If I was to go with the makergear option ....
One of the HotEnd Packs listed on this page is what I need - correct? And, if so, would you recommend either the .35 mm or .50 mm version?

Alternatively, if I was to use a reprapsource hotend, where could I find such? (I can't find it on the reprapsource website.)

david

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2012 08:30PM by dslc.