Ostensibly-named J-Head V6

I've seen in a number of places, including ebay, newegg, amazon, aliexpress, and a few others a cheap ($20-$30 -ish) hotend claiming to be the "J-Head v6". Of course, J-Head doesn't have a "V6", they use MK1, MK2, etc. in their names. And the hotend looks suspiciously similar to the significantly more expensive E3D V6, or perhaps the Lite6.

Product labelling notwithstanding, the price is pretty impressive for a hotend of that design (I've seen as low as $14 w/ free shipping), which for a low-budget build could knock out a hefty chunk of the typical build cost.

But does anyone actually have any experience with this device? Obviously you get what you pay for, and a cheap knock-off isn't really expected to be constructed to the same standards as the original. The reviews are overall mostly positive with maybe 1 in 5 complaining about defects.

Anyone have personal experience with these devices? Do we know anything about who's building them and what design and process they're using?

I've been using Chinese "E3DV6" hotends for a while. Surprisingly for supposed clones, I have 3 different heater blocks, 2 different heat breaks (one with PTFE liner, one without), 2 different heat sinks, and a couple of variations of heater cartridge.

I had never-ending clogging problems with the all-metal heatbreak, but I'm very happy with the PTFE-lined one.

FWIW, I think the manufacturing quality of what I've got is fine. Heat breaks are all stainless steel, as they ought to be. I don't have a genuine E3DV6 to compare them with.

I suspect the design process is to get a genuine one and copy it.

I suspect the marketing process is to label anything with whatever name makes them sell.

I've got 3 different all metal e3d clones. All with the PTFE liner. All work well with PLA and ABS. I always disassemble them and reassemble them before use.

Quote
madmike8
I've got 3 different all metal e3d clones. All with the PTFE liner. All work well with PLA and ABS. I always disassemble them and reassemble them before use.

I thought "all-metal" excluded PTFE liners?

You are correct until you meet the Chinese marketing team...

Even the original E3D has PTFE tube inside. The question is where the tube stops. "All-metal" means the PTFE liner is only in the cold part of the hotend - no contact with the heater block, which enables for high temperature printing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2015 08:03AM by krakadu.

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ShapeForger

Hi guys,

Only the E3D Lite6 uses a PTFE tubing inside the hotend.
Genuine E3D V6 are full metal.
Sources are online, you don't need to get one to copy.

Obvioulsy, Jhead is unproperly used in the name.
Sometimes you can read "Jhead E3D Hexagon V6",
but it's all about E3D's alike hotends.
It's just to get more matches on searchs.

++JM

Hello,

The J-head name has been destroyed by the chinese knock-offs. Most chinese knock-offs are nothing like a real J-head. Here is a link to more information ---> [reprap.org]

Best Regards,

Brian

Quote
J-Max
Hi guys,

Only the E3D Lite6 uses a PTFE tubing inside the hotend.
Genuine E3D V6 are full metal.
Sources are online, you don't need to get one to copy.

Obvioulsy, Jhead is unproperly used in the name.
Sometimes you can read "Jhead E3D Hexagon V6",
but it's all about E3D's alike hotends.
It's just to get more matches on searchs.

++JM

The 1.75 mm versions of the E3D v6 use a PTFE liner. The 3 mm versions don't. The difference between the v6 regular and the Lite versions are the heat break and the heat sink and where the tubing ends.

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Dave
Roaddog Labs Ltd
Las Vegas USA
roaddoglabs.io

Hi guys.

The genuine E3D V6 1.75mm I bought was full metal. No PTFE in.
It's obviously known as a "Full Metal Hotend", like the Hexagon.
Maybe you're refering to chinese copies or bowden version (but the PTFE tube is outside the hotend).
Or maybe is there recent changes ?

See E3D documentation :
Metal Parts
1 x Aluminium Heatsink (Contains embedded fitting for tubing in 1.75mm Universal and 3mm Bowden versions)
1 x Stainless Steel Heatbreak
1 x Brass Nozzle (0.4mm)
1 x Aluminium Heater Block​

Electronics
1 x 100K Semitec 104GT2 NTC thermistor
1 x 12v or 24v 25W Heater Cartridge
1 x 12v or 24v 30x30x10mm fan
1 x High Temperature Fiberglass Wire - for Thermistor (150mm) OR
1m of Thermistor wire (with 0.1" connector when available)
4 x 0.75mm Ferrules - for Solder-Free Wire Joins

Fixings
4 x Plastfast30 3.0 x 16 screws to attach the fan to the fan duct
1 x M3x3 socket dome screw and M3 washer to clamp thermistor
1 x M3x10 socket dome screw to clamp the heater block around the heater cartridge
1 x Fan Duct (Injection Moulded PC)​

Bowden Versions also Include
800mm of appropriately sized PTFE tubing.
1 x Screw in Coupler for extruder end of tubing.​



++JM

I have a v6 clone, VERY Happy with it, sense I attached it's cooling fan directly to a 12v rail on my psu I haven't had a clog. The clone I got was 1.75 with no ptfe in the threaded rod though

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2016 08:41AM by DaGameFace.