Hotend Options

Hello,

I'm in the process of acquiring my first RepRap and have chosen Tantillus as the technical and aesthetic design appeals to me and the results you guys are getting look great. I've decided to go with the Imperial lasercut model as the frames and printed parts are available in the UK, where I am based.

The only parts I am having difficulty sourcing are the 1/4" - 20 threaded rod in SS and the J-Head Mk-VB Hotend. I know I should be able to get both from the USA or Canada, but I'd like to avoid import duty and high shipping charges by sourcing locally, if I can.

Is anyone aware of a UK/EUR source of the Mk-VB Hotend?
Is it essential to use the brass variant, as there are a few local sources of aluminium Mk-Vs?
Has anyone experience of other Hotends with the Tantillus?
For example, This one from E3D which appears to be compatible with the carriage.

Greg

I'm building a metric lasercut in the uk.

Printing the plastic on my mendel and lasercut the case from mdf myself.

Ben

The Aluminium hotend should work fine but be aware that knock off J-heads can be troublesome. If it is from a reputable seller you should be fine but be sure to do the research. The shipping of the J-head from hotends.com is really low and worth the extra time.

There is at least one machine with a Makergear hotend that looks to print well.

The E3D has been discussed for Tantillus (can't find the thread) but my concerns at the time were clearance of the fins on the carriage and X/Y ends.

Also it does not look like all metal hotends are doing as well as claimed. I am not saying anything against any particular model. Just that they seem to have issues with PLA and printing at slow speeds because the melt zone is so long and gradual without a definite transition zone.

Also it is possible to use a non-groove mount hotend with Tantillus by using the carriage bolts to hold the PEEK cross bar support on a lot of other hotends.

Also note that the J-head has some things that I believe help with a Bowden cable:
Long exit hole.
Medium length melt zone.
Short transition zone.

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

I will take your advice, the hotend is too risky to mess with, at least while I'm learning. I'll go with the original from the US. Its not as though I need one straight away

Makes sense to pass on the E3D for now as PLA is the prime filament. Would be nice to try nylon in the future perhaps, but that will be way up my learning curve. It looks like fan cooling is needed for PLA with all metal hotends. I think this would compromise the low moving mass offered by your design.

Thanks for your very detailed advice.

Time to start acquiring the parts...

plexer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm building a metric lasercut in the uk.
>
> Printing the plastic on my mendel and lasercut the
> case from mdf myself.
>
> Ben

Unfortunately I don't have access to either for my first build or I'd probably of metric. The ones on the Emaker site are imperial, though I don't know if there are any significant differences, or whether metric prints work with imperial case. Did you find any issues printing the metric parts?

beekeg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> plexer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm building a metric lasercut in the uk.
> >
> > Printing the plastic on my mendel and lasercut
> the
> > case from mdf myself.
> >
> > Ben
>
> Unfortunately I don't have access to either for my
> first build or I'd probably of metric. The ones
> on the Emaker site are imperial, though I don't
> know if there are any significant differences, or
> whether metric prints work with imperial case.
> Did you find any issues printing the metric parts?

WillWorkForPlastic did his best to make all the metric parts backwards compatible with the Imperial ones so the laser cut parts should be fine. Also the person selling the parts may be willing to cut and print the metric ones for you.

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

Sublime Wrote:

> WillWorkForPlastic did his best to make all the
> metric parts backwards compatible with the
> Imperial ones so the laser cut parts should be
> fine. Also the person selling the parts may be
> willing to cut and print the metric ones for you.

That will give me more flexibility if I can use metric vitamins/prints with an imperial case. I was reading an early thread where you said that you had used some metric nuts and bolts with the imperial printed parts and that the problem was aperture for captive nuts. I imagine that the metric version addresses these issues and optimises hole clearances for the metric hardware. I expect I may still need to use 5/16" silver steel for the rotating rods rather than 8 mm because of the 608 bearings.

I believe the case is cut, but I still have the option to go metric for the printed parts.

Thanks

Has anyone gone with a Chinese J-Head off eBay? I'd like to get mine from hotends.com but they are out of stock and I haven't found many other options.

Nick101 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Has anyone gone with a Chinese J-Head off eBay?
> I'd like to get mine from hotends.com but they are
> out of stock and I haven't found many other
> options.


Many people have, we can't recommend you do. There have been dozens of posts about jammings and worse.
If you want a J-Head you are not limited to just the designer who sells on hotends.com, somewhere he put together a list of other good quality producers, perhaps on RepRap wiki.

Here is Brian's post about J-head clones [jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

It looks like the Makerfarm one was a lot better than the China eBay.

Funny thing is normally I say for the price savings you get when you buy from china go for it and take the chance of getting a dud, but not when it comes to the hotend.

Also Brian posts new hotends every Friday evening (Pacific time) and they sell out fast. So have a look tonight and you should be able to get one. Also you can put all the parts for one into a cart and buy it that way. Then send him a note saying you would like it assembled. There is a good chance that he will redo the price as a complete hotend or throw in something extra for paying more in parts.

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

yydoctt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nick101 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Has anyone gone with a Chinese J-Head off eBay?
>
> > I'd like to get mine from hotends.com but they
> are
> > out of stock and I haven't found many other
> > options.
>
>
> Many people have, we can't recommend you do. There
> have been dozens of posts about jammings and
> worse.
> If you want a J-Head you are not limited to just
> the designer who sells on hotends.com, somewhere
> he put together a list of other good quality
> producers, perhaps on RepRap wiki.

I've been testing the next generation of hot ends for my Tantillus, the Chess Piece [www.2engineers.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2013 02:42PM by Arc_Tesla.

this is a quick pick of my chess hot end