Thinking about changing my hot end

Hello! I made my first prints with my Mendel, but noticed that my hot end wasn't the best. The nozzle is 0,32mm and has a round shape and the brass barrel (for 1,75mm filaments) is screwed in a PTFE rod. The major probem is that I can't stop it from oozing from the top of the nozzle and that it tend to drag line because of its round shape. And since I want to achieve the best quality of printing possible, I tought about buying a premade hot end made for that use. One that seems really well made is the j-head [www.hotends.com].

My question are theses :
1) Sould I get a better print quality from that kind of hot end? (Let's say that the tuning is not a factor here, just the hot end, and that I could stop my current hot end from oozing from the top)
2) I've been looking for the J-head MkIV-B with 1,75mm filament and 0,35mm nozzle. Are the other one, like MkIII outdated?
3) Is there other ''brand'' of premade hot end that I should look for?

Sorry if I wan't clear and thank you all for your help!

Atfer Wrote:
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> the brass barrel is screwed in a PTFE rod.

> Let's say that I could
> stop my current hot end from oozing from the top

Those statements are totally incompatible IMO. It's more than oozing, the ptfe will continue creeping and end up releasing your barrel. And even if you manage to constraint the ptfe enough so it does not expand enough to crash the barrel on the bed, it will still ooze.


I have no answer to your points 1) and 2), but for 3) , you should consider that hotend or that one, or maybe this one.

Edit : I'm personnaly using this hotend, no longer available but I believe you can find very similar designs around. I can't tell yet if it's good for high quality prints, as other factors of my machine and toolchain setup are more limiting. I like its simplicity.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2011 10:14AM by DeuxVis.

Don't forget this one (for those in the EU).

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

The Jhead works great, I actually just switched to it recently and without any tweaks in my software I was getting some pretty amazing prints.

here are some prints of the calibration pyramid at 50mm/s and the cooling tab in SF set to 10 seconds on slow down. the first two (left,mid) were printed a few weeks ago with DIY hotend with mixshop heater block. the right is printed on the Jhead
[www.flickr.com]

I also use the J heads and are excellent

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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

I use the Arcol hot end V3.1 I think he has a version 4 which is quite a bit shorter.

I agree with DeuxVis, a tapped PTFE rod alone will always fail.

If you're good at making things and own a lathe, you can make one. You don't have to buy one.

Materials for my hot end cost $10 but i had to build about 12 prototypes before getting one that worked.