Choosing a Hot end

Hi everyone,

I am new to the reprap world and currently building a Mendel Prism.

Did a lot of reading but still cant decide which hot end to go with.

At the moment I am wondering If I should go for a Arcol.hu v4.0.5 or a J-Head Mk IV-B.

Im also wondering If they are worth the money... maybe I should just stick with a regular hot end like they are selling here?

-Click me-

There is also a hot end available from [www.mendel-parts.com] the guy gets such an aswesome print quality... wondering how he does it...

I really dont know what to do.

Please share your experience and wisdom.

Thank you,

Fred.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2012 10:32AM by thecrazy.

I have used the older arcol.hu hot-end and have the J-heads on a couple of my printers. Both of these are excellent hot-ends and I highly recommend them. I believe they are worth the expense. Both have longer tips than many other on the market and have less die swell than typical, a 0.50mm nozzle extrudes as if it is a 0.40mm nozzle.

The mix-shop type extruder can work very well and last a long time, but many people have reported issues with that type of hot-end forcing the nozzle out of the PTFE thermal barrier. I believe that may be due to attempting to print at too low a temperature and/or attempting to print too fast.

Camiel from Mendel-Parts gets very good quality, but he has been doing this for a long time. I've bought and used the first three versions of his hot-ends but eventually moved to the groovemount system (Makergear, J-head, Printrbot, maybe others). I respect and like Camiel but should warn you that Mendel-parts is notorious for being very slow to fulfil orders. He does come thru and his stuff is high quality but you may get frustrated waiting for it to arrive.

I have used a couple of the J-Head hot-ends, and they are great. Super short melt-zone, coupled with a little bit of retraction, results in absolutely no stringing. No clean up of parts after they are printed, unless you are using support. I have also used MakerGear's hot-ends, they are more compact but are a little fiddly to put together because of the nichrome/fire cement setup.

I have heard only good things about the Arcol hot-ends as well.

I don't think you could go wrong with either of the three.

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Thank you very much for the feedback,

I also just found out about the BUDASCHNOZZLE 1.1 from [www.lulzbot.com]

I read its a "clone" of the Arcol hotend... very expansive too, just like the Arcol. I found the J-Head at 54.95$ from [makerfarm.com]

I will probably go for that unless you guys recommend another store.

Fred.

You can get the J head direct from Brian who actually makes them Here

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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

I am using the Arcol V3.1 it is well built with good quality. I think the V4 is shorter in length but needs a fan.

NelsonRap thanks for the link, I will be happy to buy it from him.

I love the J-head ( which I got via nelsonrap) - the worst of my reprap frustrations vanished the day I installed it, some months ago now.

I had the Makergear, it worked great for the first 20 hours, then started to jam constantly. Upgraded to a J-head, and I've been printing for months without a single issue. Highly recommend hotends.com

I have an arcol V3.1 and a arcol.hu V4.0. I had some leakage problems with the V3.1, but it survived 6kg of PLA.
About the V4.0 hotend, I can only say WOW. All structural components are steel. All the high temperature parts are steel. I can reliably print with 265C with no ill effects. No leaks or breakage.
There is one disadvantage to the V4.0 hotend. You have to make sure that your filament is <3.0mm in diameter. Anything that you can not push thru a 3mm hole will jam the hotend. I have an unfortunate roll of ABS that fluctuates between 2.9mm and 3.15mm It manages to jam quite reliably. Also a roll of 3.2mm PLA jams every time. Other than that its a fantastic, robust and not leaking hotend. If you order from Arcol.hu directly I recommend 1 or 2 extra resistors and thermistors.

For assembly I found that using ptfe tape to fix the termistor to the hotend. Much easier and cleaner solution and it is possible to remove the termistor afterwards.

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http://frosterland.blogspot.com/

I have been thinking about the v4.... from Arcol does it really need a fan as the V 3 does not. I think that a lot of hotends will jam if you try and put over 3mm through them. In the UK the resistors and thermistors are available from RS. I use high temp silicone to fix the thermistor to the hotend.

The V4 does not really need a fan for ABS but for PLA it is mandatory. I used a V3 without a fan for some time, but I was plagued with jams on long prints. The hotend would jam after 3-4 hours of printing. After I added a fan to V3 the problem just vanished.

For V4 and pla it jams in 15 or 20 minutes without fan. So running without it is NOT recommended. I use a 40mm 12V fan from a pc shop. It fits into the gregs carriage and it works like a charm. I power it directly from the 12V supply. Quite easy of a update and I do not consider needing a fan a disadvantage. You do need one anyway to get decent small prints with PLA or ABS.

I have never used a fan or had a hot end jam with the V3. Thanks for the info regarding V4 I think I might get one and try it as it is shorter than the V3 I take it that you aim the fan at the heatsink..

I seem to be able to print PLA at 200C with a V4b without fan.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

V4b ?

Isnt the latess one V4?

No MK-4B was the latest when I bought it some time ago: [www.hotends.com]. There is now a MK5b [www.hotends.com]

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

AFAIK The B in Mk-4B just designates the heating element as Brass instead of AL

I like the Arcol V4 for two reasons: it's very compact and it has no PTFE or PEEK in the hot zone so it can be heated to 300+ degrees just fine, which opens possibilities for printing some kick-ass plastics like polycarbonate.

I have never used the Arcol.hu v4.0.5, but from my personal experience: DON'T GET THE J-HEAD. I have had nothing but problems with the three that I have. I also have the LulzBot Budhashnozzle, and I must say that that is the one to get. It is expensive but worth it. I have had no problems with it at all, and if you want to use a different tip, you don't have to get a whole new hot-end, like the J-Head. With the Budhashozzle, all you have to do is order a new tip, unscrew the old one, and srew on the new one. It takes 5 minutes. So from my personal experience, get the Budhashozzle. Plus you don't need a fan.

I think that you can change the tip with the Arcol V3 or V4 as here I have the V3.1 and not had any problems with it.

Acarius10 Wrote:
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> I have never used the Arcol.hu v4.0.5, but from my
> personal experience: DON'T GET THE J-HEAD. I have
> had nothing but problems with the three that I
> have.

I have ordered and used several J-Head hot-ends and never had an issue. They do need a fan for PLA though.

What issues have you had with them?

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