The pricing of the first seems extortionate. If you are going to get one then I would get it from the source: The second one looks very small.by Ralph.Hilton - General
Quoteneildarlow This hot-end design looks interesting being all-metal, not requiring forced cooling, and usable up to 300C. I wonder if this is the way of the future? Regards, Neil Darlow It is looking that way. I got an all metal one a few weeks ago and am very happy with it (I just print PLA). . I use a fan with it but that isn't any problem.by Ralph.Hilton - Mendel90
I have been happily using a Mendel90 from nophead for 6 months. I wish to make larger prints so have started getting together parts for a 310x210x200 or so printer. I just want the extra size in the X or Y dimension. I am wondering about the z motors bearing the weight of the x carriage. I have seen mention that this was a concern. I have 12mm smooth rods and LM12UU bearings. I am looking at theby Ralph.Hilton - General
There is an arduino that can take 24 volt called the Taurino Power.by Ralph.Hilton - Reprappers
It is a screw fit and you can screw it back on after cleaning it up. It does need teflon tape over the thread to give a tighter fit and avoid leakage. If it turns out to be unrepairable I would recommend the E3D at . You do however lose 2.4 cm of z build area as it is longer (my Z is now 178.9).by Ralph.Hilton - Mendel90
I would go for a well documented kit as a first build. This is a bit different from a Prusa 13 but the documentation and support are excellent.by Ralph.Hilton - Reprappers
Black filament is fairly notorious as junk can be hidden in it. Finding reasonable quality filament is a bit location dependent. Where are you located?by Ralph.Hilton - General
Have you thought of trying openscad? It would seem better suited to that sort of print.by Ralph.Hilton - Mendel90
24 volt is better if you have a higher wattage large build space machine as the current drawn is half for the same wattage and you can use lighter wires. If you have no heatbed then 12v is fine.by Ralph.Hilton - Reprappers
Is the belt on the x-motor sitting centrally on the motor gear and the idler? The first picture looks like x-belt slippage to me.by Ralph.Hilton - Mendel90
Have you looked at the Mendel90 from nophead? The nylon lock nuts do away with repeated re-tightenings. In the last 6 months of heavy use I have not spent a lot of time on maintenance. I rebuilt the y-idler and recently changed to an E3D hotend which is wonderful. The machine now sits on a 5cm thick block of styrofoam which cuts down noise and vibration considerably. When the weather got cold I mby Ralph.Hilton - General Mendel Topics
How about starting with a tin alloy? Home made printed circuit boards would be nice to have.by Ralph.Hilton - Developers
Quotecrispy1 I wasn't referring to vertical space. Many people are using side-by-side E3Ds for dual extrusion, and a 40mm fan would force them to position the hotends further apart, which would reduce the build envelope correspondingly. 10mm ??by Ralph.Hilton - General
Quotecrispy1 You do know Brian (reifsnyderb) has been at this for longer than 99% of people have been involved in 3D printing, right? The jhead is a very mature design that continues to improve with each iteration. I think you're blaming the tool for operator shortcomings. Sorry I'm a noob and missed that. E3D works better for noobs like me with operator shortcomings.by Ralph.Hilton - General
Quotecrispy1 QuoteJ-Heads don't leak unless they are faulty. I have had some leak PLA from in between the mate between the brass and PEEK, if the brass is not adequately torqued down. If it's not fully torqued, after a few heating and cooling cycles it will loosen up enough to leak some PLA down the side of the brass block and onto the bottom face. I wouldn't really call this faulty, since allby Ralph.Hilton - General
Chris - your supplied jhead was fine until I took it apart after a jam after several months of use. The 2 I got from another source leaked even after repair attempts with teflon tape. The E3D doesn't leak so I'm happy. The jhead is an immature design in comparison to the E3D from my limited experience :-) Crispy - the E3d is a lot longer than the jhead so I see lots of space. I lost 2cm+ of Z spaby Ralph.Hilton - General
I don't have a lack of space to fit a 4cm fan and the 3cm fan supplied was noisy. I cannot fathom the logic of considering it a waste of space to use space that is unused anyway. The bottom fin of the heatsink is barely warm for me. Mounting a fan on the carriage seemed better as the snap fit wasn't very good. I just find the 4cm fan attached to the carriage better. Some have said that there areby Ralph.Hilton - General
I didn't get why a 3cm fan was used with a snap fit shroud. I fitted a 4cm fan mounted to the x- carriage with a shroud which is running fine for me.by Ralph.Hilton - General
PLA jammed once on changing reels. After that I reversed filament at lower temperature. I just have a fan on the hotend. The one supplied was noisy so I made this: You can take power for the fan from the left probe and the left heater connection on the little pcb. Print quality is better - no leaks and seems smoother but I did realign everything after changing the hotend as my dial gauge arriveby Ralph.Hilton - Mendel90