3D Printing Stack Exchange
3D Printing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [hotend]

Questions about the standard extrusion mechanism found in FDM/FFF printers.

For questions regarding troubleshooting and design of the extrusion mechanism commonly found in FDM/FFF style printers, the hotend.

180 questions
26
votes
8 answers

What are the advantages and disadvantages of an all-metal hot end compared to one with a PTFE heat break?

Related to an issue I had in this question, where the PTFE tube feeding my filament to the metal tip of the extruder clogged and became discolored: what are the advantages and disadvantages of changing out my extruder (Mk10 on a FlashForge Creator…
Dustin Wheeler
  • 628
  • 1
  • 7
  • 15
19
votes
2 answers

What are the parts that make up a hotend, and what do they do?

My first and only 3D printer is a Printrbot Simple Metal, which has a hotend that doesn't expose any of its internal parts. Easy for beginners, I suppose: "The hotend is that tube that heats up the plastic and deposits it on the print bed." But…
mhelvens
  • 941
  • 2
  • 12
  • 21
16
votes
5 answers

Efficient and easy way to thermally insulate the heat block of the hotend?

Sparked by this question, I wanted to discuss the most efficient and also the easiest ways of thermally insulating the heat block of the hotend. I have seen Kapton tape insulations as done here with a very conclusive resumee about its usefulness. In…
kamuro
  • 2,854
  • 2
  • 21
  • 42
15
votes
6 answers

What is stopping us from mixing 3D filament colors in an Extruder?

This came up in one of my groups today. That we could not color bend, or mix 3d printing filaments. I have researched but I am not finding anything talking about Plastic mixing in an extruder. Why is it that we cannot take say a Diamond hotend, or a…
StarWind0
  • 3,023
  • 3
  • 12
  • 29
14
votes
1 answer

Which is the difference between MK6 and MK8 and even MK10?

I made and assembled my own 3D printer two years ago and I notice that some extruders are MK6 and MK(*whatever). Some of them has the block fuser horizontal and others vertical, then uses a nozzle longer. The block heater that I made was an aluminum…
Fernando Baltazar
  • 1,420
  • 3
  • 13
  • 21
12
votes
2 answers

E3D Thermistor Alternative

E3D hotends use a thermistor whose legs are insulated with glass fiber sleeving and clamped down with a screw and washer: This solution enables the printing of high temperature materials, but it's a bit fragile and after reassembling the hotend a…
Tom van der Zanden
  • 14,588
  • 2
  • 33
  • 60
11
votes
2 answers

How to choose an extrusion temperature?

From what I've been able to find out, online sources recommend around 205ºC for PLA and around 240ºC for ABS. But these are only guidelines, of course. Optimal printing temperature can be different depending on the printer, the filament, the model…
mhelvens
  • 941
  • 2
  • 12
  • 21
10
votes
4 answers

Is it necessary to have both hot ends on a dual extruder printer at the same height?

I'm thinking of another extruder on my printer, and I'm curious about this one.... Is it necessary to have both hot ends on same height? Why yes / why not? (if there is not)
Josip Ivic
  • 701
  • 1
  • 5
  • 26
10
votes
2 answers

Prusa i3 hotend not getting to the temperature that I want (180 to 230 celsius)

I recently finished building my first printer. The only problem that I'm having is that the hotend is not getting hot enough to start printing with PLA (180 to 230 degrees celsius), the hotend getting hotter stops at 170 degrees. Please help I've…
Andoni Zubizarreta
  • 203
  • 1
  • 5
9
votes
1 answer

What is the best length of the melting zone in the hotend?

There are many hot end designs out thee and one difference is the length of the melting zone. The melting zone is that part of the hotend where the pushed in filament is heated up and therefore starts to melt. Is it better to have a short melting…
Lars Pötter
  • 1,561
  • 1
  • 12
  • 20
9
votes
2 answers

What is the power consumption of the heatbed and hotend?

What is the power consumption of your heatbed (size) and hotend (model)? I want to verify that it is possible to use a battery to power them.
user9350
8
votes
1 answer

Teflon tubing in nozzle throat coming out?

I have a HE3D prusa XI3 printer with an MK8 extruder. While printing or testing, the extruder makes a clicking noise as if the filament isnt getting hot enough to extrude. I began my investigation and read about many reasons why this could be…
Dakota Miller
  • 605
  • 6
  • 13
8
votes
3 answers

Is this hot end salvageable?

Kicked off the second long print in a series (printing Lack enclosure components). First 10 hour print was flawless. Started this one, saw the first layer laid down well, went to bed. Woke up to this (you can see the successful prints in the…
kolosy
  • 591
  • 4
  • 12
8
votes
7 answers

Constant under extrusion and filament grinding

I sadly have a big problem since a couple of weeks and I cant fix it myself. For over 20 prints, I had the same problems: At the start, everything goes well but at some point of time, my Creality CR-10 starts under extruding and after like 1 minute,…
user12769
8
votes
1 answer

MINTEMP error after crash

I just got my HICTOP Prusa i3 Aluminium frame printer and finished putting it together. After setting it to preheat, I realized the bed was not level - I adjusted it and accidentally caused the head to crash into the bed. It sounded like something…
jmontineri
  • 121
  • 6
1
2 3
…
11 12