Broken Heating resistors!

[tom10122]

So I just finished clearing a PLA jam and was putting my hotend back together and saw some sparks,

I took it apart and found a lead broke off my resistor, so I went ahead and took both resistors out and took off the tinfoil only to find that half of the ceramic came off in my hand, I can see right through to a heating coil, Both of the resistors looked like that, I already ordered new ones but would the one with a lead still work? This went un noticied since june , I'm assuming I was running too hot at some point( I def was running hotter then needed until recently) and that damaged them

[BrainSlugs83]

It's my understanding that the bigger heating resistors (like the ones we're using in the H-1) are just made from tightly wrapped nichrome wire.

And since you can just use nichrome wire to heat stuff, I don't see why not? But do it at your own risk.

A couple tips, for one, I'd wrap the thing back together, maybe with a light layer of kapton for electrical insulation, and then some adhesive foil tape* if you have it (or if the ceramic piece that came off is still intact, just tape it back on with some foil tape) -- and also test the resistance, to make sure it still runs at about 3 ohms -- also, depending on how you repair the structural damage, the resistor might not heat evenly, so you may want to figure out a good angle to place it at.

All that being said, honestly, it's probably best to just get all new resistors, since they're so cheap, and then you won't have to screw with it.


*: I'm not sure if they make adhesive foil tape that works at high temps or not, you might find that the adhesion doesn't work anymore at high temps, and that could be bad.

[michaellatif]

Once the ceramic housing cracks the resistor is mostly garbage. Like BrainSlug83 said, replace it, not worth trying to fix or reuse.

[tom10122]

Yeah I already ordered new ones, But they still worked is the thing, was thinking of using one to DIY a plastic pen( Bassically a handheld extruder)

[BrainSlugs83]

That sounds extremely painful... what would you use it for anyway? You can pretty much do chemical welding of ABS with acetone.

[tom10122]

Lol It would be insulated and I use PLA and have no ABS