e3d v6 lite and printing fast

[dylantep]

I recently got a e3d v6 lite. I tried to print at about 70mm/s and got pretty terrible results. I then tried printing at 45mm/s and got pretty good ones. I noticed on e3d's website they say the printing speed of the e3d v6 is 100mm/s while the light is 50mm/s. Is there any reason for this? they are such similar designs.

Also what speeds have you guys gotten to? are there any tricks? I would like to print faster than 50mm/s

[Earthbound]

It is all about heat transfer. The lite has a smaller melt zone, so it cannot achieve the same flow rate as the v6.

If the level of detail you want can be achieved using a Volcano nozzle, then putting a Volcano heater block and nozzle on your lite will allow you to increase the printing speed.

[dylantep]

interesting. I am still interested in the finer detail though. If I buy a heat break and e3d-v6 heat sink will this effectively convert it into a regular v6?

[BenTheRighteous]

Looks like yes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/com ... and_lite6/

elmoret would definitely know.

[dylantep]

cool. weird thing is it ends up being cheaper to buy a v6 lite and upgrade to v6 than just buying the v6 outright. strange

[elmoret]

I recently got a e3d v6 lite. I tried to print at about 70mm/s and got pretty terrible results. I then tried printing at 45mm/s and got pretty good ones. I noticed on e3d's website they say the printing speed of the e3d v6 is 100mm/s while the light is 50mm/s. Is there any reason for this? they are such similar designs.

Also what speeds have you guys gotten to? are there any tricks? I would like to print faster than 50mm/s

Its because the Lite6 has a PTFE liner which inhibits heat transfer to the filament. As a result, you can't melt filament as quickly. Compounding this is the 245C limit, so you can't raise temperatures to compensate.

interesting. I am still interested in the finer detail though. If I buy a heat break and e3d-v6 heat sink will this effectively convert it into a regular v6?

Yes. Also there's 0.4mm Volcano nozzles, no need to sacrifice detail.

cool. weird thing is it ends up being cheaper to buy a v6 lite and upgrade to v6 than just buying the v6 outright. strange

Its a product of the GBP-USD transfer rate. The rate has been sliding downwards for a while. Most of the v6s in stock from US distributors were purchased with funds back when the exchange rate was around 1.7:1. How the rate's 1.5:1, so Lite6 (which is much more recent) is cheaper than you might imagine. That combined with the very aggressive pricing of Lite6 by E3D results it is being about the same cost to buy a Lite6+upgrade parts as it is to buy a v6 (keep in mind there are coupon codes for v6 at Filastruder floating around, there are not for Lite6).

v6: $72 after coupon code
Lite6: $35+$20+$18 = $73 (no coupon codes available)

I'd imagine that you'll see v6 start coming down in price soon as v6 supplies from US distributors are replenished by orders with the lower exchange rate.

[dylantep]

awesome. Thank you for all the info!!!

[dylantep]

So I got and installed the volcano heatblock. Unfortunately I am still having similar issues. It seems I am getting some back pressure in the hotend. It prints fine for a bit but on longer prints the drive gear starts chewing up my filament (I'm guessing this is due to back pressure). Eventually the teeth get so filled up that the filament just slips