My Version of Hotend Assembly

[draw-tech]

This is my version of a quick removal hotend, for repairs. Heaters are soldered into brass bus bars, and connected at top with set screw clamps. Two fans,tricklaser, and thermistor,have connectors,
Bus bars are covered with Teflon tubing and silicone in place after soldering. Hotend all aluminum, top plate, and insulators are made of corian, nice to machine, insulates, and looks good. Top red and black wire insulators are printed, as is the new shroud. The thermistor is incased in teflon tube and then siliconed to the hotend hole. I added a pin and a slot in the top plate, to stop hotend from rotating while changing a nozzle.

[teoman]

That is a thing of beauty.

Looks a little bit steampunkish aswell.


After going to all that effort why not put a a cartridge heater? (Not that the stock resistors were crap but becauae cartridges are a little bit more convenient.

[geneb]

The heat will eventually evaporate out the solder and you'll have an intermittent connection problem. You'd be better off swagging the brass tube on to the resistor leads. Looks great though!

g.

[Agisis]

That is beautiful!

[Eric]

What Geneb said. Using standard solder (melting point 183C for 63/37) so close to the actual heating element on a hotend designed to run over 200C means it'll probably go liquid during heat cycles. This is not good.

That said, I used solder on my first hotend without any problems. However, I left nearly the full length of the open-air lead between the resistor and the joint and I used 10/90 solder, which has a much higher melting point (about 300C).

I use ceramic cartridges now. So much easier to deal with.

[draw-tech]

Hey All
Thanks for the response. I did intend to use the highest melt temp. Where did you get the cartridges Eric ?
I also aluminumized the extruder. with heat sinks to.
Jack
draw-tech

[bvandiepenbos]

Hey All
Thanks for the response. I did intend to use the highest melt temp. Where did you get the cartridges Eric ?
I also aluminumized the extruder. with heat sinks to.
Jack
draw-tech

Nice design on the extruder.
Is that a single piece of PTFE tube from PTC past hob and into lever?
What did you do, notch tube from both sides but not completely through to cut it in half? ...that should work excellent.

I really like the sturdy aluminum lever instead of the flimsy red plastic OEM one.

[Eric]

I got them from Ebay, but you can find them on Amazon or the reprap sites as well.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... c&LH_BIN=1
12V 40W is most common, but other wattages and 24V are also available. Specify a US vendor if you need it fast, but the price will at least triple.
You usually only need one, but having spares makes life easier.

[draw-tech]

Hey All
Thanks for the response. I did intend to use the highest melt temp. Where did you get the cartridges Eric ?
I also aluminumized the extruder. with heat sinks to.
Jack
draw-tech

Nice design on the extruder.
Is that a single piece of PTFE tube from PTC past hob and into lever?
What did you do, notch tube from both sides but not completely through to cut it in half? ...that should work excellent.

I really like the sturdy aluminum lever instead of the flimsy red plastic OEM one.

Thanks Brian
Me too, had problems with alignment, pushing the filament
The top of the housing is counter bored to hold the top piece of PTEF , and the bottom piece is retained by the tube connector.I also added a bushing with a flange to act as a thrust bearing,
and a washer of same bronze, Bearing is held in by a 5-40 Button Head Screw, with a acorn nut to lock it. I also added threaded posts, for easy removal. and of cores the heat sinks, which keeps the stepper around 38 to 40 C
PS Brian how did you make out with the 3 fan Tricklaser housing?
Eric
Thanks for the info.
Jack
Draw-Tech

[bvandiepenbos]

Hi Jack,
the 3 fan housing did not flow enough air to suit me. Sure looks cool though.
At the moment that machine has 3 separate SeeMeCNC "Guanu style" fan shrouds. Slightly modified.

[Eaglezsoar]

Definitely a thing of beauty and I am jealous!

[draw-tech]

Thanks egalezsoar
It helps to have a machine shop in your garage, and about 60 years in the design & fabrication business. Using it for the first
time today. Works great. The temp on the extruder hobbed gear about 35 C while the screws in the aluminum about 28 C.
Jack
draw-tech