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So, after having seen many people tell about hotend temps, and seen many discussions about the difference of what a "guessistor" thinks the temp is, and what it in reality is, I ordered a simple thermocouple on bangood and did some measuring.
I usually print ABS at 235 C set temp. I hung the thermocouple between the edges of the heaterblock which are narrowed by the heatercartridge screw. At that location I measured 257 C which seems a bit high. Put when I press the thermocouple in the little dimple of my E3D nozzle, I measure a 227 degrees. So, even when now I have a thermocouple, I know a bit more about the temps, but I am still wondering if my temp is good. I know the thermistor is probably off, but what really matters is the temp at the location where the filament gets melted. Or is it all about the temp it has when it comes out of the orifice of the nozzle?

I think that it's an alright temp. I think what matters is the temperature of the filament as it leaves the nozzle, and the temperature of the orifice itself. (Which is really hard to measure while printing). I would say so long as it's working, it's fine, and you can play with temp a bit. The big reason to calibrate your thermistor and make real comparisons to known good references is to allow other people and machines to work with it. (and to quickly find your ideal temp again after a thermistor change). I may play with an IR thermometer on various printers soon, to do quick temperature spot checks (It may not work great on aluminum though, sadly),

You are right, the IR thermometer I have is unable to measure the nozzle nor the heaterblock. Maybe if I paint it black...

DeltaCon wrote:You are right, the IR thermometer I have is unable to measure the nozzle nor the heaterblock. Maybe if I paint it black...

Cheap IR thermometers have way to big a sample area to be able to get a decent reading off the hotend.
I usually measure at the corner between the brass nozzle and the ALU block, mostly because I can get enough contact area to get a good reading, if your feeling particularly adventurous and your thermocouple is small enough (none of mine are) you can push the thermocouple into the hotend from the top, and measure the actual internal temperature. I suspect the people who describe doing this are using hotends designed for 3mm filament.

That is an idea, and my thermocouple is really small so it might fit. But the whole point is that we all have to use the same method, else it will still be guessing if we exchange temperature settings