Alternatives to E3D V6?
-
@mrehorstdmd I'll second your observations that the lower heat sink find do all the work. It took me a long time to figure out that that was the fundamental design fault of the Diamond 5 colour. Both the Diamond 3colour and 5 colour use E3D heat sinks but to get 5 heat sinks in the same radius, the lower find are reduced in diameter on the 5 colour version. To cure the ensuing heat creep issues, you have to use a much more powerful fan.
-
@scachi I can see you have been on the forum for a while, and so guess you have already exhausted pressure advance tuning?
(Edit: For example...) the documentation for the E3D V6 and lite recommended against retractions of over 4mm, but that is retraction of filament up the throat of the hotend, not retraction of filament at the filament drive. There will be a difference due to both bucking of the filament in the guide tube and compression parrallel to the axis of the filament.
-
@doctrucker The E3D V6 I have no issues with. I have used those values without pressure advanced, later on I enabled and tuned it but never reduced the retraction then as the prints looked fine and did work without issues. I print petg most of the time, almost no stringing.
The documentation of dyzend mention that the retraction should be lower than 1mm, step 4, slicer settings:
https://dyzedesign.com/helpdesk/faq/how-can-i-setup-and-install-my-new-dyzend-x-or-dyzend-pro-hotend/The titanium has a very low thermal conductivity compared to other metals and allows the heatbreak to be very short. The retraction distance must be lower than 1mm.
A longer retraction distance will bring the soft plastic in a cold zone and stick to the wall. The cooled plastic cannot be pushed by standard motor and is stuck in place.
By keeping the retraction lower than 1mm, the filament stay soft and doesn’t clog in place.
Looks like this hotend is only useful for direct extruder usage.
-
@scachi Sorry I ment that as an example. Edited my comment to make that a little clearer.
Otherwise very useful information, thank you. 1mm is indeed a tiny retraction distance.
-
@scachi said in Alternatives to E3D V6?:
Looks like this hotend is only useful for direct extruder usage.
I don't think that is true. The 1mm limit only refers to the distance the filament should be lifted into the cold zone. If you used it in a bowden setup, the amount of retraction required in the firmware to achieve that 1mm lift may be higher than 1mm, but the end effect is same.
-
@phaedrux said in Alternatives to E3D V6?:
@scachi said in Alternatives to E3D V6?:
Looks like this hotend is only useful for direct extruder usage.
I don't think that is true. The 1mm limit only refers to the distance the filament should be lifted into the cold zone. If you used it in a bowden setup, the amount of retraction required in the firmware to achieve that 1mm lift may be higher than 1mm, but the end effect is same.
Exactly, I got my bowden really tight and E3D V6 works fine with retraction about 2-2.5mm
-
I say give the Slice a try. I just got one and it doesn't seem to be bothered with what ever retraction I throw at it. My E3d jams pretty easy unless I use a high output fan to cool it. Even then anything over 2.5mm is risky with my bowden setup.
-
Apropos the E3D fan, in a fit of stupidity, I once interchanged the connectors for the hotend fan and the part cooling fan and I went on to print various PETG parts that didn't normally have any cooling fan and so the hotend was being used at 240 deg with zero cooling and the part cooling fan was going full tilt. I only noticed when the parts showed signs of poor layer adhesion (due to the excess cooling). The hotend didn't seem to care that it wasn't getting any cooling.
-
@burtoogle said in Alternatives to E3D V6?:
Apropos the E3D fan, in a fit of stupidity, I once interchanged the connectors for the hotend fan and the part cooling fan and I went on to print various PETG parts that didn't normally have any cooling fan and so the hotend was being used at 240 deg with zero cooling and the part cooling fan was going full tilt. I only noticed when the parts showed signs of poor layer adhesion (due to the excess cooling). The hotend didn't seem to care that it wasn't getting any cooling.
Had a similar thing when I first attempted to print with the Diamond 5 colour with it's inherent heat creep issues, until I fitted a much bigger fan. PET-G was fine but PLA gave me all sorts of problems due to swelling in the area of the heat breaks.
-
Last time I accidentally disconnected the part fan during a PETG build on an E3D Lite things smelt very hot quickly!
-
Going to hex myself here. Don't think I have had a hotend jam with the reprap hotends or E3D v6.
I have had grind at the filament drive point from too many retracts or too faster filament speed, but I don't really think these are what is normally called a Jam.
Did have a monster Jam in your old three way Diamond Ian! Most likey my making but the filament feed had driven the ptfe liner back out of the hotend by about 20mm leaving a large slug of polymer. Cleared with brute force and ignorance...
-
@doctrucker said in Alternatives to E3D V6?:
Did have a monster Jam in your old three way Diamond Ian! Most likey my making but the filament feed had driven the ptfe liner back out of the hotend by about 20mm leaving a large slug of polymer. Cleared with brute force and ignorance...
Haha. Welcome to my world. Actually, the only time I had similar problems was when I turned the printer off before the hot end had fully cooled. Oh and Capricorn tubing can also be a bugger if the Bowden fittings are a bit worn. When I measured it, the OD was slightly smaller than "std" PTFE and I had to use double clips to get it it to stay put in the fitting.
