E3D is well known for their high quality hotends like E3D v6 and now they present new and low cost affordable alternative: the Lite6. It costs only 21,50 UK pounds and gives unbeatable cost/performance ratio.
Diamond hotend is a new attempt to make a hot end capable of mixing three colors from three filament inputs.
Key features from product page:
3 pcs inputs for 1.7 mm filament
Common 0.4 mm nozzle orifice
Smallest possible mixing chamber for minimal waste and fast color change
Cutout for standard 40W heater cartridge and leaded thermistor
3 pcs threaded mounting holes for state of the art E3D v6 HeatBreaks & HeatSinks
Combined mounting bracket and airguide for optimal cooling by a simgle fan
Optional pendant for attaching a 5015 blower fan for extrudate cooling
The key feature of The Diamond Hotend is the diamond shaped nozzle. We have designed the nozzle to have smallest possible mixing chamber, to make color shifts as fast as possible and to avoid unnecessary filament waste. To ensure rapid nozzle heat up we have constructed the nozzle as compact as possible.
Here is the KS campaign video:
Here is Diamond hot end printing in multiple colors on Prusa I3:
Standard extruders are heated by simple resistive heaters and you basically need to push enough 12 or 24 V DC electric current trough a resistor and simple MOSFET.
Induction heated extruders would have many advantages over them: faster heating up, no high temperature insulation is needed and less thermal mass. All of this could make induction heaters light and fast. Main disadvantage is the more complex electric circuits needed to power it and more complex control unit since it is using much higher voltage and hundreds of kHz AC.
Slow convergence to desired steady state temperature at extruder tip, (many seconds, up to several minutes) and
slow feedback loop for temperature control, (from 100's of ms to s)
Lack of fine-grain temperature control at extruder tip, in steady state, the entire metal nozzle is essentially soaked to, or near, the melting temperature.
Inconsistent feeder response due to varying liquid plastic volume near tip and
limits on filament and extruded plastic drop size
The extruder tip with inductive heating coil would be physically similar in appearance, but would have several distinct differences:
Rather than a metal nozzle, it would be made of a thermally insulating, nonconductive material such as glass or boron nitride.
The actual heated element would be buried inside the tip to make direct contact with the plastic
The power for heating is transferred through electromagnetic coupling of a driving coil to the heated element. The heated element, (and the molten plastic around it), are thermally isolated from the rest of the extruder.
By using inductive heating and passive, digital temperature sensing of the heating target at the nozzle tip, significant improvements can be made to the issues above, resulting in faster production of more isotropic/mechanically stronger plastic prototypes. Also, the above problems typically put a limit on useable filament size, something this system should be able to surpass.
Here is the comparison of resistive heated extruder vs. induction heated extruder:
Resistive compared to inductive heated extruder head, schematics made by aka47
RepRap builder SB made a post about his induction heated extruder, here is his work and schematics:
Induction heated extruder, you can clearly see the induction coils
The induction coil heats the sleeve made from mild steel (ferromagnetic) while the stainless steel is not heated directly because it is not ferromagnetic.
There are other people actively experimenting with this concept like Bulent, who made the extruder and posted a YT video of it working (his videos are not in English, but you will get some insight):
Here is a video showing more details, but again language is not English:
As someone noticed in the comments, it would be interesting to see the induction extuder based on filament with metal particles where induction heats the filament itself. Then you could reduce the mass even further.
Another thing to mention is a possibility that the induction coil will interfere with nearby electronics and maybe emit noisy radio waves. It could also interact with build platform or other parts causing heating or melting damage.
If you want to build a serious desktop induction heater for metal melting of larger pieces here is a link:
E3D just released their Volcano super high flow nozzle upgrade that will speed up your 3d printing by pushing more filament trough the hot end. Putting on a larger diameter nozzle and extruding more molten filament also improves strength since the more mass and more heat improve adhesion between the layers.
You may even not know that your nozzle is partially clogged. Eric William made this excellent tutorial on how to fix partially clogged nozzle and improve 3d print quality.You will need acetone and some tools. But it looks simple to do.
German RepRap is selling new 1mm hot end nozzle which can cut in half the printing time. The trade-off is rougher surface finish and more visible layers. So, the target audience is someone who needs more speed and less detail. The ideal setup would be some kind of dual extruder with extra fine nozzle for details and larger diameter nozzle for infills. It's compatible with X400, the X400 CE and PRotos V2, but could probably adapted for other extruders.
E3D is well known for their excellent hotends. Now they have released new model: the v6. v6 is next-generation full metal hotend for RepRap 3D printers.
E3D v6 hotend
v6 release video:
Here is v6 video review by Thomas Sanladerer:
How to assemble the v6:
v5 hot end was a success and lessons learned on it influenced the development of v6, Here are desgn guidelines by E3D:
Decrease bulk.
v5 is longer in the Z axis than many other hotends on the market due to significant safety margins in heat dissapation, screw in bowden fittings make bowden hotends even longer.
Our printed fan duct is a little bulky in X/Y which can create issues when space under carriages is restricted.
Make assembly and maintenance easier for the user.
Securing thermistors with kapton works well, but is difficult to achieve easily and neatly, especially for the new user. It also makes changing out thermistors a bit time consuming. Cementing in thermistors with fire cement or similar works well, but is messy and difficult, it also makes changing thermistors nearly impossible.
The printed fan duct is a bit tricky to remove as it has to be slid off the heatsink either up or down which can be tricky with wiring etc in the picture.
Improve support for flexible materials.
v5 works as well as any other hotend on the market for flexible filaments, however this inevitably means printing very slowly, getting messy prints and having to constantly battle with buckling in the extruder.
Flexible filaments are entering the market and have some exceptionally useful properties and we want to enable more people to use them with a better printing experience.
Shorten heat up times and increase accurate control of temperature.
v5 uses a set screw to secure the cartridge which works well, but because of the slight variances in heater cartridges the hole in which the cartridge sits has to have some clearance to allow it to easily slide into place, this affects heat up times and control.
Thermistor placement in v5 is close to the surface of the block, which makes things easier when your thermistor has to be insulated with kapton but this has some impact on the precision of the readings.
Fix niggling reliability issues.
v5 has a great track record of reliability with less than a fraction of one percent of users experiencing issues due to manufacturing issues, however we really wanted to eliminate any chance of future defects.
1.75mm Bowden users were experiencing a disproportionate amount of problems, which was traced back (with much help and hard work from Michael Hackney) to nozzle geometry in certain situations needing high extrusion pressures that resulted in starvation of filament flow.
Make different sized nozzles more suitable for their application and each size more identifiable.
All v5 nozzles share the same shape of tip that lays down the track of filament, we wanted to make the shape of each nozzle more suited to their particular use case and application so people can get the best results from each nozzle size.
Because all nozzles share the same shape they are hard to tell apart, particularly when there is plastic residue remaining on the nozzle. We wanted to make it easy to differentiate between nozzles.
Make it beautiful.
Looks matter! Our machined metal parts look awesome, but with them hidden behind a printed fan duct you can't admire all that wonderful engineering.
v6 on the left compared to v5 on the right. You can also see that the entire Bowden coupling is contained inside the heatsink on v6.
v6 technical specifications:
Compact size: v6 is now 62mm in overall length, and the new polycarbonate fan duct results in significantly less bulk in X and Y dimensions.
Easy assembly and maintenance: All assembly is performed by either clipping or screwing together parts, no messy Kapton or adhesives are needed – The thermistor secures with a neat screw clamp and is insulated with high temperature glass fibre sleeving. Supplied ferrules mean that no soldering is needed.
Fast heat-up and better temperature readings: The heater cartridge is secured with a wrap-around clamp for excellent thermal contact, this reduces warm-up times and increases temperature control. The thermistor has been placed deep into the block and near to the nozzle in a close fitting hole for the most accurate readings and fast response.
Overhauled manufacturing techniques for increased reliability: The HeatBreak has a radically improved surface finish stemming from updated manufacturing techniques. The nozzle has been optimised for easier flow at low pressures.
Improved performance with flexible materials: Internal PTFE tubing runs deep into the hotend and can be arranged so that flexible filaments are constrained in the PTFE tubing right from the drive gear to deep in the hotend. PTFE never enters hot areas and so high temperature capability is maintained.
Maintains Compatibility: By keeping our previous mounting dimensions we have maintained compatibility with our plethora of community created mounting systems. Nozzles have kept their M6 threaded dimensions and so are interchangeable between v5 and v6.
Universal 1.75mm HotEnd: The incredibly compact tubing coupling system that is internal to the hotend means that we are able to eliminate the 1.75mm Direct and 1.75mm Bowden products and replace them with a single 1.75mm Universal product.
E3D v6 technical specifications
Here are cross sections of three versions of v6: from left to Right: 1.75mm Universal, 3mm Direct, 3mm Bowden.
E3D v6 is priced at £43-£48 range for a kit and £31-£33 for metal hotend only.
Autolift retracting hot end by Dglass 3D is on Kickstarter now. It is a new type of hot end that will improve the 3d print quality, resolution, eliminate nozzle "dragging" and prevent clogging. You can get it trough the campaign for some USD 125.
Key features:
Plug-and-play groove style mount
All-metal design for high temperatures
Micro linear bearing for maximum durability and performance
Compact design allows for simplified adaptability
1.75mm or 3mm filament
40w cartridge heater included
300º C thermistors included (500º C optional)
0.35 mm nozzle included
Fan included Locally sourced parts, hand assembled by D3D team
No Kapton Tape Required! Thermistor & Heater affixed with setscrews
From the campaign:
The D3D team is proud to be back on Kickstarter with another 3D printing innovation. The idea for Autolift hot ends was born during our development process for the RUGGED HPX line of extruders, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter earlier this year. After hundreds of hours of testing, we discovered that rigid mounted hot ends could create quality prints, but were limited in their ability to offer fine detail and resolution when printing with 2 colors. That’s because they could not fully retract, resulting in plastic stringing and deposits left on the print. That limitation was frustrating and helped showcase the need for high performance hot ends that could prevent dragging, eliminate stringing and break the 100 micron barrier.
Our patent pending D3D Autolift hot ends are the solution. The AutoLift system automatically lifts the nozzle during filament retraction, eliminating dragging and preventing extra plastic from being deposited on the print. Autolift is an engineered system comprising of a micro linear bearing and spring to activate the retracted nozzle position. The system does not require special electronics or servo actuation, and is designed to function as part of the standard filament retraction operation. The Autolift system is also adjustable, allowing the user to fine tune the retraction amount depending on the particular project, material or printing objectives.
Rabbit is project that aims to develop new type of extruder. Rabbit extruder features two printheads: one is capable of using any extrudable filament from ABS to Laywoo-D3 and the other one is a paste extruder, perfect when combined with Bare Conductive Paint.
Here is demonstration of 3d printed puzzle with embedded electronics, type of work for which the Rabbit is designed:
I was contacted on blogs facebook page with claims that the images of extruder used in this project belong to SeeMeCNC and were used without attribution by Rabbit project ...
Update 2 (29.4.2014.):
Here is a video of Rabbit Proto 3d printing a working game controller:
In theory retracting hot end should allow for higher quality prints and faster printing. This type of retractable hot end would allow that the printbed remains fixed and further increase precision and speed. Nozzle "dragging" should be eliminated in both printing and inactive extruder nozzle in dual hot end setups. D3D is developing this technology and it could get on your printer soon ...
There are many shoulds and woulds, but the video looks promising ... as always, future will show if this product will make satisfied buyers ...
The objective of the E3D mixing extuder is to get fast color response with homogeneous output. Beside mixing various color filaments, it could also mix different types of polymer to achieve different print material properties.
Here is the last E3D extruder, the full metal Kraken:
The AluhotendV4 is specifically designed for general use high resolution printing with PLA , ABS and NYLON, The nozzle size is 0.3mm and the hotend comes assembled and sealed ready for use at temperatures up to 245 C. It features a PTFE liner for a high degree of reliability. This hot end requires a fan blowing on the heat sink for proper operation.
