Thursday, 12 January 2012

MK2 Hot End kit is now on sale.

After some extensive testing and pre production modles, my MK2 Hot end is now on sale.


The Heater is unchanged.
The heat Shield is now made from 16 MM PEEK rod.
The mount is turned to 14.5mm to fit most of the Wade Extruders.
The Grove is 10mm dia X 3mm wide.


I have incorporated a Unique Tube Clamp.
The PTFE sits over the end of the nozzle and is clamped in place by the PEEK.

Monday, 2 January 2012

ParCan MK2 HotEnd Developmant. Attempt 2 (Good Progress)

After the faults of the first attempt, this design attempts to create a Clamp for the PTFE tube.
I also dislike the idea of having the filament exposed to PEEK.
Using the lathe I drilled some M6 rod then turned down the end so that I could slide the PTFE tube over it.
As you screw the Brass / Tube into the PEEK, the idea is that the PEEK will clamp the PTFE tube.









I then made a new Brass Tube from M7 brass rod, drilled it 3.2mm for 3mm filament.
The PEEK is 15mm dia and 30mm long, drilled 15mm deep and tapped M7.
The rest of the hole is 5mm dia.


I then screwed up the nozzle so cut the tube down and screwed on one of my standard nozzles.

This is actually mounted on my Mendel at the moment amd prints reasonably well.
The tube interfce works but there is to much Thermal mass to get really nice prints.

I have created 2 more of this design with the nozzle as intended
These have been sent them out to some fellow reprappers to evaluate and do a write up.
If all is well, I will have these on sale in Mid januray.

ParCan MK2 HotEnd Developmant. Attempt 1 (FAIL)

After making well over 100 of my MK1 HotEnd kits, it's time to update the design.
Inspiration has been taken from my current design as well as the Makergear ideas.

For my first redesign I made a clone of the standard MG Hot end to see how well it worked.
This one was built for 1.75mm filament.
I will not be selling this design.
The PTFE Tube would ride up inside the PEEK causing the Filament to stick to the PEEK and jam.

After printing for about an hour, it had leaked down the Threads and also at the nozzle joint.

Disassembling the hot End reevealed that it just was not up to scratch, even after several modifications to try and make it work reliably.
I also have issues with trying to make this design work with 3mm filament.
Drilling 3.2mm down M6 threaded rod I can do, but there is very little metal left.
Later designs use M7 Threaded rods.
Parts List:
  1. 10mm Hex brass Nozzle. 0.5mm hole.
  2. M6 Threadeded Brass rod drilled 2mm for 1.75 mm filament.
  3. 15mm dia PEEK Rod, 30mm long. Drilled 15mm deep and tapped M6.
  4. The tube hole was drilled 3mm to accept 2mm ID PTFE tube.

The Top Of the PEEK was later drilled and tapped with a brass insert to stop the tube moving up.