All Metal Hot End & PLA
I’ve just received two lovely all metal hot ends from Micro Swiss which I had intended to replace both ends on my FF Creator Pro. However, I read today that all metal ends can cause problems with PLA jamming so I’m now wondering if I shouldn’t just replace one, leaving the other as the PLA nozzle.
Anyone any experience (good or bad) of using all metal ends with PLA.
I use E3D V6 metal hot ends on several printers and it’s perfect for PLA etc. materials. (With very aggresive cooling and quality PLA without moisture.)
Does Micro-Swiss provide instructions? Just follow them and you’ll probably be fine. What makes all metal hot ends jam is either bad workmanship, improper assembly or insufficient cooling of the cold side, causing heat creep. Their coatings and machining are very smooth and non-sticky too, that helps.
@Jeff_DeMaagd yes, there are very good instructions for fitting and hopefully I’ll match up on the assembly side 
The Micro Swiss all-metal replacement hot ends are designed specifically to be able to print PLA.
You need a higher quality of design and workmanship to print PLA with an all-metal hot end, but it is very possible and there are several good examples on the market that can do it reliably.
Excellent stuff, thanks all, looks like I’ll be replacing both then (which is my preferred option).
Softened PLA will stick to metal in your bore. If you can keep it from softening until it hits your meltzone, you’ll be fine.
Prendi pjeterprendi@http://info.al
Another E3D v6 with no problems. Printed > 5kg
The E3Dv6 isn’t a fair comparison unless you’re printing 3mm. At 1.75mm, the v6 is only a mostly metal hotend, with a PTFE guide up to the heat break.
[edit: never mind, I was misreading things, ignore this post.] For those of you recommending E3Dv6, re-read the OP and note that it’s a FlashForge Creator Pro. Putting any groove-mount hot end on an FFCP (or any other Replicator 1 derivative) is a giant pain and loses a lot of usable Z height. It’s also an M4 thread thermocouple for temp sensing, which E3D doesn’t offer. So a v6 is simply not good advice for that printer family.
The Micro Swiss upgrade was specifically designed to integrate with the FFCP stock parts as a drop-fit replacement. It’s a vastly better option in this case than an E3Dv6 would be.
I don’t think anyone was suggesting switching to E3D in this thread. They were just points of comparison to assuage worries about metal hot ends.
@Jeff_DeMaagd fair point, I think I misunderstood.
To solve the issues print out a Filament cleaner, you’ll see several on thingiverse (i prefer the clamshell type). Put a few drops of vegetable oil on the cotton or sponge of the cleaner. Careful not too much, it just needs a small amount. This puts an extremely small film of oil on the filament before it feeds into the extruder. It will be so little that you shouldn’t be able to see it on the filament. This lubricates the metal to prevent jams during retraction. The oil will burn off in the hotend and coat the metal slightly.
Some people cure their hotends using a similar method as cast iron. Put a very light coat of oil inside, then use qtips or cotton to remove the excess oil. Heat it up to temp for a few mins, cool it down, and apply again. The oil should be on so thin that its invisible. Honestly not sure how well curing it works, but the sponge wiper thing works amazing for me. I use it on my e3d and Ubis hotends, it fixed all of my extrusion issues.