I’m finally making the switch to 1.75mm, and I’m getting an E3D v6. Just out of curiosity, what direct drive and/or bowden extruders are you guys using with your E3D hotend? I’m looking to adapt a decent printable extruder to my v-slot based printer, or find a way to fit it to my aluminum Printrbot extruder if possible.
Should fit the printrbot extruder if you pick up a groove mount adapter:
(Disclaimer: I don’t have a Bowden setup, but I need one for my Kossel-Mini build.)
The aluminum PrintrBot extruder should be pretty easy (I think I’ve seen it adapted before), but I will also be interested to see suggestions for a printed alternative.
The v6 is shorter than most other hotends so make sure you either have range in your Z axis or mount the v6 accordingly… I have mine in a bowden setup using the PrintrBot aluminum extruder, which is a little underpowered for the job. A little cooking oil in the bowden tube before each print helps a ton!
If you’re planning on primarily printing PLA, what extruder are you running now? While, I understand the E3D does perfectly alright with PLA for a lot of people, I’ve also seen quite a few complain about it. Whether it’s due to user error, or whatever, if you’re planning on doing PLA-only, and nothing else what other options have you considered?
I’m currently using the old laser cut printrbot extruder. I’ve got the aluminum extruder, but never got it to work properly with 3mm filament. The two main hot ends I was looking at were the recreus hot end and this e3d. I need to be able to print in pla, abs, and Ninjaflex. Easy assembly and disassembly are also preferable
If you’re printing NinjaFlex, the move to 1.75mm is probably less than ideal. When I say probably, I mean stick with 3mm.
Ninjaflex prints fine in 1.75mm, as long as the extruder path is fully constrained.
@Tim_Elmore , but as far as doing an entire switchover - wouldn’t staying with 3mm be the better option? I haven’t had any TPE-based filaments cross my path yet, so I haven’t had any first-hand experience. Just going on what I’ve seen people have troubles with.
Well a big part of why I’m switching is because everyone in my area who owns a printer uses 1.75, and we want to be able to swap around materials at times. From what I’ve seen, flexible filaments still seem to work fine as long as they are properly constrained. with the way the E3D pretty seemlessly connects to some ptfe tubing, it looks like it would be pretty easy to constrain the movement between the drive gear and hotend.