There seems to be a lot of confusion whether an e3d v6 hotend should have a ptfe liner. Can anyone shed some light on this?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5Pcs-E3D-V6-Heat-Break-Hotend-Throat-For-1-75mm-Fine-Finishing-version-All-Metal-Stainless/32495278179.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.ZIDqCU&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_10,searchweb201602_2_10057_10056_10065_10068_10055_10067_10054_10069_10059_10058_418_10073_10017_10070_10060_10061_10052_10062_10053_10050_10051,searchweb201603_7&btsid=57dd5628-f841-449f-b6a8-7cc95a5d2d50
The E3D hotend is a full metal hotend. They made it so the PTFE for a bowden stays much higher in the throat so it stays cooler. The limit for PTFE is around 250C, keeping it cooler allows for the hotend to print up to 300C without degrading the PTFE.
Like @Kura_kuea said. Thats the good thing. Another is that the PTFE really helps reducing friction in the cold end. Really pleased with the e3d chimera (which has this). Motorcurrent is very low and I have no geared extruder, its direct. And it works just fine. Dont know if that would be the case without PTFE liner.
If you manufacture the heat break properly (ie use genuine E3D or high-quality aftermarket parts), you don’t need the PTFE liner to reach all the way into the heated zone. If you do go with what’s commonly called the “v6 jhead” aka. the cheap knock-off, you’re better off going with PTFE lined all the way or you might find yourself in a world of hotend jams.
I see your confusion - the e3dv6 doesn’t come from China. The Chinese clones are notoriously poor quality and frequently require working them over significantly to get them to work well. For most printer parts, Chinese is fine because that is the original source of the parts anyway; but, for the hotend I have always stuck with OEM parts and I have had very good results.
“Without the tubing the filament has room to bend and slightly buckle inside the hotend, which prevents the extruder being able to exert adequate force through the filament as it acts like a spring when buckled. The PTFE tubing is absolutely necessary in the E3D-v6 1.75mm Direct hotend. Some people on the internet say it is not needed. Those people are wrong.” [http://wiki.e3d-online.com/wiki/E3D-v6_Troubleshooting]
@Tomas_Vit that’s the heatsink not the heatbreak
The genuine 1.75mm v6’s PTFE tube reaches into the cold side of the heat break, that one is definitely necessary with how the parts are designed. Ideally, it should be one contiguous piece reaching as far up to the filament drive gear as possible.
There is no PTFE in the actual insulating or hot areas of the heat break.
Nothing alexpress is authentic. In some of my past posts, I have mentioned what you have to put up with when you get a clone of an E3D hotend. Some burs in your hotend being the main problem.
Fyi e3d is a brand. A very reputable brand that makes an assortment of high-quality products.
This thing you linked to is not e3d. They don’t have the right to call their product e3d.
My legit e3d hotend has been great except for the tube moving and creating some jams. I think a better method of holding the tube firmly into the hot end would help immensely.
@Ron_Hunn There’s clips that go under the push clip that help remove the slack. If this version doesn’t work, look up “bowden clip” at any part site and you should get many examples.
This image gives a good explanation how PTFE tube is used in E3D v6 and v6 Lite:
https://3dprintnerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Lite6.jpg
PTFE tube is blue on this cross-section
@Jeff_DeMaagd Thanks Jeff.