MakerGear Forum

Looked at it more closely, where the leak is between the heat cartridge block and the heat break, and I don't think a PTFE tube is going to keep the plastic contained. The tube doesn't insert inside the heat cartridge block and create an adequate seal, so it'd continue leaking regardless if I put a PTFE tube in. Verdict: This thing sucks. Whoever installed the heat break into the heat cartridge did an awful job of creating an adequate seal, so it's leaking everywhere, so I'm getting a product that I know will work. Not only that, but the wire to my fan is busted (Wasn't designed for the rigors of 3d printing), so all in all, I'd rate this product as pretty poor quality.

It's been a while since I installed an E3D, but I seem to remember having the instructions say to bring it up to full operating temperature and then tighten the nozzle a bit more. I've never had a leak.

Also, you mentioned you were part way through a print and the printer dinged that it was done - is this something custom you set up? I've always wanted an alert when it's done but haven't figured out how to make that happen. Am I overlooking something obvious?

Funny how that is the hot end of choice for 1000's of users and factory installed oem equipment on tons of 3d printers. Never heard if anyone complaining if leaking or say it sux. They have a great reputation as being one if the best so i would assemble the thing correctly if was you and use it.

Yeah gotta go with Jim here. The E3D is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to hotends, I have never heard a bad thing about them. Now if you get a cheaper knockoff version of the E3D then ALL I hear is bad things.

The instructional videos online were all I needed to get mine assembled correctly and I am hardly a wizard at this kind of thing. The few times I have had issues with mine its been totally user error.

The E3D would leak with my PLA, but it wouldn't leak with my ABS. Something in the design and/or installation done by someone before I got it causes this issue (Someone installed the heatbreak incorrectly into the heat-cartridge block is possible). I don't have tons of "free time" to fix other people's mistakes just to find out it's a design issue in the end, so I threw it away and got the Makergear V4. Wow, this thing is nice! I installed it using the directions (Amazing, it actually came with DIRECTIONS, who would've thought?!) and its print quality is pretty much identical to the E3D with one glaring difference: It's not leaking my PLA through the top of the heat-cartridge block where the heat-break inserts like in the E3D. It's actually working like you'd expect it to. So, obviously makergear's quality control is top notch.

swbluto wrote:The E3D would leak with my PLA, but it wouldn't leak with my ABS. Something in the design and/or installation done by someone before I got it causes this issue (Someone installed the heatbreak incorrectly into the heat-cartridge block is possible). I don't have tons of "free time" to fix other people's mistakes just to find out it's a design issue in the end, so I threw it away and got the Makergear V4. Wow, this thing is nice! I installed it using the directions (Amazing, it actually came with DIRECTIONS, who would've thought?!) and its print quality is pretty much identical to the E3D with one glaring difference: It's not leaking my PLA through the top of the heat-cartridge block where the heat-break inserts like in the E3D. It's actually working like you'd expect it to. So, obviously makergear's quality control is top notch.

Well I guess Its good you got something that works - and the V4 is a very nice nozzle, but I would be careful how you toss around the intimation that E3D nozzles are not up to quality control. Lots of people here use them without issue and they have a very good reputation as basically one of the best hotends you can buy - deservedly so.

Quality control doesn't mean every produced part is either good or bad. It's more about percentages - 10% can't do this but 90% can, etc... Makergear, in my experience, has a 100% success rate with its products whereas my particular experience with E3D is around 0%. That doesn't mean that it's overall success rate is 0%, it could very well be 99% and I just happened to get the 1% that failed, but whatever it is, it's not something I'm going to bother with. Intimations aside, it's safe to say that E3D does produce lemons at least every now and then and that's what I mean by quality control. Honda's quality control ensures every car of there runs, and my Honda happily runs without fail. The E3D, in my experience, is no Honda and that's what I expect of products I use.

swbluto wrote:The E3D would leak with my PLA, but it wouldn't leak with my ABS. Something in the design and/or installation done by someone before I got it causes this issue (Someone installed the heatbreak incorrectly into the heat-cartridge block is possible). I don't have tons of "free time" to fix other people's mistakes just to find out it's a design issue in the end, so I threw it away and got the Makergear V4. Wow, this thing is nice! I installed it using the directions (Amazing, it actually came with DIRECTIONS, who would've thought?!) and its print quality is pretty much identical to the E3D with one glaring difference: It's not leaking my PLA through the top of the heat-cartridge block where the heat-break inserts like in the E3D. It's actually working like you'd expect it to. So, obviously makergear's quality control is top notch.

Can you dig it out of the trash and mail it to me? I break them down for parts to keep as spares

Hello all,

Been a while since I posted on this forum. I've been happily printing with my M2 for the last couple years using the stock M2 hotend but now I'm doing some different things that will require something new. I have a new V3b V6 hotend and have a question regarding the Firmware versions:

I looked on MakerGears WIKI for the correct firmware versions and found it to not be very strait forward. My printer was purchased 11/20/13 which is long after the 02/13 cutoff. That would mean I should have 1/16 microstepping. However, I have an old Z stepper-motor apparently. (Silver w/ black stripe) All of the firmware versions I have opened in the Arduino IDE including the older ones all seem to use the 1/16 microstepping. i.e. 88.88,88.88,400.00,471.50 . I'm confused now about which firmware I should use. I know for a fact that I have a 24v power supply but I'm not understanding the differences in the Z drives since they all seem to be set up in the firmware to use 1/16 microstepping. If I have an old z step-motor, is this 1/8 stepping or 1/16? Are some of the silver colored motors still 1/16? How could I have an old z motor if this was shipped out in December of 2013? Anyone that can provide some clarification, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thx,
Bret

BretAllen wrote:Hello all,

Been a while since I posted on this forum. I've been happily printing with my M2 for the last couple years using the stock M2 hotend but now I'm doing some different things that will require something new. I have a new V3b V6 hotend and have a question regarding the Firmware versions:

I looked on MakerGears WIKI for the correct firmware versions and found it to not be very strait forward. My printer was purchased 11/20/13 which is long after the 02/13 cutoff. That would mean I should have 1/16 microstepping. However, I have an old Z stepper-motor apparently. (Silver w/ black stripe) All of the firmware versions I have opened in the Arduino IDE including the older ones all seem to use the 1/16 microstepping. i.e. 88.88,88.88,400.00,471.50 . I'm confused now about which firmware I should use. I know for a fact that I have a 24v power supply but I'm not understanding the differences in the Z drives since they all seem to be set up in the firmware to use 1/16 microstepping. If I have an old z step-motor, is this 1/8 stepping or 1/16? Are some of the silver colored motors still 1/16? How could I have an old z motor if this was shipped out in December of 2013? Anyone that can provide some clarification, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thx,
Bret

Not sure why you posted this in an old thread for a 3rd party extruder. create a new post in the general or tech support sub forum.