v4 Status

[sprior]

I've tried Ninjaflex with it successfully. I did replace the guide tube with a Teflon one and printed versions of the extruder drive which support the guide tube because the NinjaFlex is too floppy to do it.

[Klitch]

Checking daily! Can't wait! Wish there was a way to pre-order these

[rpollack]

The single v4 upgrade (PTFE version) is now available for pre-order at $99. Estimated shipping is January '15.

We are still making some tweaks to the metal v4. We should have availability and pricing info for the metal v4 and dual v4 in early December. Updates will be posted here.

Happy Holidays,
Rick

[MG_MLS]

Sorry if this is posted somewhere else, but what are the temp ranges of the new hot ends?

Thanks!

[rpollack]

Once the v4 is officially released the upper temp on the PTFE v4 will be 260C. The metal v4 will be limited by the temp sensor. In practice, however, we've been running the PTFE v4 at 290C for polycarb.

Rick

[sprior]

If all I want is another V4 PTFE hot end (I'm going to swap out the all metal one for PTFE) and one of those 0.5mm nozzles you mentioned (I already have the V4 dual extruder upgrade) how do I place that order?

[rpollack]

Send me (or karen) an email.

[Tim]

Once the v4 is officially released the upper temp on the PTFE v4 will be 260C

Interesting the way you put that. Does that mean that there have been enough changes to the hot end that the ones that we beta testers got has a lower temperature limit?
Given that the PETg that some of us have been trying prints at 250C, and I've been playing around with the temperature, I'm sure I've pushed my PTFE v4 above the 260C mark. Is that a bad idea?

Needless to say, the idea of printing polycarb on anything other than the all-metal v4 never crossed my mind. But I don't have any polycarb, so the issue hasn't really come up. . .

[rpollack]

The PTFE v4 has been working very reliably at 290C with polycarb. The intent, however, of the PTFE v4 is for lower temp materials like PLA.

The metal version is intended for higher temp materials. With only metal it is difficult to dump excess heat and PLA gets soft/sticky at low temps. We've been working on the metal version for a long time and it is working very reliably with all of the PLA we've tested as well as a range of other materials including ninjaflex, pet, polycarb, nylon and more. However, we need to get the final metal version in the field for a while to confirm our findings. We've been hiring engineers and we have a swiss lathe in the shop but it still takes a while to iterate through the variations (based on thermal models and testing).

[caenan]

When the dual extruder upgrade is released, will it come with two v4's or just one? Given the utter lack of extruder failures I've experienced, I'd prefer not to pre-order a single V4 and have a spare extruder left over when I order the dual.