Choosing a new hot end

[rsilvers]

2 minutes. Ha. I bet I could not do it in much less than 20 minutes.

[jimc]

To change the thermistor table?

[Tim]

As I understand it, the reason that MakerGear stopped offering the all-metal v4 was that it had difficulty with lower-temperature plastics like PLA jamming (which happened to me on a two-color PLA print, toward the end), plus there was no benefit over the PTFE lined version except for the very highest temperature range; it would be very much like the E3Dv6, though, with problems potentially showing up due to having the thermistor running near its limit. I'm sure that you could tweak an all-metal V4 like you did the E3Dv6 to get it to run at 400C, but I doubt that MakerGear sees that as part of their customer support plan. I don't know how many all-metal prototypes were made, but you might ask around to see if anyone is willing to part with one.

[insta]

As I understand it, the reason that MakerGear stopped offering the all-metal v4 was that it had difficulty with lower-temperature plastics like PLA jamming (which happened to me on a two-color PLA print, toward the end), plus there was no benefit over the PTFE lined version except for the very highest temperature range; it would be very much like the E3Dv6, though, with problems potentially showing up due to having the thermistor running near its limit. I'm sure that you could tweak an all-metal V4 like you did the E3Dv6 to get it to run at 400C, but I doubt that MakerGear sees that as part of their customer support plan. I don't know how many all-metal prototypes were made, but you might ask around to see if anyone is willing to part with one.

It was good for anything but PLA, ABS slid right through it, as did Nylon and PC. I'm glad I still have mine ...

[jsc]

I was running PLA through my all-metal v4, just because that's how it ended up set up after some filament swaps. Worked fine, except it was unhappy if I left it empty after having printed PLA. I'd have to ram it through. If I just left it loaded it worked fine.

[lem]

All companies face problems with the decision to support or not support a particular aspect of the product or service they offer. It is possible that MakerGear decided that the number of potential customers that would buy an all metal hot end was not a large enough population to support the inventory and warrantee costs of providing that option. I don't have any information that would say why they haven't released it.

Speculations aside, I'm still hopeful as they did not tell me they were not going to do an all metal V4, they just said not now.

[rpollack]

The metal v4 should be out later this year. The thermistor is only rated to 300C so we are testing RTDs as a drop-in replacement that allow 300C+ usage (without going to a thermocouple). The v4 has a removable insert and the goal is to have the only difference between the v4 versions be the insert so that it can be optimized for lower temp or higher temp materials.

Given that the vast majority of requests are for materials that print below 300C we've focused on putting out the most reliable v4 version that operates with the most commonly used materials.

Rick

[insta]

Neat, bonus points if we can use that without a firmware change!

I've noticed the removable part on the new v4, with the grubscrew (vs. my early-adopter PTFE one that was somehow a single unit). Is it really just as simple (sans temperature sensor) as undoing the grubscrew, carefully fishing out the PTFE, and replacing it with an equivalently-sized polished stainless steel tube?

[rsilvers]

My E3D is all metal, and the reason why I have no problem at all with PLA is that I put an 11,000 RPM fan right on the body. If you do that, metal works with PLA. I had a metal extruder in the past that didn't work well at all, but at the time I didn't know to put a powerful fan on it.

PC needs about 295ºC. I am not sure what the utility is of going over 300ºC, except maybe if you have a larger nozzle and do thicker layers.

[insta]

My E3D is all metal, and the reason why I have no problem at all with PLA is that I put an 11,000 RPM fan right on the body. If you do that, metal works with PLA. I had a metal extruder in the past that didn't work well at all, but at the time I didn't know to put a powerful fan on it.

PC needs about 295ºC. I am not sure what the utility is of going over 300ºC, except maybe if you have a larger nozzle and do thicker layers.

Did you mod your stock one to remove the PTFE? Stock E3Dv6 still has a PTFE liner in the upper portion.