Thanks very much. I am going to assimilate this and then try it out with PLA. That was one of my concerns about an all metal hot end.
Throughout this journey into hotends and thermal paste something has bothered me. The idea of the heat break and cooling tower is to keep heat from creeping up the metal liner, so that it doesn’t start to melt the filament way to early. I’m having trouble trying to understand how adding thermal paste between the titanium heat break and cooling tower is a benefit. If seems to me it would be a detriment. Why on earth would anyone actually want to suck heat into the cooling tower from the heat break? Surely the idea would be to contain the heat at the heat break and below.
I kept thinking about it and I do have 1 idea. Maybe the idea is to keep the heat break itself cooler, so it remains below the temp where the filament begins to melt. Since titanium conducts heat much more slowly than brass or aluminum or steel, maybe the thermal paste helps suck the heat out of the heat break, into the cooling tower, faster than the heater block can feed heat into the heat break, with the net result that the heat break remains relatively cool. This would help explain why, in his review, J. French was so adamant about not putting thermal paste on the end of the heat break that threads into the heater block. That would actually help feed heat into the heat break faster, which would be definitely undesireable.
Still, it’s odd that Micro Swiss doesn’t incorporate thermal paste. I think I’m going to look at some other all metal hotends to see how they get installed.
I don’t know how much the thermal paste will help or hurt the nozzle threads, but it is recommended by almost every manufacturer for the heat break to cooling section connection. I have never heard of the oiling of the nozzle, but I guess it makes sense for iron or steel nozzles. I have switched to E3D nozzle X nozzles that supposedly have a special coating that prevents filament from sticking and they are also much more durable if using abrasive filament. They are also very expensive, but so far I have not had any trouble with the .4mm size. My .25 mm size constantly jams now, but I think that is a problem with almost all of that size nozzle. I have ordered some cheap brass ones to test in .3mm size.
Almost all metal hot ends and especially direct drive units need a much smaller retraction setting. I think my stock Ender 5 setting was 6 or 7 mm retraction length. My OmniaDrop direct drive works well at 0.7 to 0.9 mm and I have very little if any stringing. I also print PLA at 210-215c and PETG at 250 c.
I found this Micro Swiss All Metal Hotend Kit for CR 10 Printers - YouTube It is from MicroSwiss on how to install the all metal hot end. I had a number but removed them when I switched to Hemera, and forgot they do not thread the heatbreak to the cooling section, they use a grub screw to hold it in place. This is probably why they don’t supply or use thermal paste.
Those temps are high compared to mine. If you’re running an all metal hotend I can understand it.
I would like to hear from people using all metal hot ends and their experience with them. I am most concerned about the ability to print PLA without having to change the hot end. I am having trouble with mine. I shall keep you informed.
I have the micro-swiss all metal hot end on my ender 3 v2 https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Hotend-Creality-Printers-TronXY/dp/B0789V2D7C/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3M6SE6E91N9XD&dchild=1&keywords=microswiss+all+metal+hotend+ender+3&qid=1603577727&sprefix=microswiss%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEySzdDME82SkVCVUwzJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTMwNjU4MVNKQ0dKUTgzRVcwVSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzc3NzQyMUczNUM4UTRFR00yTiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= and i like it a lot. used to have clogs a lot when i was printing PET-G when i was using the stock hot end that came with the printer. After switching, that disappeared. Mean reason i think is that the bowden tube doesn’t get hot as it did with the stock one as on the stock one the bowden tube ran all the way to the nozzle and of course the all metal ones they don’t.
@roon4660, here’s a couple of alternatives to a genuine Micro Swiss All Metal hotend that you might want to consider instead of the 1 you have:
In this video, the guy talks about all metal vs non all metal, good background info I think:
[U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xVU-p1DPDw[/U]
This guy talks about how good some of the cheap Chinese Micro Swiss knockoffs have gotten and why you might actually prefer one:[U]Rant - Microswiss Should Be Concerned at how GOOD the Clones are Getting. Here's Why. - YouTube
Here’s a link to the one the 1st guy talks about. It’s just over $5 CDN:
Thanks for the links Ender 5r. I just completely failed to make my all metal hotend work for the moment.
Very interesting video and all metal hot end. I would say to go for it if you are feeling brave. I have trouble thinking that it would be as good as ones that cost $50+, but it is hard to tell. Another downside is the shipping time, you will probably get it right between the holidays. He did have some good explanations on how they work and why you need one.
Yeah, both of those units looked surprisingly good, didn’t they?
re: shipping time: I suspect many people can afford to wait for a while, so Aliexpress would be a good way to go.
I would like to know if the Creality all metal hotend that I have ever worked for anyone. I guess I should read some comments on Amazon.
sounds like a plan
I never went that route. I switched to the MicroSwiss all metal and it was OK, but still a bowden fed unit. I then jumped on the Hemera band wagon and had some success until they started eating the drive gears and motor gears. I’m now using the OmniaDrop direct drive - all metal hot end. I find it a great platform for my needs.
How many printers do you have Dave?
4 now, since I "loaned my Cr-6 SE to the neighbors. 3 Ender 5s and 1 Ender 5 Plus. I just got the third Ender 5 this week and it is stock, not been used in a year. I forgot what they looked like in that condition. Here is my latest video that shows most of them. The other two are in the background. Exoslide first print. Quick change mounts working on both systems. - YouTube
Refresh my memory Dave: the OmniaDrop is both a hotend and extruder, correct?
I’m impressed with your set up, Dave. Is this a hobby activity or do you make any money out of your operation? I’m not really familiar with the way the Z axis sliding doen as it prints changes things. It’s very interesting.
It’s what my Ender 5 does as well. Theoretically, it makes for better prints because the model is not being jerked around as the printing proceeds.
It looks very stable compared to my Ender 3 pro.