If you are impatient and don't want to wait too long for your print to finish you can look for a solution in the E3D Volcano hotend. It is able to extrude filament a much greater speeds than a normal (V6) extruder. But it comes at a price of sacrificing the print quality.
We are going to build such extruder from loose parts. The process is very similar to the build that I did a while back in the leaking hotend extruder repair tutorial. First we will need to assemble the parts for the Volcano hotend. You have a choice to buy the original parts from E3D shop or you can look for a cheap chinese replica. The choise is up to you. It is also possible to get a completely assembled piece, but it is of course more fun to do it yourself. Below you see a list of the parts needed for the hotend:
- Volcano heating block
- Volcano nozzle (I am using 0.8 mm in diameter)
- Stainless Steel V6 Heat Break Hotend Throat M6 x 26mm for 1.75 mm filament
- Heatsink Metal Heat Cooling Tube
- Hotend Pneumatic Connector
- Ceramic cartridge heater element (with wire)
- 100K NTC 3950 Thermistor (with wire)
First assemble volcano heating block with the hotend throat and 0.8 mm nozzle.
Tighten it well together, but leave some space between the edge of the nozzle and the block. If this step is done incorrectly your hotend will leak filament.
Then slide in the ceramic cartridge heater element into the heating block and tighten it up with two M3 x 16mm screws.
Next slide the thermistor inside the predrilled hole in the block and tighten it up.
I have also used 5 cm wide capton tape to bind the wires of the heat element and the thermistor.
Just like that:
Now you can attach the heatsink with the pneumatic connector.
Next we will make the body that will hold the extruder and mount to the X-CARRAGE part. We will need to print some parts.
From project: E3D v6 Bowden X-carriage mount Prusa i3
Parts that will hold the hotend.
- Bowden_carriage_clamp_FanMount_clone.stl
- Bowden_carriage.stl
From project: E3D v6 Compact Extruder for i3 Rework
Fan duct.
- i3R_Compact_E3Dv6_50mm_Sideblow_Fan_Duct_01.STL
And finally from one of my projects: Bowden X-carriage mount to fan duct connector the part that will hold the previously mentioned pieces together.
You will also need a 12V 50mm radial cooling fan and some M3 x 20mm and 12mm screws, nuts and washers.
First assemble the fan to the fan duct:
Then attach the connector to the Bowden carriage clamp.
And combine these pieces.
Now place the heatsink inside the Bowden carriage part.
Attach the clamp and screw it tight with M3 x 20mm screws to the carriage.
Your Volcano Bowden extruder is ready and you can connect it to the Bowden motor with a PTFE tube.
