After melting the PTFE insulator yet another time, I’ve built another hot end. This one doesn’t use the PTFE as a stress-bearing part, but only to contain any plastic that may ooze above the top of the heater barrel.
The heater barrel is threaded into the PTFE about 0.25″, just enough to keep it aligned. The PTFE isn’t attached anywhere else, just sandwiched between the washer and the aluminum mounting plate above it.
I also made modular heater and thermistor, ala Makergear.com HeatCore. (I know a good idea when I steal it).
non-load-bearing PTFE
I’ve also ditched the separate nozzle, and used the brass screw as a one-part barrel+nozzle. The opening was drilled with a 0.45mm drill.
No nozzle!
Print quality has improved by a lot, and I haven’t had any problems with the feed pinch-wheel teeth stripping the filament.
New extruder, better prints.
One of these things is not like the others.
After trying to do some printing with a spool of White PLA 4042D, and being unable to replicate the quality level I’d got with Natural PLA 4042D, I started to look for possible differences in the composition of the filament.
After reading the datasheets, the only documented difference is %2-%4 pigment. I’d had decent results with green & black PLA, so I wasn’t convinced that the pigment was a factor. (Although at this point I was so frustrated that I wasn’t ruling it out, either).
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I’ve printed so many single walled squares that I’m seeing them in my sleep.
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Here’s a few objects I’ve printed. They came out mostly Ok, but I think I have a lot of tuning to do in Skeinforge, the software that generates the actual printing instructions. All the objects have been cleaned up with a razor, as there were some strings.
A tiny Utah Teapot
A small gear
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