Topic: Revised hot end
Having recently had quite a few issues with my stock Solidoodle 3 hot end- and currently awaiting some new parts from SD whilst my printer is down- I've taken to thoughts of designing a hot end that is a bit more serviceable. I've access to a small but plucky lathe in my personal workshop as well as a 2000lb milling machine and an absolutely monstrous 10' lathe at my workplace; so I figure why not see if I can whip something up.
Some of the design considerations I'm going to address are:
1- Clogs and just how to make clearing them out easier.
2- The heating element/resistor housing. I've seen some interesting articles on housings with two of these heaters in them so perhaps that would be an interesting route (though I think this may put too much heat too quickly into the head, leading to a burnt filament clog).
3- replacement of the peek with aluminum; I had given stainless some thought as well but I think that may simply keep the heat in whereas I can fin the aluminum to help dissipate it in the upper tract. Of course, the PEEK is there to insulate the upper tract so I may just make a goopy mess but that's half the fun of this stuff.
4-The "wood" mounting plate for the hot end on the SD3. I want to make an aluminum piece. It may act as a heatsink, it may cook the acrylic above it, or it may do nothing. I have some flat stock hanging about and just want to make a more...robust piece.
Well, I'm off to the workshop and will post some pics. I've got five pieces of brass hex stock, so I will make five variant prototypes.
Cheers.