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Topic: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Cant say I am very happy after the heater cartridge failed after only 20hrs of use. I guess it is possible I got one of their bad cartridges.  In that case what happened with the quality control?

I love the design of this hotend but not if I have to replace parts every other week.  I already had to order a new fan and print a second fan duct because the one they sent was bad. 

Now for that two week wait for stuff to get here from the UK...

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

I picked up a dozen+ off ebay just for when they fail.... and they will, only depends on time after all all they are is a more confined nichrome hotend smile Mine hasn't failed yet but I probably don't have 30 hours on it yet... who knows it could go 200 hours or it could go puff the next time I use it but being it is one of the high performance parts of the hotend I figured I better get spares smile

While some of these cartridges are made better than others for the most part they all use the same elements which are just not made to last at 300C plus I have a kiln for metal treating that goes quite a bit hotter and uses 6 special alloy elements some of the elements I have gotten over 8 years of use on smile but of course each element costs me over 700 dollars to replace sad when they do go to element heaven...

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

ronsii wrote:

I picked up a dozen+ off ebay just for when they fail....

any interest in selling one?

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

None for sale right now, I use the same 6mm cartridges for a couple different applications besides in 3d printers basically anywhere I need a concentrated heat source with low voltage control, that's why I buy more than a dozen at a time... but if I were to start selling them I would have to buy in lots of hundreds otherwise it just isn't worth it.... you can find them on ebay for around $15 for 12 if you keep your eyes peeled. Also I always put some high temp compound in between the bore and cylinder just to help with heat conduction.

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

I can only say that the cartridge I got from them was better than the Qu-Bd cartridge by far. 

Also, their fan for me rocks. It's incredibly responsive to sudden increased loads, and slows itself down.  I accidently stuck a razor in mine today and it scarred the blade *but didn't break it.* By contrast, my solidoodle fan lost a wing when my finger touched it [granted, there is more rotational energy in a 40mm than a 30mm fan.]

I would second the ebay suggestion. If for some reason you really can't use ebay (filter for "items in north america" to pay a few bucks more and get it much quicker), then I could part with one of my spares...but I'd rather not. Note, my spares are as good as E3D's, which are better than Qu-Bds (I have two failed Qubds resistors sad  ).

I would disagree with the idea that the cartridges are not good for 300C. I suspect they will last a very very long time at that temperature. The trick is making sure you are very good about taking the stress off the junction of the resistor and wire.  You do *not* want that bending back and forth.  I have mine secured with the good red insulation and further supported by some kapton tape to get it in a fixed position.

6 (edited by ronsii 2013-08-20 05:19:29)

Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

I agree they are great at 300C.... however they usually to see much hotter numbers cycling at their core smile which is why I use the highest heat compound I can find to help draw that energy away from the actual heater core and stay in place, I have also been trying to find a manufacturer that uses a better core... that doesn't cost more than $60.... no luck so far on the industrial side of things sad

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

But, I mean, whose failures have been because of the core? I have only had failure because of the joint where the wire is exiting.

It's nichrome and some sort of fire cement in those cartridges, surrounded by S.S. None of those have a melting point before 700 celsius.

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Tomek wrote:

But, I mean, whose failures have been because of the core? I have only had failure because of the joint where the wire is exiting.

It's nichrome and some sort of fire cement in those cartridges, surrounded by S.S. None of those have a melting point before 700 celsius.


This was my thought.  Mine sure didn't fail at the wire exit point.  I would expect the internals to hold up longer than 20 hours.

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

What do you read as a resistance on yours right now?

10 (edited by 2n2r5 2013-08-20 19:26:46)

Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

DePartedPrinter, have you contacted E3D to give them the opportunity to make it right? It sucks that your heater blew after only 20 hours. I am sure they would like to know if their source for the heaters is bad. It sounds like even if they did QC on these then they wouldn't have seen any problems.

This is a company that has a history of going out of their way to ensure customer satisfaction. http://www.soliforum.com/post/26830/#p26830

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

11 (edited by DePartedPrinter 2013-08-20 19:44:47)

Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Yes, I contacted them. They have not responded yet.

I think Sanjay puts out an amazing product and if one bad heater slipped through its understandable (this does not look like one of the bad heaters though).

Don't think I don't like E3D.  They make the best hotend on the market by far.

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NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Tomek wrote:

What do you read as a resistance on yours right now?


I will dig out the multimeter and report back.

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Yeah. Because I will note I had had failure not of my heater, *but of the crappy wires solidoodle uses TO the heater*.  They are liable to fatigue and die. My first one died after three months, and the other wire-half of the circuit (I foolishly did not replace it at the same time) died after another three (total six.) Normally you would not expect this of thin wires from a decent supplier tongue

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Tomek wrote:

Yeah. Because I will note I had had failure not of my heater, *but of the crappy wires solidoodle uses TO the heater*.  They are liable to fatigue and die. My first one died after three months, and the other wire-half of the circuit (I foolishly did not replace it at the same time) died after another three (total six.) Normally you would not expect this of thin wires from a decent supplier tongue

I tested other hotends in the machine just to make sure nothing was wrong with the board or the wiring.  I was running the included wiring for the E3D all the way to the board when it was working though.

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

Tomek wrote:

But, I mean, whose failures have been because of the core? I have only had failure because of the joint where the wire is exiting.

It's nichrome and some sort of fire cement in those cartridges, surrounded by S.S. None of those have a melting point before 700 celsius.


I go through two or three heater cartridges a month in various projects similar to an extruder, so far in the last year I have only burned out two in a printer(not a SD) I have never had one fail at the transition between outside and inside wires in part because I never leave things to chance when it comes to routing wiring or any other lines. Most of the cartridges I burn up are usually in groups of heaters where the warmup time is more than 20 minutes for a group of six, also they are ran at spec watts 6X40=240 watts. I find that grouping the heaters gives me more redundancy for the heating stages.

16 (edited by DePartedPrinter 2013-08-31 20:56:48)

Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

E3D has still not responded yet on this problem.

Edit:

E3D did respond: see below

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

DePartedPrinter
Sorry about not getting back to your emails sooner old bean, I had to run away abroad to sort out some sudden and unexpected family business that kept me away from E3D for a couple of weeks.

Lame that your heater broke in such little time! They are usually very tough little buggers (much more so than the enamel heater resistors commonly used) - you might want to check the connections hidden under the larger insulation tubes nearest to the cartridge - sometimes the crimps can work their way off the wires, especially if the printer is tugging on them occasionally.

Either way, I've put a new replacement heater for you in the "to ship" queue here at E3D-HQ, should dispatch in the next day or so.

Sanjay

I Design/Sell the E3D all-metal hotends. My company is called e3d-online - you can buy at www.e3d-online.com

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

SanjayM wrote:

DePartedPrinter
Sorry about not getting back to your emails sooner old bean, I had to run away abroad to sort out some sudden and unexpected family business that kept me away from E3D for a couple of weeks.

Lame that your heater broke in such little time! They are usually very tough little buggers (much more so than the enamel heater resistors commonly used) - you might want to check the connections hidden under the larger insulation tubes nearest to the cartridge - sometimes the crimps can work their way off the wires, especially if the printer is tugging on them occasionally.

Either way, I've put a new replacement heater for you in the "to ship" queue here at E3D-HQ, should dispatch in the next day or so.

Sanjay

Thanks for getting back on this Sanjay.  I will double check those connections.

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Re: E3D Heater Cartridge Failed after 20hrs

The electric shower is one indispensable item of any bathroom, and companies manufacturing them have often come from very humble beginnings before going on to become brand leaders in their category. Triton is one such company that started its manufacturing in a garage way back in 1975, and is now a brand to contend with in the UK and Ireland markets.
Tom Plumb