3D printer hotend maker E3D stepped up their “Gold Edition” with some interesting – and frivolous – upgrades.
The three-year old company has made waves in the desktop 3D printing community by producing some of the most reliable hot end and extrusion components you can find. Their components can be found in many popular machines from different manufacturers.
Their all-new V6 GOLD Edition HotEnd features some very powerful upgrades:
The heater block, previously aluminum, is now made from a plated copper-alloy material, which should increase heat transfer to the business end of the component. This could mean somewhat less energy is required to operate, and a faster warm up time. The plating is designed to reduce sticking so that you won’t always have to use a “sock” to protect the block from accumulating stray plastic that inevitably burns and leaves unsightly deposits.
On the tip, they’ve changed out the standard brass nozzle for a hardened steel nozzle. This enables the V6 Gold Edition to handle a wider variety of materials, including those filaments infused with abrasive materials, like metal powder or carbon fiber. A nozzle swap of this type is beginning to become more common as 3D printer operators increasingly explore more exotic materials.
The heater cartridge is replaced with their “upcoming high precision, quick release heater cartridges”. Evidently this new approach is designed to have high tolerance specifications such that the heating will be much more predictable. Again, a very worthy upgrade.
The PTFE filament guide material has been upgraded to “High Tolerance Capricorn PTFE Tubing”. I’m particularly interested in this feature, as I’ve been victim to high-friction tubing in the past that has caused me many a print failure on different machines, albeit in the bowden tube, not the hot end itself. This should make printing a bit more reliable.
All in all, these features sound like they will add up to a new hot end that is even more reliable and better performing than their previous model. I expect to see this unit appearing on third party machines and DIY machines frequently.
Oh, yes, I forgot one more thing: It’s made of gold.
Well, sort of. The heat sink, typically made from aluminum on most hot ends is now gold. Gold plated, that is. E3D explains:
We’ve blinged up the heat sink with gold anodizing, so that everyone can see from 10 yards away that you are a fancy individual who will only accept the best of the best in HotEnd technology.
Ok, sure. But I suppose they’re probably correct, too.
Via E3D
