@@leektah354 It's a $15 upgrade. It's not like this is an Upgrade that hasn't been documented to work great for years. Being wary of sponsored opinions is valid but I don't think this is the field to die on when it comes to the issue of "sponsoring"
@@leektah354 Start doing those reviews yourself, litle whiner, and you will realize what it takes to do them. Its all up to you. You didnt find Chucks review was honest?
SO good! Thank you for highlighting this problem. Your channel consistently discusses topics that aren't adequately covered elsewhere and in a presentation style that is super easy to follow. EDIT: Dang, dude! 11:20 covering all the possible issues complete with a cutaway view of the hotend is just... SO THOROUGH and helpful. Again -- GREAT job!
Excellent video - the mockups of the hotend and showing the two different setups with/without heat break was great. That visual goes a long way. The trick of loosening the nozzle first, tightening it last was an excellent pointer as I have a friend who doesn't have the Slice heat break and has had the classic problems.
I agree. It makes a lot more sense to keep the PTFE tube in the "cool" zone - My monoprice deltas actually did this and I never realized, never had a single issue with heat creep with them. 👍
I had the same conclusion a month or so ago and upgraded my stock Ender 3s to this heat break. I'm convinced it makes the stock hot end as good as an expensive all metal hot end.
With the PTFE Bowden in the hot end, Loosen the clamp two turns out, push the tube to the nozzle tug it to lock the clamp then tighten it, screwing the clamp back in pushes the gap closed.
Great video man. I ended up really enjoying your approach on the delivery, plus it actually helped me understand the information a bit better than any other things I've read or seen in the past! Looking forward to the next one 👍
Many varieties of the same thing are on Ali. For the price of the slice heatbreak, I was able to get a plated copper nozzle, plated copper heatblock, and a bimetallic heatbreak. The upgrades, when put together, increased my max flow rate by 25% vs stock.
Great video today Chris, thanks for your excellent presentation! I change all three of my reality printer to a bimetallic a while back, and since all of my issues with heat creep and jamming have evaporated completely!
Thank you Chris, for everything, I upgraded my Mega-s to EZ3 and 7" screen based on your videos and advices, especially Marlin guidelines were really handy. Thanks
I am using Mellow titanium all metal, HT therm and heater in copper block with good results. Currently printing PC-CF with .4 hardened nozzle without issue.
Great disclaimer on the clickbaity-ness of the title reflecting good honesty and conduct and pointing out other great content to the same topic. Thank you for that.
One quick note, with the maximum temperate you're also limited by some other components. The thermistor is only reliable to 285, the aluminium heater block to I think 320c, and the brass nozzles to 300c
17:48 Thanks for the video. I was planning to convert my ancient CR-10 to Dual Extruder with a PTFE splitter to be able to print dual color, and possibly, dual material. But now I thinkg that the constant filament changes is going to deposit some PLA or PETG on the break as you point out here.
Have been running one for about a month now. Based on Chep and Stefan reviews to avoid the knockoffs, got the Slice Eng. one. I print mostly PETG and the ptfe tube was deteriorating at the 235 temp I was running. Replaced the heat break, reduced the retract to 2mm and have been extremely happy since. Ran a new temp tower and increased the temp a few degrees and darn if it didn't reduce the stringing I was getting. 👍
As always your reviews are well presented and easy to follow. Your cutaway showing of how the hotend is designed and how the Bowden tubing works in the hotend as well as how to properly seat the Bowden against the nozzle is something we all need to know. In the same price range recently as the metal tube and heat conductive paste is the new Creality all metal spider hotend with a new new nozzle design. I was hoping it would get a review soon by you or Chep.
This Upgrade i do on my FLsun Q5 and it fits perfect with an E3D-Style Nozzle ión this genuine Heatblock+Heatsink. I ordered a second Heatbreak for Upgrading my Tronxy X5SA-400, witch has this CR10/Ender 3 -Style Hotend shown in your good Video. I do exactly as you shown, with Bor-Nitride Paste. It works perfect with Retraction of 3mm on Bowden!
I converted my T-Rex 3 to all metal hot ends to print PETG and had continuously issues with PLA after that. I switch the heatbrakes to these described here and had no issues at all. All (2 parts) worth the money!
I tried this upgrade on my Anycubic Mega S along with an upgrade to a "V6" heatsink. I've put that printer in an enclosure and found quite some problems after the "upgrades". Now since it's basically a change to "all metal", the aspect of cooling is much more important in this scenario. Using a noctua fan or other "quiet mods" does not work with that very well. While I noticed that printing ABS worked well with it and PETG was also fine, but I started to notice problems with some PLA filaments (like silk PLA) due to heat creep at around 50°C on the heatsink. Even putting on a 40x20mm 24V fan and slightly overvolting it with a boost converter did not fully fix heat creep for me (although it helped a bit for rather short prints). Retraction should also be reduced for that in my experience. In my case going back to the old style was the only way to reliably fix that issue for all my PLA filaments while still using the enclosure (and rather get rid of the "gap problem"). The enclosure is a must for me to mostly avoid warping for large PLA prints. However, it's funny, because when I switched back to the stock V5 heatsink and the PTFE lined heatbreak, I thought of how I could fix that "gap problem" and came up with an idea that is very similar to what you called the "washer fix". If I heard of that earlier and also knew about heat creep, I would not have done it. I find that that even printing ABS works fine with a PTFE lined hotend and is in my opinion really only a good option when you want to print high temp materials (above ABS). Although I'm thinking of trying the all metal approach again on another printer with a water cooled heatsink and a good titanium heatbreak along with it. I'm not saying that it's generally a bad idea to change to all metal. But one could simply use a printed upgrade, when high temp filaments are not of interest and save some money along the way.
There is not really any way around having to limit the surrounding temp with plastics like pla, which soften well below the rated distortion temp under pressure. Either some small vents or a heat exchange system would be best if you must print it completely enclosed. The "door" on my enclosure is not hinged and I tilt it open about an inch at the top when printing PLA. If my shop is warm I will leave it off entirely. The fanciest option would be to build a heat exchanger with 2 radiators, fans and a temperature controller. That's what I eventually want to do, with the addition of a heater on the exterior radiator. Water cooled hot ends are usually used for when the chamber temp must be far too hot for air cooling, such as when printing exotic/industrial plastics that need a chamber heated to very high temps. You might get away with using it for printing PLA totally enclosed. For best chance of success I suggest running your filament in a continuous line of ptfe tube from the outside of the chamber all the way to the toolhead.
If you want to switch to subpar cooling fans for the sake of noise that is ok but that's not a design issue of the part. But it is good for this info to be out for others to see if they consider the upgrade. The reduced retraction and less risk of nozzle seal issues to me is more important than fan noise. But I know many love the noctua fans. Good info.
I like the product in premise, but I'm not so sure about Slice Engineering as a company. The first heat break I ordered worked great. When I had my work order 2 what we got was not usable due to a step in the tube that prevented the filament from going through the heat break. Contacted support, their immediate response was "our heat break is fine it must be your printer". After pressing the issue they agreed to review the heat breaks so we sent it back and they reviewed then, the response was "the parts are in tolerance we're sending them back to you". So now I have a non functional heat breaks and my work is out the cost of them.
Considering badly lapped inners of heatbreaks can affect the operation of a hotend a step is most definetly going to cause problems, in the UK we have a Gov dept called Trading Standards who champion the consumer in matters of bad quality or "Trading Standards" and if found to be in contravention of trading/ sales laws can be prosecuted by the Gov Dept, is ther no equivalent in the USA?
There might be, since it was "short money" as far as my work is concerned they don't care about eating the cost and just not doing business with them again. Looking at it from the consumer side of things though it makes me really reluctant to buy any of their more expensive products for myself, like the Mosquitto, for fear of wasting my money with no recourse.
@@vitelliu5 If someone were to call them out on this practice they may be reluctant to do it again, especialy if the official findings were published somewhere the community is likley to read them
That settles it, then. I will purchase a clone instead. Thank you for the comment! And yes, the Mosquito sure looks nice but for the price they are asking, they know where they can stick it.
Hi Chris. Great tutorial. Well done. I do have one question/comment. I do agree with the idea of paste on the heat break where it interfaces with the heat sink; you want to transfer whatever heat that travels up the break into the heat sink. I would think that you would not want to paste the screws and the break-heater block thermal interface in order to minimize heat creep.
Thanks John, I really don't fully understand the thinking on the paste, I think slice intends for it to be an anti seize as well. I think that is what they were going for.
@@ChrisRiley Thanks much Chris. I know from experience about seizing a heat break. Your comment about seizing got me thinking along the lines of a high temp anti seizing compound such as used for protecting bolts that hold engine exhaust parts together. (Permatex 77134 Nickel Anti-Seize Lubricant, 0.5 oz Tube), for example.
Nice Video and very understandable reasoning to the last 20mm always failing on the Ender series printers. I have a brand new Ender 3 pro that I am still waiting to put together when I get time. I have managed to find an ali-express version of the same thing with titanium as the hot end and solid copper as the cold end heat sink for only $4.00 and that is for 2 of them. So I ordered a double pack, This is one of 3 mods I will be doing before even firing up my printer for the first time. Second is the OMG dual gear direct drive and the last is a simple 3d printed washer that is inserted into the cold end where the tube connecter is screwed in and this is to allow a nice even clamping area on the tube so that it will not move or crimp from point pressure. thanks for sharing. (I may need to print this before I strip it down for these upgrades).
fun thing is if you search internet long enough you can probably score a brand new replacement for standard hot end for 10-15$ if you lucky and then just replace heat break in that brand new clean part without burning yourself then just swap entire hot end when it is still cold by just unpluging the old and pluging in new one thing i noticed in my ender 3 2 screws holding heat block to the tadiator part are not concentric, you can only install heat block one way
The poor extrusion issues with the stock ender setup is due to the combination of a shallow melt zone and the inadequate thermal performance of the aluminium heat block. Effects PLA the most. A plated copper heat block with a plated nozzle and the all metal heartbreak helps solve this. However you will then end up with issues being able to eliminate stringing as you have found out. This is because of the flexibility of the PTFE tube requiring longer retraction which you can no longer do with an all metal heatbreak. The physical arrangement of the bowden system also plays a big part in the issue. The tension on the filament in the PTFE tube varies depending upon the bend in the PTFE tube which in turn is dictated by the position of the print head along the X axis. This basically means the amount of retraction achieved varies depending upon the position of the print head. This also causes under extrusion as the print head moves left and over extrusion as the print head moves right. Try doing a linear advance calibration test and you will see that the lines are consistently thicker on the right and thin on the left. You could I suppose move the extruder to the top of the z gantry so the PTFE tube runs straight down to the hotend with no bends. But this will add weight to the top of the printer and increase ringing in your prints. Direct drive is the best option. You'll need a second z screw to prevent sag on the X gantry due to the added weight but you will have a printer that can produce consistent extrusion and amazing print quality.
This is unfortunately no longer a "$30" mod, and possibly wasn't at the time. Slice is now charging $40 for the heatbrake, and the thermal paste is an additional $15 from them. At $55, there are complete hot end kit alternatives around the same price point.
Am I missing something hear but is not the Heat break there to minimise the transfer of heat to the cold side of the printer head . So why would you make it out of copper and use heat transfer compound to help it transfer to the cold side . Which is then pulling heat away from your hot side
I use the copperhead heat break from slice engineering. It has worked out really well for me so far. Only times i've had jams is with bad quality filament and bad nozzles.
I got one of these and I ended up having the filament leak out of the threads somehow, so I just got a Creality Spider hotend for $30 and that's worked great. The stock heat block on those printers sucks.
FYI u only want to put thermal paste on the heatbreak/heatsink side not the hot side lol. Otherwise you're making the heat transfer to the heatbreak faster!
There are a lot of great Ender 3 swap hotends now. This is still good, but there are so many choices. www.filastruder.com/products/revo-cr-kit?variant=39617263566919
The complete hot end for one of these is about $17 including shipping. It may just be easier to buy a new one, put in the new break and swap out with the old hot end.
Nice fairly comprehensive video. Feel that the mechanism of the PTFE retainer would have been a good thing to show. Consideration of PTFE replacement. Importance of cutting the PTFE at 90 degrees. My tip is to use a large allen key to wedge between the heater block and retaining bracket to stop rotation of the heater block rather than need nose tooth pliers.
Did enjoy the video. Sorry about the muted response. Had seen lots of videos having had trouble printing ABS for the first time. 3D printing is not a labour of love.@@ChrisRiley
I think when most people say that they are referring to dipping filament in oil and running it through the hot end. You can use pretty much any type of kitchen oil.
Ordered! I have to swap out the motherboard on my 10S anyway and even my good PTFE tube burned recently so this will be a helpful upgrade. Never thought to back out the nozzle like that but I also had a locking clip on my PTFE connector that seemed to help. Looking forward to adding this!
As always, Chris you are there when needed. Thank you. My E3 stopped extruding mid print for the first time in three years so it is about time I upgraded my lovely machine. I clicked the link to order from Slice engineering but the postage cost to the UK was about the same as the heartbreak so that was that. Amazon showed a bunch of cheap generic heatbreaks because the copperhead was out of stock. Can you suggest an alternative?
Sounds like a perfect upgrade for cheaper printers, but how about V6 setups that use materials more prone to heat creep? For example printing silk style PLA on a Prusa. Namely a Prusa Mk3s with the MMU2s upgrade. Love the MMU, but after tuning my tips just right I'm wary of changing the heat break from the specialized Prusa model.
It's probably a decent upgrade for something like a V6, but I am with you, if it's working with your MMU don't change it. It's too hard to get the setup working perfectly.
My filament always catches where the PTFE tubing meets the new heat break, and I am absolutely baffled as to how I seem to be the only person having this problem. I've reinstalled and replaced the PTFE tubing countless times, securing it into the heat break with various amounts of pressure. I've tried inserting it heated and cold. I've readjusted the heat break install and the hot end, following different guides to ensure that I haven't missed something crucial.
@@ChrisRiley I gave this a shot, looking for some sort of burr that I could remove, and in the process I think I found the culprit. The heat break seems to consist of two components press-fit together: the lower, partially threaded tube that installs in the heating block, and the upper portion which the PTFE tube is inserted in. Mine were not perfectly pressed together, so there was a small gap between them that filament was getting stuck on. I was able to press it together a bit better by putting it in my vise. It seems to be working much better now. I can't imagine there was anything I could have done to cause this, but I also have seen nobody else with this issue, so it could be a one-off fluke. I have reached out to Slice Engineering, but am waiting to hear back.
I have just ordered a bi copperhead heat break for a Voxelab that I have, the standard set up is just bad design and causes so many problems, my first printer was a FFA-3 and their hotends are so fast and easy to change and they just work.
If you dont hv m6 tap to clean up the threads on the heat block, I'd recommend just get yourself a new heat block. The stock ones wasnt that easy to properly clean with the residue stuck on the threads even when heated. My new heat break stuck (eventually managed to release it) half way through when I try screwing it in after I "clean" the heat block lol.
You should NOT put boron paste on any parts coupling the heat block and cooling block. You're encouraging heat to move into the cooling block (heat creep) when you want it to stay in the heater block.
@@ChrisRiley Forgot to say you should put paste on the upper heat break / cooling block connection to draw heat away from the upper section of the heat break faster.
Chris, thanks for all your videos. I installed the heat break from slice. But I can do one print and then it clogs. I am using light weight pla . I can not clear the clog without taking it apart . Then it runs for one print which is perfect. Then it’s clogged again. I don’t know if it is the material I’m trying to print? I’ve tried to turn the nozzle temp on again right after the print is done. I didn’t know if you have any suggestions?
You're welcome! First thing I would look at is retraction. It could be the filament is just getting pulled back to far into the cool zone. Check retraction and the end gcode to make sure it's set pretty low.
Slice sells it. www.sliceengineering.com/products/boron-nitride-paste?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjws560BhCuARIsAHMqE0G5oBuqs8WuL_rJZ1bzkak_APXdaZ2urZvAmqQ0SkEyrlMLZBBH9mcaAq4oEALw_wcB
Execution: C-E is the right one? Is the heatbreak longer than stock and does the Z endstop need to be raised? Shouldn't the end of the ptfe tube be sharpened?
Yes, C-E is the right one for the Ender series. Check the length, it is very close to stock, but be sure to test it. Doesn't need to be sharpened unless you do some sort of multi filament ramming.
Don’t forget to lower your printing temps with all metal heatbreak. Applies to all hotends. For PLA I won’t go above 205 °C, 240 °C for PETG and ABS and a little bit higher for CF Nylon. Otherwise you will get heat creep too after some time, especially during longer prints. Even very good heatbreaks can go to over 45 °C in a cold zone at 215 °C and that will definitely become a problem for PLA. But recently I had a lot of “fun” with PA6-CF (high temp with 150 °C long term heat resistance) stuck in HF Dragon cold zone when printed at 260 °C. I spend a nice time to clean it out from walls of the heatbreak.
On 7:25 min , I don't think you should put thermal paste/BN on the heaterblock-heatbreak screw(hot) side. Yes, you can put it on the thermistor, heater cartridge, heatbreak-heatsink(cold side). If you put thermal paste/BN on the heaterblock(hot) side & support screw, it will transfer UNNECESSARY heat to the heatsink & will "jammed" up the heatbreak with unnecessary heat. Making the filament swell(stuck to the wall), then making the extrusion & retraction inaccurate. (IMPORTANT)* The only necessary heat to be removed is from the HEATBREAK, not from the heatblock. the thermal paste is used as thermal bridge connecting 2 metal for heat transfer. I know it work for you, but on longer print with a ton of retraction like an Eiffel tower or printing tree support, you may get heatcreep/clog/stringing/extrusion issues. Even on prusa maintainance guide they didn't suggest putting the thermal paste on the hot side of the heatbreak.
Nice video! Glad to see that this thermal paste is catching on! I always recommended using regular CPU thermal paste on the cold-end but I am glad there is a better option for all mating threads/surfaces. My old Monoprice Maker Select v2 is still running great with a microswiss cold-end block (solved the heat creep issues) and a 32bit mainboard!
Got one. Got an all metal hot end. I keep getting heat creep. Sometimes within the first few layers. Ive tried stock fan and a printed fan mod. Im at a loss.
Thanks Chris. Have to consider it when I want to increase temperatures. You did not quite do a 'traditional Chris's Basement way' as there was no benchy
I have not changed my Capricorn in nearly a year. 2 machines, they run 24/7. What's the main mod? Direct extruder. The Bondtech knock off extruder was the only part I bought. Everything else was printed.
Yeah, this is probably the best upgrade short of replacing the entire hotend with something more fancy like a mosquito, and considering it's pretty much a stock replacement (apart from the few millimeters less of bowden you use) it doesn't require redoing your existing fan shroud, bed sensor mount, etc. I've been using a generic knockoff for about a year now, and while I wouldn't recommend that in particular given that quality is always hit-or-miss, the principle of a "soft" upgrade towards an all metal hotend is definitely worth checking out, especially if you experience a lot of wear on your teflon tubing or would like to try >250C materials (I've got a thermal probe just to double check, and with the hotend at 280 the part that meets the teflon is almost as cool as the rest of the heatsink, so no issues with roasting the PTFE and releasing neurotoxins into my room) Also, I've heard some folks say that all-metal isn't good for low temp plastics like PLA and that you'll get more jams than with the teflon lining. While I understand the concerns in theory, in practice I personally haven't had any clogs whatsoever in, like I said, a year of printing with this kind of mod. I guess that's just another caveat emptor for anybody interested in trying it.
I know, I said nano meters...I meant newton meters...I just said the wrong thing...people make mistakes...the end.
first thing I checked in the comments lol. Bless you.
Thanks for the mention. My Ender 3 V2 with the Slice Engineering heat break prints great. Well worth the investment.
Says the guy who got it sent to him for free. 🤔
@@leektah354 It's a $15 upgrade. It's not like this is an Upgrade that hasn't been documented to work great for years. Being wary of sponsored opinions is valid but I don't think this is the field to die on when it comes to the issue of "sponsoring"
@@MrTree421 $15? Try $32 for the C-E which fits the E3V2.
Thanks for watching
@@leektah354 Start doing those reviews yourself, litle whiner, and you will realize what it takes to do them. Its all up to you. You didnt find Chucks review was honest?
SO good! Thank you for highlighting this problem. Your channel consistently discusses topics that aren't adequately covered elsewhere and in a presentation style that is super easy to follow.
EDIT: Dang, dude! 11:20 covering all the possible issues complete with a cutaway view of the hotend is just... SO THOROUGH and helpful. Again -- GREAT job!
Thank you!
Excellent video - the mockups of the hotend and showing the two different setups with/without heat break was great. That visual goes a long way. The trick of loosening the nozzle first, tightening it last was an excellent pointer as I have a friend who doesn't have the Slice heat break and has had the classic problems.
Awesome, glad the video helped!
Agreed, got a like for that.
I agree. It makes a lot more sense to keep the PTFE tube in the "cool" zone - My monoprice deltas actually did this and I never realized, never had a single issue with heat creep with them. 👍
Thank you
This fix did make a big difference on my OG Ender 3 ! Printing like a champ now, stay safe Sir ! great content as usual !
Thanks so much!
I had the same conclusion a month or so ago and upgraded my stock Ender 3s to this heat break. I'm convinced it makes the stock hot end as good as an expensive all metal hot end.
Thanks for sharing!
With the PTFE Bowden in the hot end, Loosen the clamp two turns out, push the tube to the nozzle tug it to lock the clamp then tighten it, screwing the clamp back in pushes the gap closed.
Thanks!
Great video man. I ended up really enjoying your approach on the delivery, plus it actually helped me understand the information a bit better than any other things I've read or seen in the past! Looking forward to the next one 👍
Thank you!
Many varieties of the same thing are on Ali. For the price of the slice heatbreak, I was able to get a plated copper nozzle, plated copper heatblock, and a bimetallic heatbreak. The upgrades, when put together, increased my max flow rate by 25% vs stock.
That's great, thanks
Great video today Chris, thanks for your excellent presentation! I change all three of my reality printer to a bimetallic a while back, and since all of my issues with heat creep and jamming have evaporated completely!
Glad it was helpful!
Chris you are a master at doing videos with concise information and follow through. Well done.
I appreciate that!
Thank you Chris, for everything, I upgraded my Mega-s to EZ3 and 7" screen based on your videos and advices, especially Marlin guidelines were really handy. Thanks
Happy to help!
I am using Mellow titanium all metal, HT therm and heater in copper block with good results. Currently printing PC-CF with .4 hardened nozzle without issue.
I might have one of those somewhere, I will have to give it a try.
Great disclaimer on the clickbaity-ness of the title reflecting good honesty and conduct and pointing out other great content to the same topic. Thank you for that.
👍🙂
One quick note, with the maximum temperate you're also limited by some other components. The thermistor is only reliable to 285, the aluminium heater block to I think 320c, and the brass nozzles to 300c
@Chris Riley This is where you mention it. 2:48 . Maybe add a banner or something. Otherwise, I'm enjoying the video as we speak 😁
Is the plastic around the thermistor wires ptfe?
@@draco10111b no that's kapton tape, but that's a good one I forgot. I think kapton can go up to 260c? Not sure though
Thanks
I just stumbled on your channel and want to say that you do a great job explaining what you are doing, plus you pick great projects. Thanks!
Awesome, thank you!
I've been looking at this for a while and you talked me into it. Ordered it today.
Great, let us know what you think!
17:48 Thanks for the video. I was planning to convert my ancient CR-10 to Dual Extruder with a PTFE splitter to be able to print dual color, and possibly, dual material. But now I thinkg that the constant filament changes is going to deposit some PLA or PETG on the break as you point out here.
It could, you have to be very careful on this all metal hotends. You have to keep the hot filament out of the cold zone.
Have been running one for about a month now. Based on Chep and Stefan reviews to avoid the knockoffs, got the Slice Eng. one. I print mostly PETG and the ptfe tube was deteriorating at the 235 temp I was running. Replaced the heat break, reduced the retract to 2mm and have been extremely happy since. Ran a new temp tower and increased the temp a few degrees and darn if it didn't reduce the stringing I was getting.
👍
What was your retraction setting at before you changed it to 2mm? Cause mine’s at 2.3mm with stock hotend and capricorn ptfe tubing
@@tylerwright497 IF I remember correctly, it was at either 4 or 5 mm
I'm glad you got it going! I love tinkering with my printers.
Art Eckstein that seems pretty high lol, if my filament was more dry i could get retracting under 2mm and save ALOT on print time lol
As always your reviews are well presented and easy to follow.
Your cutaway showing of how the hotend is designed and how the Bowden tubing works in the hotend as well as how to properly seat the Bowden against the nozzle is something we all need to know.
In the same price range recently as the metal tube and heat conductive paste is the new Creality all metal spider hotend with a new new nozzle design. I was hoping it would get a review soon by you or Chep.
Many thanks!
This Upgrade i do on my FLsun Q5 and it fits perfect with an E3D-Style Nozzle ión this genuine Heatblock+Heatsink. I ordered a second Heatbreak for Upgrading my Tronxy X5SA-400, witch has this CR10/Ender 3 -Style Hotend shown in your good Video. I do exactly as you shown, with Bor-Nitride Paste. It works perfect with Retraction of 3mm on Bowden!
That's great, thanks for sharing
I've had one for about a year now. I absolutely love it. Night and day difference in print quality and reliability.
Totally agree!
I converted my T-Rex 3 to all metal hot ends to print PETG and had continuously issues with PLA after that. I switch the heatbrakes to these described here and had no issues at all. All (2 parts) worth the money!
That's great!
I tried this upgrade on my Anycubic Mega S along with an upgrade to a "V6" heatsink. I've put that printer in an enclosure and found quite some problems after the "upgrades". Now since it's basically a change to "all metal", the aspect of cooling is much more important in this scenario. Using a noctua fan or other "quiet mods" does not work with that very well. While I noticed that printing ABS worked well with it and PETG was also fine, but I started to notice problems with some PLA filaments (like silk PLA) due to heat creep at around 50°C on the heatsink. Even putting on a 40x20mm 24V fan and slightly overvolting it with a boost converter did not fully fix heat creep for me (although it helped a bit for rather short prints). Retraction should also be reduced for that in my experience. In my case going back to the old style was the only way to reliably fix that issue for all my PLA filaments while still using the enclosure (and rather get rid of the "gap problem"). The enclosure is a must for me to mostly avoid warping for large PLA prints.
However, it's funny, because when I switched back to the stock V5 heatsink and the PTFE lined heatbreak, I thought of how I could fix that "gap problem" and came up with an idea that is very similar to what you called the "washer fix". If I heard of that earlier and also knew about heat creep, I would not have done it. I find that that even printing ABS works fine with a PTFE lined hotend and is in my opinion really only a good option when you want to print high temp materials (above ABS). Although I'm thinking of trying the all metal approach again on another printer with a water cooled heatsink and a good titanium heatbreak along with it.
I'm not saying that it's generally a bad idea to change to all metal. But one could simply use a printed upgrade, when high temp filaments are not of interest and save some money along the way.
There is not really any way around having to limit the surrounding temp with plastics like pla, which soften well below the rated distortion temp under pressure. Either some small vents or a heat exchange system would be best if you must print it completely enclosed. The "door" on my enclosure is not hinged and I tilt it open about an inch at the top when printing PLA. If my shop is warm I will leave it off entirely. The fanciest option would be to build a heat exchanger with 2 radiators, fans and a temperature controller. That's what I eventually want to do, with the addition of a heater on the exterior radiator.
Water cooled hot ends are usually used for when the chamber temp must be far too hot for air cooling, such as when printing exotic/industrial plastics that need a chamber heated to very high temps. You might get away with using it for printing PLA totally enclosed. For best chance of success I suggest running your filament in a continuous line of ptfe tube from the outside of the chamber all the way to the toolhead.
Thanks for your insight.
If you want to switch to subpar cooling fans for the sake of noise that is ok but that's not a design issue of the part. But it is good for this info to be out for others to see if they consider the upgrade.
The reduced retraction and less risk of nozzle seal issues to me is more important than fan noise. But I know many love the noctua fans. Good info.
Nice upgrade Chris! Thanks for sharing with the community!
Thanks for watching!
I like the product in premise, but I'm not so sure about Slice Engineering as a company. The first heat break I ordered worked great. When I had my work order 2 what we got was not usable due to a step in the tube that prevented the filament from going through the heat break. Contacted support, their immediate response was "our heat break is fine it must be your printer". After pressing the issue they agreed to review the heat breaks so we sent it back and they reviewed then, the response was "the parts are in tolerance we're sending them back to you". So now I have a non functional heat breaks and my work is out the cost of them.
Considering badly lapped inners of heatbreaks can affect the operation of a hotend a step is most definetly going to cause problems, in the UK we have a Gov dept called Trading Standards who champion the consumer in matters of bad quality or "Trading Standards" and if found to be in contravention of trading/ sales laws can be prosecuted by the Gov Dept, is ther no equivalent in the USA?
There might be, since it was "short money" as far as my work is concerned they don't care about eating the cost and just not doing business with them again. Looking at it from the consumer side of things though it makes me really reluctant to buy any of their more expensive products for myself, like the Mosquitto, for fear of wasting my money with no recourse.
@@vitelliu5 If someone were to call them out on this practice they may be reluctant to do it again, especialy if the official findings were published somewhere the community is likley to read them
That settles it, then. I will purchase a clone instead. Thank you for the comment! And yes, the Mosquito sure looks nice but for the price they are asking, they know where they can stick it.
Thanks for your comments.
Hi Chris.
Great tutorial. Well done. I do have one question/comment. I do agree with the idea of paste on the heat break where it interfaces with the heat sink; you want to transfer whatever heat that travels up the break into the heat sink. I would think that you would not want to paste the screws and the break-heater block thermal interface in order to minimize heat creep.
Thanks John, I really don't fully understand the thinking on the paste, I think slice intends for it to be an anti seize as well. I think that is what they were going for.
@@ChrisRiley Thanks much Chris. I know from experience about seizing a heat break. Your comment about seizing got me thinking along the lines of a high temp anti seizing compound such as used for protecting bolts that hold engine exhaust parts together. (Permatex 77134 Nickel Anti-Seize Lubricant, 0.5 oz Tube), for example.
Nice Video and very understandable reasoning to the last 20mm always failing on the Ender series printers. I have a brand new Ender 3 pro that I am still waiting to put together when I get time. I have managed to find an ali-express version of the same thing with titanium as the hot end and solid copper as the cold end heat sink for only $4.00 and that is for 2 of them. So I ordered a double pack, This is one of 3 mods I will be doing before even firing up my printer for the first time. Second is the OMG dual gear direct drive and the last is a simple 3d printed washer that is inserted into the cold end where the tube connecter is screwed in and this is to allow a nice even clamping area on the tube so that it will not move or crimp from point pressure. thanks for sharing. (I may need to print this before I strip it down for these upgrades).
Thank you and thanks for watching! Sounds like the upgrades will help out greatly! Let us know how it goes.
How did the bimetal AliExpress heartbreaks work out for you? Was it worth it to go the cheaper route?
I appreciate the detail in this vid. Very helpful. PS - you probably meant newton-meter for that torque wrench for the nozzle.
👍🙂
fun thing is if you search internet long enough you can probably score a brand new replacement for standard hot end for 10-15$ if you lucky and then just replace heat break in that brand new clean part without burning yourself
then just swap entire hot end when it is still cold by just unpluging the old and pluging in new
one thing i noticed in my ender 3 2 screws holding heat block to the tadiator part are not concentric, you can only install heat block one way
Cool, thanks for the tip!
The poor extrusion issues with the stock ender setup is due to the combination of a shallow melt zone and the inadequate thermal performance of the aluminium heat block. Effects PLA the most.
A plated copper heat block with a plated nozzle and the all metal heartbreak helps solve this.
However you will then end up with issues being able to eliminate stringing as you have found out. This is because of the flexibility of the PTFE tube requiring longer retraction which you can no longer do with an all metal heatbreak. The physical arrangement of the bowden system also plays a big part in the issue. The tension on the filament in the PTFE tube varies depending upon the bend in the PTFE tube which in turn is dictated by the position of the print head along the X axis. This basically means the amount of retraction achieved varies depending upon the position of the print head.
This also causes under extrusion as the print head moves left and over extrusion as the print head moves right.
Try doing a linear advance calibration test and you will see that the lines are consistently thicker on the right and thin on the left.
You could I suppose move the extruder to the top of the z gantry so the PTFE tube runs straight down to the hotend with no bends. But this will add weight to the top of the printer and increase ringing in your prints.
Direct drive is the best option. You'll need a second z screw to prevent sag on the X gantry due to the added weight but you will have a printer that can produce consistent extrusion and amazing print quality.
Thanks for your insight
This is unfortunately no longer a "$30" mod, and possibly wasn't at the time. Slice is now charging $40 for the heatbrake, and the thermal paste is an additional $15 from them. At $55, there are complete hot end kit alternatives around the same price point.
Thanks for your input!
Its ~100$ now here in europe. 😅
@@Yo_Hahn jesus christ i bought my printer for 100$, just buy it from aliexpress for 2$ and use computer thermal paste for another 2$
I got one of those aliexpress $2 heatbreaks, been printing for a couple of months no problem
Use anti-seize to save some money?
I do want to print that large hot end model since I have more friends/co-workers asking about 3D printing, great resource to have
Thank you!
What head past you use dear?
This is the stock ender 3 hotend.
Am I missing something hear but is not the Heat break there to minimise the transfer of heat to the cold side of the printer head . So why would you make it out of copper and use heat transfer compound to help it transfer to the cold side . Which is then pulling heat away from your hot side
You are correct, the heat break is there for that reason. The copper just makes both sides and efficient as possible.
I use the copperhead heat break from slice engineering. It has worked out really well for me so far. Only times i've had jams is with bad quality filament and bad nozzles.
Thanks for sharing! 👍
I got one of these and I ended up having the filament leak out of the threads somehow, so I just got a Creality Spider hotend for $30 and that's worked great. The stock heat block on those printers sucks.
Thanks for sharing, I'm glad that hotend worked out for you.
FYI u only want to put thermal paste on the heatbreak/heatsink side not the hot side lol. Otherwise you're making the heat transfer to the heatbreak faster!
Thanks!
Been having the same problems thanks for the information !
Glad to help! Thanks for watching!
is this still the best option as of 2024?
There are a lot of great Ender 3 swap hotends now. This is still good, but there are so many choices. www.filastruder.com/products/revo-cr-kit?variant=39617263566919
The complete hot end for one of these is about $17 including shipping. It may just be easier to buy a new one, put in the new break and swap out with the old hot end.
Thanks!
had this upgrade on my DD e3v2 for a while. reduces the retraction and prints faster too
Great, thanks for watching!
Nice fairly comprehensive video.
Feel that the mechanism of the PTFE retainer would have been a good thing to show.
Consideration of PTFE replacement.
Importance of cutting the PTFE at 90 degrees.
My tip is to use a large allen key to wedge between the heater block and retaining bracket to stop rotation of the heater block rather than need nose tooth pliers.
Thanks for the tips!
Did enjoy the video. Sorry about the muted response. Had seen lots of videos having had trouble printing ABS for the first time. 3D printing is not a labour of love.@@ChrisRiley
@@tarunarya1780 No problem, I appreciate your insight! Thanks for watching!
I’ve been told to season it. How do you do that?
I think when most people say that they are referring to dipping filament in oil and running it through the hot end. You can use pretty much any type of kitchen oil.
I always put two fibre washers on the thermistor screw one either side of the wires so they cannot short out on the screw or block.
Nice, good call.
Thanks Dude! I am going to do that upgrade tomorrow! Do you have any experience With the Community Firmware?
You're welcome! Community firmware? No.
Ordered! I have to swap out the motherboard on my 10S anyway and even my good PTFE tube burned recently so this will be a helpful upgrade. Never thought to back out the nozzle like that but I also had a locking clip on my PTFE connector that seemed to help. Looking forward to adding this!
Great, good luck with your projects
I am using the Titan Extruder. Do I need this modification? Also, how do you get the nozzle to heat up to 300 degrees?
I would only do this mod if you are having heat creep problems. Mine has the firmware flashed so the max temp is set to 300, much higher than stock.
So what do think of the New ENder-3 S1?
Haven't seen one yet.
Can this also help with the leakage folks are constantly having with Ender 3 and all the clones?
It should get rid of that issue.
Dude.. The unit [Nm] means Newtonmeters, which is how (circular) momentum is measured. It's not nanometers, which is a veeery tiny length unit.
Thanks
Hi, what is that paste for, will heat not get rid of it ?
It makes heat transfer more efficiently, no it will stay put.
As always, Chris you are there when needed. Thank you. My E3 stopped extruding mid print for the first time in three years so it is about time I upgraded my lovely machine.
I clicked the link to order from Slice engineering but the postage cost to the UK was about the same as the heartbreak so that was that. Amazon showed a bunch of cheap generic heatbreaks because the copperhead was out of stock. Can you suggest an alternative?
I have heard good things about 3D Jake in the UK. You might check with them.
@@ChrisRiley I will, thanks Boss
1.5 nanometers damn you have smaller hands than i thought
Lol!
Hi Chris, are there any advantages to this over the micro-swiss hot-end?
No, they will give you the same results. This is just a bit cheaper way to go.
@@ChrisRiley Thanks for your time and response Chris, it's much appreciated...
These new bimetallic heatbreaks are really amazing
I love it. Thanks for watching!
Compatible with CR10 Smart?
That I don't know, an email to Slice support, they should know.
Holy shit that's exactly what I needed since like today, TH-cam algorithm ftw
Awesome!
Sounds like a perfect upgrade for cheaper printers, but how about V6 setups that use materials more prone to heat creep?
For example printing silk style PLA on a Prusa. Namely a Prusa Mk3s with the MMU2s upgrade.
Love the MMU, but after tuning my tips just right I'm wary of changing the heat break from the specialized Prusa model.
It's probably a decent upgrade for something like a V6, but I am with you, if it's working with your MMU don't change it. It's too hard to get the setup working perfectly.
My filament always catches where the PTFE tubing meets the new heat break, and I am absolutely baffled as to how I seem to be the only person having this problem. I've reinstalled and replaced the PTFE tubing countless times, securing it into the heat break with various amounts of pressure. I've tried inserting it heated and cold. I've readjusted the heat break install and the hot end, following different guides to ensure that I haven't missed something crucial.
Maybe the break has some sort of birr on it? That's all I can think of. Maybe you can polish the entry point somehow?
@@ChrisRiley I gave this a shot, looking for some sort of burr that I could remove, and in the process I think I found the culprit.
The heat break seems to consist of two components press-fit together: the lower, partially threaded tube that installs in the heating block, and the upper portion which the PTFE tube is inserted in. Mine were not perfectly pressed together, so there was a small gap between them that filament was getting stuck on. I was able to press it together a bit better by putting it in my vise.
It seems to be working much better now. I can't imagine there was anything I could have done to cause this, but I also have seen nobody else with this issue, so it could be a one-off fluke. I have reached out to Slice Engineering, but am waiting to hear back.
@@Distanc3 I'm glad you got it going, thanks for the follow up.
I have just ordered a bi copperhead heat break for a Voxelab that I have, the standard set up is just bad design and causes so many problems, my first printer was a FFA-3 and their hotends are so fast and easy to change and they just work.
I hear you, I hope the new break helps.
If you dont hv m6 tap to clean up the threads on the heat block, I'd recommend just get yourself a new heat block.
The stock ones wasnt that easy to properly clean with the residue stuck on the threads even when heated. My new heat break stuck (eventually managed to release it) half way through when I try screwing it in after I "clean" the heat block lol.
Thanks for the tip!
is it necessary to increase the temp on the hotend with this heat break?
No, should not impact the temps by just changing to break as log as the nozzle is the same.
@@ChrisRiley Ty so much!
You should NOT put boron paste on any parts coupling the heat block and cooling block. You're encouraging heat to move into the cooling block (heat creep) when you want it to stay in the heater block.
thanks
@@ChrisRiley Forgot to say you should put paste on the upper heat break / cooling block connection to draw heat away from the upper section of the heat break faster.
Chris, thanks for all your videos. I installed the heat break from slice. But I can do one print and then it clogs. I am using light weight pla . I can not clear the clog without taking it apart . Then it runs for one print which is perfect. Then it’s clogged again. I don’t know if it is the material I’m trying to print? I’ve tried to turn the nozzle temp on again right after the print is done. I didn’t know if you have any suggestions?
You're welcome! First thing I would look at is retraction. It could be the filament is just getting pulled back to far into the cool zone. Check retraction and the end gcode to make sure it's set pretty low.
I put one of those about 4 months ago. Works great
Great, thanks for watching
@@ChrisRiley you’re welcome sir
Do you know how this compares to upgrading to an all metal hotend (Micro Swiss)?
It would be about the same, just more affordable.
What paste is that?
Slice sells it. www.sliceengineering.com/products/boron-nitride-paste?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjws560BhCuARIsAHMqE0G5oBuqs8WuL_rJZ1bzkak_APXdaZ2urZvAmqQ0SkEyrlMLZBBH9mcaAq4oEALw_wcB
@@ChrisRileyohhh i see this on electronic amplifire before
so are those special thermal paste or just normal PC thermal paste?
Regular PC paste
🙂👍
Will this still work with flexible filaments like TPU? That's what I print the most but I also print PETG and other higher temp filaments.
Sure, you shouldn't have any issues with TPU.
i got one from aliexpress for $5 , been printing great for weeks
Nice!
Yep, a great upgrade.
Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us 👍😀
Thanks for watching!
will this fit the cr6?
Not sure, I've never used one.
Execution: C-E is the right one?
Is the heatbreak longer than stock and does the Z endstop need to be raised?
Shouldn't the end of the ptfe tube be sharpened?
Yes, C-E is the right one for the Ender series. Check the length, it is very close to stock, but be sure to test it. Doesn't need to be sharpened unless you do some sort of multi filament ramming.
Don’t forget to lower your printing temps with all metal heatbreak. Applies to all hotends. For PLA I won’t go above 205 °C, 240 °C for PETG and ABS and a little bit higher for CF Nylon.
Otherwise you will get heat creep too after some time, especially during longer prints. Even very good heatbreaks can go to over 45 °C in a cold zone at 215 °C and that will definitely become a problem for PLA.
But recently I had a lot of “fun” with PA6-CF (high temp with 150 °C long term heat resistance) stuck in HF Dragon cold zone when printed at 260 °C. I spend a nice time to clean it out from walls of the heatbreak.
Cool, thanks for your insight!
hi I have a problem with my ender i taped it how can i show it to you
You can send me an email. brotherchris81@gmail.com
On 7:25 min , I don't think you should put thermal paste/BN on the heaterblock-heatbreak screw(hot) side. Yes, you can put it on the thermistor, heater cartridge, heatbreak-heatsink(cold side). If you put thermal paste/BN on the heaterblock(hot) side & support screw, it will transfer UNNECESSARY heat to the heatsink & will "jammed" up the heatbreak with unnecessary heat. Making the filament swell(stuck to the wall), then making the extrusion & retraction inaccurate.
(IMPORTANT)* The only necessary heat to be removed is from the HEATBREAK, not from the heatblock. the thermal paste is used as thermal bridge connecting 2 metal for heat transfer.
I know it work for you, but on longer print with a ton of retraction like an Eiffel tower or printing tree support, you may get heatcreep/clog/stringing/extrusion issues. Even on prusa maintainance guide they didn't suggest putting the thermal paste on the hot side of the heatbreak.
This is something I have gone back and forth with. As you stated, it works for me, but you are right it could cause other issues.
second video of yours I've watched. Subbed!
Awesome, thank you!
What model is it for the ender3
This is the original one.
Nice video! Glad to see that this thermal paste is catching on! I always recommended using regular CPU thermal paste on the cold-end but I am glad there is a better option for all mating threads/surfaces. My old Monoprice Maker Select v2 is still running great with a microswiss cold-end block (solved the heat creep issues) and a 32bit mainboard!
That's great, thanks!
$20 for 5ml but you can buy Boron Whatever powder $20 for 100ml. No doubt the same profit margin they have on their heat break.
Thank you for this video Chris ! Really want to test it on my CR10S Pro. It is the same heat break for the CR10S pro hotend ? Or C-Pro max perhaps
I'm glad you liked it!
Just implemented… now waiting the 24 hours… 😅 thanks for the video
Good luck!
@@ChrisRiley well... it did not go as expected... I had to roll-back and I am afraid I will stick to the basic configuration for now :-(
👍 Thank-You! 😍
I have an old original CR-10 that's been great and meets my meager needs, except for high-temp filaments. ✌
Old Trusty!
This isn't listed as being compatible with the Ender 2 but from what I can see the ender 2 and ender 3 extruder setups are possible the same
I don't remember what the Ender 3 hotend looked like. It's been a long time.
@@ChrisRiley If it doesn't work, I know I tried my only option, ha
@@ChrisRiley It worked! Thanks for the video!
i noticed that the whole hot end assembly looks like its leaning to the right, I noticed that mine kind of does that as well. Is that a common thing?
I think it is very command. Those mounts seem to allow some slop.
Got one. Got an all metal hot end. I keep getting heat creep. Sometimes within the first few layers. Ive tried stock fan and a printed fan mod. Im at a loss.
That seems really quick to get heat creep. Maybe the thermistor isn't accurate.
Which one gets cooler, the hotend silver or the common red one with more "flaps"? I can´t find someone to answer this.
Thanks a good question, I don't know.
Thanks Chris. Have to consider it when I want to increase temperatures. You did not quite do a 'traditional Chris's Basement way' as there was no benchy
You got me!
The torque tool is newton-metre, not manometer.
Thanks
Do these work for like the cr-10v2 hot ends as well I think would def help me with petg or softer silk pla on my cr-10v2 as well
I am not 100% sure, but if it has this standard hotend it should work.
Great Video Chris, Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
I have not changed my Capricorn in nearly a year. 2 machines, they run 24/7. What's the main mod? Direct extruder. The Bondtech knock off extruder was the only part I bought. Everything else was printed.
👍🙂
I did something similar to my V6 clone with a bi-metal heatbreak. Love it.
Thanks!
@@ChrisRiley keep up the great job brother.
I just recently installed this and I've had the most issues with bed adhesion. Did I get some thermal paste in the tube?
It's really easy to do and that can cause some under extrusion which can lead to adhesion issues.
@@ChrisRiley Best way to clean? IPA? Time and filament?
@@DanGrab you might be able to get it with some compressed air. If there is filament in it, you might have to heat it up to get it cleaned out.
@@ChrisRiley My Z Probe Offset needed to come down.
1.5 Nm = *Newton* meters
👍🙂
So why isn't this standard on Creality machines? This little piece of metal would increase the price about 15% for an Ender 3 V2.
It should be, not sure what's keeping them from doing a few things like this.
I've been looking at getting either this or the micro Swiss hot end. I print pla and am going to try tpu. Which upgrade should I go with?
You would get pretty much the same results with those filaments on either. TPU is pretty challenging if you don't have a direct drive extruder.
where is the link to the pid calibration? i changed the fan and i really need that, im having +- 6° oscilation
Check this out. th-cam.com/video/SHvckkGxYKY/w-d-xo.html
Yeah, this is probably the best upgrade short of replacing the entire hotend with something more fancy like a mosquito, and considering it's pretty much a stock replacement (apart from the few millimeters less of bowden you use) it doesn't require redoing your existing fan shroud, bed sensor mount, etc.
I've been using a generic knockoff for about a year now, and while I wouldn't recommend that in particular given that quality is always hit-or-miss, the principle of a "soft" upgrade towards an all metal hotend is definitely worth checking out, especially if you experience a lot of wear on your teflon tubing or would like to try >250C materials (I've got a thermal probe just to double check, and with the hotend at 280 the part that meets the teflon is almost as cool as the rest of the heatsink, so no issues with roasting the PTFE and releasing neurotoxins into my room)
Also, I've heard some folks say that all-metal isn't good for low temp plastics like PLA and that you'll get more jams than with the teflon lining. While I understand the concerns in theory, in practice I personally haven't had any clogs whatsoever in, like I said, a year of printing with this kind of mod. I guess that's just another caveat emptor for anybody interested in trying it.
Thanks for your insight!