Pico Hotend

[BeeAmaker]

I received my Pico Hot-end from B3 innovations. Hopefully I will have it installed soon. I'll show some test prints.
I like the clean look. I printed a clamp for it to attach it to my plug-in board.

[navkram]

What dia. Nozzle? Interested is seeing real world test.

[bvandiepenbos]

cool, I look forward to your test results.

with the heater cartridge standing up is will probably have a long melt zone, might be OK for ABS but I bet it will not work for PLA.

Did you figure out the banding issue?

[BeeAmaker]

I have both a 0.35 and 0.5mm nozzle.

I didn't get it mounted today Like I hoped, but will try to run some test this week.

@brian,
Others have reported good results with PLA - but it does bother me a bit that they recommend a 40mm fan to cool the fins. The instructions have a lot of "do and Don't or the hot end might jam" so that is a little bothersome so we will see! I really like the clean look and ease of heater and termo replacement so I hope it works as advertised.

No, I haven't figured out the banding issue - I tried today with fan and no fan - same thing.

Lets see some of your prints!

[bvandiepenbos]

You should definitely run a 40mm fan on the cooling fins ALL the time no matter what filament you are printing.

[BeeAmaker]

May 5, 2014 9:11:38 GMT -5 bvandiepenbos said:

You should definitely run a 40mm fan on the cooling fins ALL the time no matter what filament you are printing.

You do realize 40mm is almost 2" square. The one I use now is 30mm and it works just fine for the SeeMe nozzle. Before that I didn't run anything and it worked fine, so I don't see why it is suddenly a big deal. Part cooling is more important I would think. There isn't much room for a 40mm fan is my point and if it requires that much more cooling over a 30mm fan then I might have an issue.

[bvandiepenbos]

May 5, 2014 11:02:25 GMT -5 BeeAmaker said:

May 5, 2014 9:11:38 GMT -5 bvandiepenbos said:

You should definitely run a 40mm fan on the cooling fins ALL the time no matter what filament you are printing.

You do realize 40mm is almost 2" square. The one I use now is 30mm and it works just fine for the SeeMe nozzle. Before that I didn't run anything and it worked fine, so I don't see why it is suddenly a big deal. Part cooling is more important I would think. There isn't much room for a 40mm fan is my point and if it requires that much more cooling over a 30mm fan then I might have an issue.

40mm is not 2" it is 1-½" well okay 1.575" to be exact, but then again since you only have a tape measure to measure stuff I can see how you might think it is 'almost' 2"
hahahahaha

seriously though, just because you have gotten away with it so far does not mean you won't get better results with a fan... I think it could have something to do with your banding. The pico's stainless fins probably will not cool as well as aluminum either.


40 mm.  Fan.  Full time.

you have been warned.

[bvandiepenbos]

when you tested with and without fan did you have heater block insulated from airflow so it is only cooling hot end barrel ?

Self-Fusing Silicone Tape works great to insulate heater block from fan air movement.

[ZionPhil]

Can you please provide a purchase link to Self-Fusing Silicone Tape?

[navkram]

menards, lowes or home depot or hardware stores have it in the electrical section, pretty sure this is menards stuff just double check the temp rating. and you can get it in all colors.
www.menards.com/main/electrical/electrical-tape/1-self-sealing-silicone-tape/p-1914285-c-6482.htm

[BeeAmaker]

Well if it's yellow it must work.