Thanks a bunch for this and your other recent i3 Mega vids. You have been covering exactly those things that I've been meaning to do but have been putting off because researching takes so much time.
Always use a silicone sock. That keeps filament from getting/sticking to your heat-block and if it has a nice edge sticking out to cover most of the sides of your nozzle, it also keeps things like PETG from collecting around the nozzle and it insulates the block that needs to stay hot irrespective of what material the block is made from. An all-metal heat-break can indeed increase problems whe using large retractions, so a direct-drive extruder can avoid clogging problems as you need barely any retraction.
It also contains the molten filament blob monster, should it ever visit you. It can mean the difference between replacing just the block, thermistor and heater cartridge only or the entire printer tool head.
Just upgraded to the phateus dragon high flow all metal hotend over Christmas! so nice to use instead of the stock hotend. There's a thingiverse remix for the x carriage that utilizes the fixed mounting system. (Phateus dragon is a slice engineering mosquito style hotend).
@@JJShankles I love the 1 handed nozzle change! I also like the price point vs. The mosquito. I live in B.C. Canada and i was able to buy it from a Canadian shop and shipped in a week to my house for $189.00 CAD total vs. The mosquito which would have been $400ish with shipping (the CAD exchange rate sucks right now).
Stock hot end to an all metal hot end? We should simply use the teminology "PTFE Lined or Unlined", hot end assembly, as the hot end obviously needs to be all metal, regardless. Also if you were to slam into the table with whatever type of hot end or metal tip it will probably shatter the glass surface and not the other way around. You could also damage the head assembly in this process. It is also important to understand the properties of materials and how and why products are designed originally before sinking into upgrades that may not necessarily improve your machine. With respect to the hot end, and cooling part fan shroud design, I've never had issues with the stock one on my I3 Mega, the hot end does wear out as intended and needs t be replaced regularly if you print a lot of parts. With respect to the cooling fan, no issues there either, as the jet of cool air is directly over on one side of the printed area and the printed area is typically done in passes of under 1mm thick, therefore with proper fan settings, this has been sufficient cooling for most of the parts I design and print. I guess I don't see the benefit of going though the trouble of replacing the part cooling shroud to one that wraps completely around the perimeter of the hot end nozzle unless the amount of filament delivery is much faster and thicker than what I just mentioned and you are printing faster than the part is cooling. And for precision parts as I do, printing in fine resolution is key and I have found that the stock shroud is sufficient at lower printing rates, thinner filament lines. However, I have not tried a round shroud so I am speaking of such from visual observation and descriptions from videos such as this one and not hands on experience as compared to the stock side mounted. If I end up replacing it with a circular fan shroud and happen to see improvement I will voice that opinion as well. My original I3 Mega, since the time it came out and I bought it has done it all with great results with little modification to it. Just good careful settings and maintenance. While expecting similar results, I cannot say the same for the later run of I3s I purchased, as these have quality control issues in the power management, dealing mainly with bad power supplies and control boards that resulted in temperature fluctuations, inconsistencies. I have other machines, own design and from other vendors that I use to manufacture parts, so I am not new to all this technology, processes, materials, etc. Unfortunately Anycubic has not been very supportive in the customer support area and to this day, while I love the original I3 Mega architecture, I am unhappy with their customer service. They promised me replacement parts which I have yet to receive. I have a total 5 machines from Anycubic one is the original machine which to this day has worked flawlessly and the others are machines that worked a bit then stopped functioning all 4 them same power supply and control board issues. Having said this, no matter how good the machine may have been originally engineered, if the support is not there, then what is the benefit of it?
I've been looking at which one would be best for this. I love the SKR Pico that I put on my Voron. The RP2040 microcontroller makes flashing the firmware so easy! But I'm still researching other options
Thanks for great videos! I'm thinking about a Hotend upgrade to my Mega S but got a bit confused regarding the voltages. The link to the kit in the description is for a 24V system, but from a lot of comments elsewhere I read that the Anycubic Mega S is all 12V. I found comments on Reddit, Thingiverse and other forums, and everything seem to indicate 12V. It is surprisingly hard to find a reliable answer, I guess the best way is to measure it myself, or did you do that before?
Yes the Anycubic Mega S is a 12V system. That's why I used the stock heater cartridge. The kit comes with a 24V one, but I still used everything else in the kit. They didn't offer this one with a 12V heater.
@@JJShankles Ok, great! Thanks for a quick answer. :) From the video it was not clear if you used the stock one or the new one. I think it would be great to add that at least in the description.
The amount of VOC's that would come from melting the PTFE liner on a hotend is so incredibly small that it poses basically no risk for you unless your fave is above the printer huffing the fumes.
Hi jj do you have a video on the mk4 alone I bought a noctua fan but I think I'm missing another fan it would be easier I I could see you building yours lol
I haven't made a video on the assembly. Have you seen this one: ruclips.net/video/LadxXGYkU20/видео.html&ab_channel=ML-3DP I was going to make one, but this one steps through it so well.
Hi JJ, did you find out anything aout the Trianglelab v6 CHC hotend during your research? They are currently offering it on their aliexpress shop-site, but I can't find any comparissons. Did you consider buying it instead of the all metal hotend?
I hadn't seen that, but it looks amazing. That would be a great drop in upgrade. Hopefully they can get it out to resellers, on AliExpress it has an estimated delivery of April 15th for me! So if I could get a hold of one I would definitely put in on the printer
@@JJShankles Sorry for bothering you again, but did you re-tune pressure advance after doing the upgrade? According to your github uploads of your configs, it seems as you have kept the pressure advance settings from the same for the stock v5 hotend after upgrading to the new hotend.
Hey JJ, i did the Mk4 upgrade aswell but now my homing for the y-axis is a Little off. When homed, the nozzle is few mm further then the heatbed. How did you solved this? Thanks!
I think mine might be a little off as well now that I look at it. That isn't a problem unless you are trying to use every mm of your build plate. You could change it in the slicer, or move your y axis end stop if you wanted
I printed this mod: www.thingiverse.com/thing:4458097 and I routed the led wires along the same path as the hotend wires. In the printer chassis I just connected them straight to the power supply since they are 12V and the power supply is 12V as well. The downside to that method is they are always on when the printer is on.
What are your slicer setting i keep getting uneven print lines no matter what i do i even added z wobble for the top of my z axis but it still lrints bad uneven lines
Hey everyone, I waited almost 6 months to post this comment just to test it out. I warn against buying this hot end. The filament path is too short with insufficient heat breaking and heat sink to compensate. I tested the Hotend out on my Mega S and my Kingroon Kp3s and for the past 6 months, I have been fighting with it left and right. Ive done everything from upgrade my fans to high flow nozzles and nothing seems to work. I would suggest against this hotend for those looking for a cheap alternative to all metal hotends. It is not worth the price.
Thanks a bunch for this and your other recent i3 Mega vids. You have been covering exactly those things that I've been meaning to do but have been putting off because researching takes so much time.
Always use a silicone sock. That keeps filament from getting/sticking to your heat-block and if it has a nice edge sticking out to cover most of the sides of your nozzle, it also keeps things like PETG from collecting around the nozzle and it insulates the block that needs to stay hot irrespective of what material the block is made from. An all-metal heat-break can indeed increase problems whe using large retractions, so a direct-drive extruder can avoid clogging problems as you need barely any retraction.
and the fan blowing directly to the heat block might lead to thermal runaway. after 10 hours+++ print🤨
It also contains the molten filament blob monster, should it ever visit you. It can mean the difference between replacing just the block, thermistor and heater cartridge only or the entire printer tool head.
I am definitely interested in the ABS video.. it has been hit or miss with this printer
Using some high temp thermal paste between the heat break and heatsink can actually avoid clogging. the easiest way
Just upgraded to the phateus dragon high flow all metal hotend over Christmas! so nice to use instead of the stock hotend. There's a thingiverse remix for the
x carriage that utilizes the fixed mounting system. (Phateus dragon is a slice engineering mosquito style hotend).
I put a dragon hotend on my new Voron printer, and I love the rigid mount and not needing to hold the heat block during nozzle change is amazing!
@@JJShankles I love the 1 handed nozzle change! I also like the price point vs. The mosquito. I live in B.C. Canada and i was able to buy it from a Canadian shop and shipped in a week to my house for $189.00 CAD total vs. The mosquito which would have been $400ish with shipping (the CAD exchange rate sucks right now).
Stock hot end to an all metal hot end?
We should simply use the teminology "PTFE Lined or Unlined", hot end assembly, as the hot end obviously needs to be all metal, regardless.
Also if you were to slam into the table with whatever type of hot end or metal tip it will probably shatter the glass surface and not the other way around. You could also damage the head assembly in this process.
It is also important to understand the properties of materials and how and why products are designed originally before sinking into upgrades that may not necessarily improve your machine.
With respect to the hot end, and cooling part fan shroud design, I've never had issues with the stock one on my I3 Mega, the hot end does wear out as intended and needs t be replaced regularly if you print a lot of parts. With respect to the cooling fan, no issues there either, as the jet of cool air is directly over on one side of the printed area and the printed area is typically done in passes of under 1mm thick, therefore with proper fan settings, this has been sufficient cooling for most of the parts I design and print. I guess I don't see the benefit of going though the trouble of replacing the part cooling shroud to one that wraps completely around the perimeter of the hot end nozzle unless the amount of filament delivery is much faster and thicker than what I just mentioned and you are printing faster than the part is cooling. And for precision parts as I do, printing in fine resolution is key and I have found that the stock shroud is sufficient at lower printing rates, thinner filament lines. However, I have not tried a round shroud so I am speaking of such from visual observation and descriptions from videos such as this one and not hands on experience as compared to the stock side mounted. If I end up replacing it with a circular fan shroud and happen to see improvement I will voice that opinion as well.
My original I3 Mega, since the time it came out and I bought it has done it all with great results with little modification to it. Just good careful settings and maintenance. While expecting similar results, I cannot say the same for the later run of I3s I purchased, as these have quality control issues in the power management, dealing mainly with bad power supplies and control boards that resulted in temperature fluctuations, inconsistencies. I have other machines, own design and from other vendors that I use to manufacture parts, so I am not new to all this technology, processes, materials, etc.
Unfortunately Anycubic has not been very supportive in the customer support area and to this day, while I love the original I3 Mega architecture, I am unhappy with their customer service. They promised me replacement parts which I have yet to receive. I have a total 5 machines from Anycubic one is the original machine which to this day has worked flawlessly and the others are machines that worked a bit then stopped functioning all 4 them same power supply and control board issues. Having said this, no matter how good the machine may have been originally engineered, if the support is not there, then what is the benefit of it?
Love that you are sticking to Anycubic and expanding it`s capabilities. What about SKR board upgrade?
I've been looking at which one would be best for this. I love the SKR Pico that I put on my Voron. The RP2040 microcontroller makes flashing the firmware so easy! But I'm still researching other options
Why not use a v6 volcano instead? It has the same overall length as the stock setup so it's a simple drop in for the X-Carriage.
Thanks for great videos! I'm thinking about a Hotend upgrade to my Mega S but got a bit confused regarding the voltages. The link to the kit in the description is for a 24V system, but from a lot of comments elsewhere I read that the Anycubic Mega S is all 12V. I found comments on Reddit, Thingiverse and other forums, and everything seem to indicate 12V.
It is surprisingly hard to find a reliable answer, I guess the best way is to measure it myself, or did you do that before?
Yes the Anycubic Mega S is a 12V system. That's why I used the stock heater cartridge. The kit comes with a 24V one, but I still used everything else in the kit. They didn't offer this one with a 12V heater.
@@JJShankles Ok, great! Thanks for a quick answer. :)
From the video it was not clear if you used the stock one or the new one. I think it would be great to add that at least in the description.
im going to upgrade to this mk4 with v6 hotend, but also will add direct drive mod with bmg extruder
awesome, was just thinking about this upgrade.
The amount of VOC's that would come from melting the PTFE liner on a hotend is so incredibly small that it poses basically no risk for you unless your fave is above the printer huffing the fumes.
Hi jj do you have a video on the mk4 alone I bought a noctua fan but I think I'm missing another fan it would be easier I I could see you building yours lol
I haven't made a video on the assembly. Have you seen this one: ruclips.net/video/LadxXGYkU20/видео.html&ab_channel=ML-3DP
I was going to make one, but this one steps through it so well.
Hi JJ, did you find out anything aout the Trianglelab v6 CHC hotend during your research? They are currently offering it on their aliexpress shop-site, but I can't find any comparissons. Did you consider buying it instead of the all metal hotend?
I hadn't seen that, but it looks amazing. That would be a great drop in upgrade. Hopefully they can get it out to resellers, on AliExpress it has an estimated delivery of April 15th for me! So if I could get a hold of one I would definitely put in on the printer
@@JJShankles Sorry for bothering you again, but did you re-tune pressure advance after doing the upgrade? According to your github uploads of your configs, it seems as you have kept the pressure advance settings from the same for the stock v5 hotend after upgrading to the new hotend.
Hey JJ,
i did the Mk4 upgrade aswell but now my homing for the y-axis is a Little off. When homed, the nozzle is few mm further then the heatbed.
How did you solved this?
Thanks!
I think mine might be a little off as well now that I look at it. That isn't a problem unless you are trying to use every mm of your build plate. You could change it in the slicer, or move your y axis end stop if you wanted
good work!
how did you put that led on the hotend mound? i can't find it in your clips
I printed this mod: www.thingiverse.com/thing:4458097
and I routed the led wires along the same path as the hotend wires. In the printer chassis I just connected them straight to the power supply since they are 12V and the power supply is 12V as well. The downside to that method is they are always on when the printer is on.
@@JJShankles thank you
What are your slicer setting i keep getting uneven print lines no matter what i do i even added z wobble for the top of my z axis but it still lrints bad uneven lines
Next, upgrade direct drive for mega s
I have been testing out direct drive on my Voron V0.1, and I'll probably do that when I get good at working with direct drive
Anyone know if the hot end enclosure is identical between the Mega-X and the Mega-S?
It is titanium not for strength but for poor thermal conductivity.
Is the stock hotend a v5 or v6?
Stock is a v5
Hey everyone, I waited almost 6 months to post this comment just to test it out. I warn against buying this hot end. The filament path is too short with insufficient heat breaking and heat sink to compensate. I tested the Hotend out on my Mega S and my Kingroon Kp3s and for the past 6 months, I have been fighting with it left and right. Ive done everything from upgrade my fans to high flow nozzles and nothing seems to work.
I would suggest against this hotend for those looking for a cheap alternative to all metal hotends. It is not worth the price.