Heater block materials, shape, heater & sensor position
 
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Heater block materials, shape, heater & sensor position  

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aeberbach
(@aeberbach)
Active Member
Heater block materials, shape, heater & sensor position

Before the last burn had healed I have given myself another one, looks like it's going to blister too.

I have been printing in Vanilla White PETG (great match for retro computer cases) but this roll seems to have been cursed; it must have been a blocked nozzle (though it had multiple cold pulls to try and clear it between print attempts) but it was starting a job perfectly and then failing after four hours or so, click, click, click! Switching to a different .4mm nozzle seems to have fixed it but now I have a leak from the top of the block. 

Anyway in removing the nozzle and performing many, many clearings of the PTFE tube some questions came up about the heater block.

- why aluminium and not copper? Is it important to keep the mass of the extruder low? Copper would be more durable. Conducts heat far better. Very likely more expensive though.

- why are the heater and temperature sensor where they are? Their position makes holding the block with an adjustable wrench while trying to unscrew a tight and hot nozzle very difficult. There is little room and the wrench is dangerously close to the delicate wires. Could these be inserted from the rear of the block? I understand the arrangement is heater-nozzle-sensor so that when the sensor reads a temperature the nozzle is at least that hot. But the nozzle could still be placed between the two inserted from the rear, leaving the sides of the block unobstructed.

- why not remove the need to hold the block with a wrench? Instead have a threaded hole for a tool that could screw into the front of the block and make holding it while hot much easier. A simple M5 bolt with an insulating wooden handle would do for starters.

- when you have a leak from the top of the block it's a mess. Also I have that .4mm nozzle that keeps clogging. Is there a way to chemically clean PETG? Is Methylene Chloride a solvent or only useful as a welding glue? I am wary of more burns trying to clean it while hot and don't think I will be able to completely clean the thread above the nozzle that way.

Posted : 12/12/2019 12:46 am
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