As be done by many users I recently have replaced the hotend by the E3D-V6. Although I was rather
satisfied with the original device, the positive comments of several users brought me to this decision.
I have used a similar construction to fix the hot end, as was the case in the kit version. The adapter
which holds the fan has been modified some what so that it fits between the long nuts and bolds. The
fan is switched on by a temperature switch via a dc-dc converter, so that the voltage (speed) can
be adjusted. These electronically components can be purchased for a few euro in China.
I use the original flat bed , which has been made flat, by gluewing it on a glass plate of 4 mm. I was
very satisfied about this modification. During mounting the the new hotend I covered the flat bed
whith a towel, to prevent contamination.
After adjusting the height I start a first print. I was very dissapointed because the sticking of the filament
to the flat bed was horrible. After several trials, with the nozzle almost in contact with the bed, it was still bad.
Before each run I cleaned the bed with alcohol and I uses sand paper. It took some time, but fortunately it
becomes gradually better and better. And at the moment the sticking behaviour is as good as before.
The question is; why does this happen. My explanation is that the components of the hotend are contaminated
with oil, probably used to drill the holes in the device. After several trials and cleaning the print bed, this effect
dissapears gradually. It can also be observed at this forum that several newbies have this problem. For that
reason it looks a good idea to clean the parts of the hotend with petrol before mounting. I think you have also take
care to have clean fingers when loading the filament.
My first impression is that the new hotend is more accurate at small objects/areas. At large areas I don’t see much
difference.
