For those that want to use the E3Dv6 hotend on the K8400… i have created this part: thingiverse.com/thing:654204
So does this hotend really improve print quality that much?
Can you print flexible filaments straight off now on the K8400, without any other changes?
With the E3D hotend, you can have multi sizes of nozzles. That was my main point of getting them.
Never tried it, just follow the instructions others have published about flexible filaments, that should get you going.
[quote=“Moki”]With the E3D hotend, you can have multi sizes of nozzles. That was my main point of getting them.[/quote]But no overall increase in print quality? I know the 8200 users say that the E3D hotend improved their prints, but it’s hard to imagine improving the print quality of the 8400 by much, with the possible exception of being able to print flexible filaments properly.
The print quality is already “pretty good”, not much to improve on that side.
But being able to tune your hotend, with different nozzles. Ordering parts online and have them whitin a few days.
And ofcourse using non-standard filaments, is also a big plus for the E3D.
Which version did you order, 24V or 12V ?
I ordered the 12v version, but only use the thermistors… and re-use the original heater-cartridge.
You can also use the 12v heater from E3D, i do so on my k8200 without problems.
Thank you for this.
I do have a question.
This hotend has 2 fans on it (in my mind you mount a fan that cools the nozzle of course). Where do you power those ?
If you use 2 of them it’s 4 fans that need power… Sound like a lot for the original pcb…
If i measured it correctly… the original pcb, already powers 2 fan’s.
As 10 wires go to the print-pcb… and 12 can be connected, 2 heads, 2 therms and 2 fans.
But if you want to go the safe way… connect the fans to the power-supply directly.
(Or… i think (please check!!.. i didnt) there is a power connector for a led light-ring… you could use that.)
And before you start printing it… please check if you have the last version of the part.
[quote=“Iceman575”]Thank you for this.
I do have a question.
This hotend has 2 fans on it (in my mind you mount a fan that cools the nozzle of course). Where do you power those ?
If you use 2 of them it’s 4 fans that need power… Sound like a lot for the original pcb…[/quote]
You mean the E3D?
It has only one Fan for cooling the heatbreak, that must be continously onas long as the hotend is not cooled down completely to prevent jams.
As the small fans used for cooling here don’t draw significant current it should be no problem to connect another one.
Just make sure the heatbreak fan is on all the time.
The powersupply of the K8400 has a free 12V. Just connect the fans here.
can the e3d heater cartridge be used ?
is the weak point just the pcb on the head ?
I noticed in pic on thingiverse you had bypassed the pcb on the printhead in this case can I use use 3ed cartridge ?
thanks
[quote=“commanderK”]can the e3d heater cartridge be used ?
is the weak point just the pcb on the head ?
I noticed in pic on thingiverse you had bypassed the pcb on the printhead in this case can I use use 3ed cartridge ?
thanks[/quote]
Yes, you can use the E3D cartidge. I use then nowdays, as the originals were cut to length. And are now a little short, as i fried my pcb. I am no expert, but i think the pcb only adds the leds.
I print with all the wires direcltly connected to the pcb connector, no issues so far.
I am interested in a dual E3D v6 to be able to print PVA.
But dues anybody has set up a dual extruder config and is willing share there ‘problems’ or successes?
I want to use it for both support as a different color…
How is the oozing of this v6’s and how about the jammings, any problems with it?!
I know a lot of questions but otherwise I would be typing each question after a reply 
With kind regards,
Michael
Like many others I have installed a pair of e3d v6s but I thought it might be useful to those who might be thinking of doing so if I outlined my experiences on this project.
My starting point was the file of K8400 parts download on thingiverse which is an amazing resource for k8400 owners, It allowed me to modify the existing mount plate without having to measure it myself. My approach was similar to that of others in basically just attaching a T bar to the front of the mount plate to support the e3d hotends. Where I think I differed was in making this assembly quite deep (12mm) I did this to try to maximize the rigidity of the assembly and because it meant that I not only didn’t lose any movement on the z axis but actually gained a couple of mm…
I retained the top fan but didn’t reinstall the little fan. My first print was a great disappointment and from my limited knowledge I guessed that the problem was cooling. To address this I made small duct for the top fan to direct its output directly on the point of extrusion. This helped but the quality of the print was still poor. I then reinstated the small fan and that improved matters a lot but I was not printing as well as with the original hotends. I then made another duct for the little end and I was careful to ensure that the fan experienced no backpressure by making sure the surface area of the outputs matched that of the output from the fan. This worked well but it means I lost 20mm of the y axis because of the little fan. It also meant that I lost25mm on the x axis because I had had to reorientate the e3d fans from the front to the side which lost me 20mm and the hotends are wider than the original ones which lost me another 5mm.
I now wondered whether the top fan was actually necessary so I disconnected it and found no drop in quality. So I shortened the mount I had made by 20mm and everything worked fine. So now in comparison with the original print area of 180 by 200mm I had 180 by 175mm and I don’t see anyway that I can retrieve the lost 25mm on the axis but I can live with that,
I still had one problem and that was matching the height of the two nozzles. Every version I built always had the left extruder nozzle 0.15mm lower than the right hand one. I had overcome this problem by inserting layers of 0.8mm plastic sheet on the left hand side between the mount I hade made and the ‘XY carriage 2’. While this worked it was crude and its accuracy was restricted to the thickness of the plastic, i.e., I could only go in steps of 0.8mm.
To address this problem I decided to use screws to adjust the height,. To this end I made little inserts to fit into the gaps on the top of the ‘XY carriage 2’ without increasing it height. These inserts are what my screws would push against.
My previous mount had a gap in the centre exactly the same as the original mount where the top fan sat. I filled this area and on each side made two 3mm holes to take 3mm cap screws and a hexagon recess at the bottom to hold the nut,
To test this arrangement I reassembled everything and made sure that bed was level. I then sent the extruders to the home position and then moved them to the centre. I measured the gap between each nozzle and the bed and found as usual that the left extruder was 0.15mm lower. Now the pitch on the 3mm threads I was using was 0.5mm so to raise the extruder by 0.15mm required that the screws be turned 108 degrees. I lowered the bed slackened of the four screws a holding the print head assembly together by a couple of turns, turned the left hand pair of adjusting screw approximately 108 degrees, tightened the pair of right screws holding the assembly first and then the left ones. When I came to measure the gaps between the nozzles and the bed they were to all intense and purpose identical.
I am going to do one further thing which is again to use the K8400 parts download to get the stl file for the bottom xy carriage support and modify it by adding recesses to hold the nuts. By doing this I won’t even have to lower the bed to match the heights as I will be able to do it all from the top.
Hope this is of some use to those thinking of fitting e3ds’ and I would be interested to hear others solutions.
I have also installed 2 E3D v2 using the provided stl of the T-Bar.
But I am quite interested in your solution… Can you share it on like ‘thingiverse’
Although I haven’t used my 2nd extruder yet, as I have problems getting the stepper motor running with the drivers I already had… I hope I have got the good one found just now… but will test this tomorrow.
I think my heads are quite line up… at least that’s what I see from the front…
But I am quite curious about your solution as I think this would be a fine solution and stronger then the one I probably have… I also see no need for the top fan just the small fan would be helpful… (I removed it for now)
[quote=“mhensen”]…
But I am quite curious about your solution as I think this would be a fine solution and stronger then the one I probably have… I also see no need for the top fan just the small fan would be helpful… (I removed it for now)[/quote]
With respect to removing the top fan, if you have done so then you ought also to replace the 10 ohm resistor on the extruder board with an 80 ohm one. The reason for this, I was advised by Velleman, is that the two fans are wired up in parallel and then in series with the 10 ohm resistor. The resistors role is to drop three volts as the supply is 15v and the fans are rated at 12v. As you have removed one fan so you have increased the resistance of the circuit and now only about half a volt will be dropped across the resistor and 14.5 volts supplied to the fan which will eventually burn out.
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[quote=“rrekwa”][quote=“mhensen”]…
But I am quite curious about your solution as I think this would be a fine solution and stronger then the one I probably have… I also see no need for the top fan just the small fan would be helpful… (I removed it for now)[/quote]
With respect to removing the top fan, if you have done so then you ought also to replace the 10 ohm resistor on the extruder board with an 80 ohm one. The reason for this, I was advised by Velleman, is that the two fans are wired up in parallel and then in series with the 10 ohm resistor. The resistors role is to drop three volts as the supply is 15v and the fans are rated at 12v. As you have removed one fan so you have increased the resistance of the circuit and now only about half a volt will be dropped across the resistor and 14.5 volts supplied to the fan which will eventually burn out.[/quote]
In that case I leave it there…
Can you share your STL? I have the same issue that 1 is a fraction higher then the other…
So I am unable to print with the dual head… Only using the ‘lowest’ one gives me no problems…
So I still can print me stuff!!
It is quite easy to change the resistor, it is the one at the back left hand corner of the extruder board as you look at the print assembly from the front. However, unless you are going to modify the mount you made to gain space there is no point in doing it.
I am happy to share my stl but I don’t know how to post it or a picture on this forum. I’ll look into it unless you have some advice