My CR-10 is also down... !

Nifty said:

Wow, that's SO CHEAP! Any ideas how good those are?

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The new parts are very cheap but that's the beauty of the clones over the original parts, I also got a couple of spares for my current Fubar hot-end and can change them out if any of them give trouble, these components are all made in China anyway, and mostly the quality is not bad for the price, how good are the originals.

Nifty said:

I've thought about trying larger nozzles to print even faster

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I’m on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to print time, I don’t mind how long a print project takes, I babysit the first 5 minutes and then leave it alone till it’s finished, some of my models print overnight and can take over 28 hours to finish.

I’d staying with the point 4 nozzle and the 1.75 filament too, because it gives me good quality, I had the chance to get the point 3 and 5 nozzles but resisted the temptation, the point 4 nozzle may be slower, but what’s time to a printer anyway...

This is the advantage the 3D printer has over the inkjet, they don’t need constant attention and can be left unattended without running out of ink, mind you I did have to check on a print job the other morning very early, because I was running low on filament, it finished with just 3 metres to spare, Phew...

Keep us posted on how the clones work for you! (but it looks like it's going to maybe take 60 days to get them)!?!?!

Nifty said:

it's going to maybe take 60 days to get them)!?!?!

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Probability on a slow boat from China...

I've read it's best to buy a few of the cheap ones as you may find it necesary to build a good one from the best bits. QA is not very good and often they have a faulty part so it's a salvage operation and make a good one out of several of them. That is the worst case scenario of course so hopefully The Hat's new collection will all be OK

@The Hat, do you know for a fact that this is a direct-swap for the OEM hot end? I'd like to buy a good clone or two of something that will just slip in where my OEM one is.

Regarding "Full Metal": I read this about "all metal" heat-break: "All metal allows you to go over 245C or so. The PTFE tube melts above that temp sometimes and causes issues. Some people have done 245, 250, 260 and it worked, your mileage may vary. All metal has a drawback though... if you have high retraction settings, the all-metal tubes can have jams if you are over 6mm or so... as it pulls it into the cold end."

You are OK at the 250C but I would remind you of the potential toxicity of PTFE at high temperatures, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene
under paragraph "Safety".

I can recall in the early years of the use of PTFE, a machinist smoking a cigarette died after a small flake landed on the hot end of his cigarette.

I want to order a cheap full hotend clone of the OEM hotend just to have on hand as an emergency backup... but I'm having a hard time finding a good one. Should I just get that one you're getting @The Hat ?

My requirements:

1. super easy swap. Take out the old one... put the new one in.
2. relatively reliable. Ya, I know, for the price I can't make many demands... but I assume some clones are better than others

(Ok, since I'm compelled to always get the things that @The Hat gets, I just ordered one of these too)

Nifty said:

(Ok, since I'm compelled to always get the things that @The Hat gets, I just ordered one of these too)

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Ops, yes, the new hot-end will fit into your printer BUT, the reason there’re so cheap is because they come in a bag of many pieces, so you must make up the unit yourself.

That’s not such a bad thing because you can get a few extra pieces with it or order the one with the all metal throat with no PTFE liner inside it, there are many options available to you when you do self-assembly.

Nifty said:

super easy swap. Take out the old one... put the new one in.

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The hot-end I ordered is very close to the one I had in the printer when I got it, but it has a better heat block and throat and so less likely to fail in the same way and if it does I still have other pieces to make up another two complete units, I also got 3 extra point 4 nozzles.

Here is a video that @ninj passed on to me that explains the procedure for self-assembly, the unit that this guy is assembling is slightly different but the procedures are the same ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr02pG58gaU

I plan on using as much of my old hot-end as I can and only replacing the heat block and throat to start with and keeping the two new when complete units in reserve as back ups..

Thanks!!! That's a great video!

I've been reading mixed reviews about "all metal". Some people are saying they are getting more clogs with it than fewer.