E3D V6 and PLA a good combo

[jmpreuss]

Historically there has been a thought that all metal hot ends don't do that well with PLA and that is why I had never been interest in upgrading my stock hot end with 98% of my printing being PLA. Then the E3D V6 came out and got some good PLA reviews from some members on the forum and then I got an overheated hot end from a loose thermister so I went all in and got these for both my Max and Orion. After a few prints it seems to me that not only is the v6 as good as the stock non metal hot end but it is a definite improvement in PLA performance.

A couple notes on these prints. First is that with my set up of v1 effector plate, tricklaser arms, and E3D mounts there isn't an available layer fan mount that works for me so I am not using one yet, which is quite a handicap. Second is that for the prints besides the first one I insulated the bottom of the hot end like MBI does with it's rep1 and rep2 hot ends. It really helps keep the heat from radiating to the print and I recommend doing it if you do a lot of PLA.

First to get the upgrade was my V1 Max. As a test print I did this little giraffe. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:149311" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While not the greatest print the fact that it printed on all as my first item with the new hot end was impressive to me.

Next came the Orion upgrade. I had printed this Dizingof Klein bottle on my Rep2 on my first try about a year ago. I had tried a good 20 times to print the same model on my Orion with complete failure. While I had many issues the stock hot end was definitely one of them, it would just start air printing after a while. With the E3D V6 this is what I got an attempt #2 (attempt 1 had a slicing mistake).

This in general is a brutal print with the retracting/overhangs and I was very pleased how it came out, especially without a layer fan. This print took 20 hours so no heat creep issues.

Final example is a failed print but not because of the hot end but because of it detaching from the build plate (was supposed to be a mega Dizingof sized cell bowl).

This print had been going for over 24 hours when it detached. Again a very challenging print that was printing great, and with natural which tends to be a little more difficult to print.

Anyway my personal conclusion is that there is no reason that an all metal hot end can't print PLA well and that the E3D V6 does it well, better than the stock hot end.

[McSlappy]

I had one of the problematic e3d v5 heads that struggled with PLA.... Until I used some oil in the bowden tube. Glad to see the v6 handles it all without a hitch - I know they really worked on the design to get PLA to run.

Some amazing prints there!