Tri Hotend

[artexmg]

Out of Stock?

(I know)

[artexmg]

Looking awesome!

Quick question, does it have a way to set up the thermistor with a screw, like the E3D?

[Generic Default]

The weight is in the range of 60 grams. It can't be exactly measured in practice because the bowden tubes and wiring are flexible and share their mass between the moving platform and the printer frame. Still, ~60 grams is good for three hotends right?

And yes, it does have a screw to hold the thermistor in place. Very similar to the E3D, except without the washer. I was proud of myself for figuring out a good way to secure the thermistor leads, but then I found out that E3D came out with a new version of its hotend a few days before, and the new version had pretty much exactly the same thing. I guess Sanjay beat me to it by a few months!

I know that most companies take pre-orders long before the product ships, but I want to be 100% sure that nothing will go wrong between the time people pay and the time their hotend ships. So I'll open up the retail website in the next few days and update it with pictures.

Anyone want to guess why the nozzles aren't shiny brass?

[bot]

What exactly did you file a patent on? The fact that multiple filament streams travel through the same heat sink?

[artexmg]

The weight is in the range of 60 grams. It can't be exactly measured in practice because the bowden tubes and wiring are flexible and share their mass between the moving platform and the printer frame. Still, ~60 grams is good for three hotends right?

And yes, it does have a screw to hold the thermistor in place. Very similar to the E3D, except without the washer. I was proud of myself for figuring out a good way to secure the thermistor leads, but then I found out that E3D came out with a new version of its hotend a few days before, and the new version had pretty much exactly the same thing. I guess Sanjay beat me to it by a few months!

I know that most companies take pre-orders long before the product ships, but I want to be 100% sure that nothing will go wrong between the time people pay and the time their hotend ships. So I'll open up the retail website in the next few days and update it with pictures.

Anyone want to guess why the nozzles aren't shiny brass?

why not shiny brass??

[artexmg]

The weight is in the range of 60 grams. It can't be exactly measured in practice because the bowden tubes and wiring are flexible and share their mass between the moving platform and the printer frame. Still, ~60 grams is good for three hotends right?

And yes, it does have a screw to hold the thermistor in place. Very similar to the E3D, except without the washer. I was proud of myself for figuring out a good way to secure the thermistor leads, but then I found out that E3D came out with a new version of its hotend a few days before, and the new version had pretty much exactly the same thing. I guess Sanjay beat me to it by a few months!

I know that most companies take pre-orders long before the product ships, but I want to be 100% sure that nothing will go wrong between the time people pay and the time their hotend ships. So I'll open up the retail website in the next few days and update it with pictures.

Anyone want to guess why the nozzles aren't shiny brass?

I am sold, I want to test it as soon as you get it ready

[Eaglezsoar]

the nozzles are not a shiny brass so that they can be measured with an IR thermometer?

[bdjohns1]

Anyone want to guess why the nozzles aren't shiny brass?

Because they're either coated with something (to prevent crud from sticking?), or they're not regular old brass. Could they be bronze perhaps? They look yellowish in the threaded area, so I'm thinking they're not stainless, unless your $7 photoshoot had weird lighting. Bronze would be tougher than brass, but still better thermal conductivity compared to stainless.

[McSlappy]

Because they're made from SOLID GOLD, BABY! YES THAT'S RIGHT, WITH THE RELEASE OF THE TRI HOTEND YOU GET NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE SOLID GOLD NOZZLES!!! Terms and conditions apply.

[artexmg]

Because they're made from SOLID GOLD, BABY! YES THAT'S RIGHT, WITH THE RELEASE OF THE TRI HOTEND YOU GET NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE SOLID GOLD NOZZLES!!! Terms and conditions apply.

I think we have a fan of the tri hot end!! (well ... two!)

[Generic Default]

-WRONG McSlappy, gold is for peasantry. The nozzles on the right are 24K gold, but I decided to go with a more noble iridium-platinum alloy (left) instead. Just kidding.


You got it with the nozzle coating! Both the nozzle and thermal isolator are coated with Tungsten Disulphide (WS2), which is a big improvement. I consider this to be a novelty for 3d printer technology since nobody has done it yet.

1) No friction, no stick. Plastics don't stick to WS2 so the hotend can't jam during retractions. Retract jams are one of the main causes of PLA problems in all metal hotends. Thermal expansion doesn't cause jams either. I'm printing a PLA phone case right now, and previous prints haven't jammed even when running without a cooling fan.
2) No stick, no gunk. Plastics don't cling to WS2 coated nozzles so the exterior stays much cleaner. No crusty gunky build up, and nothing chunky gets wiped off in prints either.
3) Less force, less surface energy. It takes a little bit less force to push melted plastic through a WS2 coated nozzle compared to an uncoated nozzle. The flow characteristics are visibly different for some types of plastics because the melted plastic doesn't try to cling to the nozzle as it is extruded. It makes the top printed layer smoother. Stringing can be reduced, and small holes become less polygonal.

The thermal isolator is also pretty cool. It is made from a special titanium alloy, which only passes 1/3 of the heat that an equivalent stainless steel isolator would. This means 3 times the thermal performance, and an even shorter melt transition. Titanium machines with a much better surface finish than stainless steel, and it's lighter. PLA can't jam in it because the interior is super smooth. Plus it's coated with Tungsten Disulphide!

The Tri hotend has the benefits of three hotends in one, but the features described above really add to it. I put in work over the summer developing all this stuff. At one point I almost got impaled by a small flying rod of white hot titanium when I attempted to machine it with a cheap tool and no cooling. Then a few weeks later one of my roommates shanked my Tungsten Disulphide container with a switchblade. R&D be thuggin'.

The first production run will ship with three 0.35mm nozzles. I decided that 0.35 gives good quality prints without too much time needed. In the future I may include multiple sizes. If you want huge or tiny nozzles, the Tri hotend will still work with M6 externally threaded nozzles like the QUBD or E3D ones, although they don't have the coatings. My patent includes several of the coatings I experimented with during development, including some really hard ones to prevent abrasion once glass filled filaments hit the FFF market. I'll try to get some "super nozzles" available for retail in the next few months. Luckily the nozzle geometry doesn't have to change for new materials. I have been R&Ding this stuff a ton and it turns out that these nozzles can be made to last indefinitely, even with ultra-abrasive resins. I'll work on expanding my domain from exclusively hotends to a broader range of stuff, like nozzles, magnetic arms, ect.

I'm excited at this point that I'll finally be able to start shipping stuff soon. I'll let you know ASAP when I start selling.

Any questions, ask away!

[Glacian22]

That is so freaking cool, I can't even. Do you plan on offering a single version, for those who don't need the triple but still think your hotend looks badass?

[Generic Default]

Yep, I'll probably sell individual parts in the future. For now, there are a bunch of people who need two or three hotends, so the first bunch will be kitted for all three nozzles at once.

But you can run the Tri hotend with only one or two nozzles inserted. The heat sink has more than enough cooling capacity, and the other two spots on the hotend can go unused.
This is what it looks like with only one nozzle in;

[artexmg]

Yep, I'll probably sell individual parts in the future. For now, there are a bunch of people who need two or three hotends, so the first bunch will be kitted for all three nozzles at once.

But you can run the Tri hotend with only one or two nozzles inserted. The heat sink has more than enough cooling capacity, and the other two spots on the hotend can go unused.
This is what it looks like with only one nozzle in;

Full Assembly 1 Nozzle Side 2.JPG

And now ... which board should I use for this tri-baby????

[McSlappy]

You know I'm actually more impressed with the actual answer than 24k gold.... well done.

[0110-m-p]

Not sure how I missed this the past several months, but I'm definitely in for a hotend from the first batch as long as you got all your jamming issues solved. I was thinking about a Kraken, but that is overkill for me.

Personally I think the 3 nozzle/extruder setup will be awesome. One for ABS, one for HIPS support for ABS, and one for nylon...sound like a dream come true.

[bdjohns1]

-

You got it with the nozzle coating! Both the nozzle and thermal isolator are coated with Tungsten Disulphide (WS2), which is a big improvement. I consider this to be a novelty for 3d printer technology since nobody has done it yet.

1) No friction, no stick. Plastics don't stick to WS2 so the hotend can't jam during retractions. Retract jams are one of the main causes of PLA problems in all metal hotends. Thermal expansion doesn't cause jams either. I'm printing a PLA phone case right now, and previous prints haven't jammed even when running without a cooling fan.
2) No stick, no gunk. Plastics don't cling to WS2 coated nozzles so the exterior stays much cleaner. No crusty gunky build up, and nothing chunky gets wiped off in prints either.
3) Less force, less surface energy. It takes a little bit less force to push melted plastic through a WS2 coated nozzle compared to an uncoated nozzle. The flow characteristics are visibly different for some types of plastics because the melted plastic doesn't try to cling to the nozzle as it is extruded. It makes the top printed layer smoother. Stringing can be reduced, and small holes become less polygonal.

Ooh, ooh, what do I win for guessing right?

I'm ready to throw some money at you.

[McSlappy]

No no! Stand in line, I've been wanting to throw money at him for ages!!

[geneb]

No no! Stand in line, I've been wanting to throw money at him for ages!!

Jeeze, the way you guys are after him, you'd think there was a brass pole involved or something.

g.

[Generic Default]

Yes Geneb, there is a brass pole involved. And it's coated with tungsten disulphide for jam-free operation!

I was just testing out PLA printing for the last few days. ABS and nylon are usually no problem to print with in other all metal hotends, but PLA is a pain. Once I switched out the nozzle and thermal isolator for the WS2 coated ones, I could print PLA with no problems. I'm now testing prints without the heat sink cooling fan running. Finally, no more jams! Keep in mind that all of these improvements are transferable to other hotend designs as well. I think the Tri hotend is the best value and highest performing one, but I'll try to get these jam-free components into after market production for other hotends. I still gotta figure out how the patent will work into all of this. I don't want to be like those sleeeezy companies that monopolize and drive up the price. Hotend nozzles are marked up enough as-is.

[Eaglezsoar]

Yes Geneb, there is a brass pole involved. And it's coated with tungsten disulphide for jam-free operation!

I was just testing out PLA printing for the last few days. ABS and nylon are usually no problem to print with in other all metal hotends, but PLA is a pain. Once I switched out the nozzle and thermal isolator for the WS2 coated ones, I could print PLA with no problems. I'm now testing prints without the heat sink cooling fan running. Finally, no more jams! Keep in mind that all of these improvements are transferable to other hotend designs as well. I think the Tri hotend is the best value and highest performing one, but I'll try to get these jam-free components into after market production for other hotends. I still gotta figure out how the patent will work into all of this. I don't want to be like those sleeeezy companies that monopolize and drive up the price. Hotend nozzles are marked up enough as-is.

I don't quite think that type of brass pole was what Gene had in mind!

[McSlappy]

I'm just happy to see our community working on cool projects! Expect the same support from me for any of you who decides to make cool stuff!

[Generic Default]

don't quite think that type of brass pole was what Gene had in mind!

Oh, I was referring to a stripper pole...I'm slightly off topic here. Something something something the hotend doesn't jam.
By the way, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but it turns out that the thermistors can actually go well over 300 C. They degrade after a long time above 300C, but they don't fry. It helps with bad PIDs because if the PID isn't tuned right for a fast-response hotend like this, you can overshoot by 50 degrees easily. No damage done.
I still haven't nailed the PID for mine; I overshoot, them come down to temperature and maintain +- 0.5 degrees all day. I prefer stability over speed. Heatup time is around 2 minutes.

[bdjohns1]

Keep in mind that all of these improvements are transferable to other hotend designs as well. I think the Tri hotend is the best value and highest performing one, but I'll try to get these jam-free components into after market production for other hotends. I still gotta figure out how the patent will work into all of this. I don't want to be like those sleeeezy companies that monopolize and drive up the price. Hotend nozzles are marked up enough as-is.

Thumbs-up. I'm guessing that since you're M6, the nozzles would probably transfer over the the e3d hotend well.

I'm not an IP lawyer (or a lawyer of any kind), but if you've got a patent, you've got the option to offer licenses to other people who want to use your tech under any terms you want.

[redoverred]

don't quite think that type of brass pole was what Gene had in mind! :)

Oh, I was referring to a stripper pole...I'm slightly off topic here. Something something something the hotend doesn't jam.
By the way, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but it turns out that the thermistors can actually go well over 300 C. They degrade after a long time above 300C, but they don't fry. It helps with bad PIDs because if the PID isn't tuned right for a fast-response hotend like this, you can overshoot by 50 degrees easily. No damage done.
I still haven't nailed the PID for mine; I overshoot, them come down to temperature and maintain +- 0.5 degrees all day. I prefer stability over speed. Heatup time is around 2 minutes.

I haven't tried this myself, but have you seen http://www.repetier.com/dead-time-control/?