V6 adapter or Prusa Nozzle Brass?
I recently got my Mk4 (love it), and I've got a .6 and a .25 nozzle left from my MINI, so I also got the V6 adapter so that I can keep using them.
However, I didn't realize what the nozzle replacement process looks like on the Mk4 - I assumed I'd just screw the nozzle onto the adapter, and it would be just like the default nozzle (+ brass), which, if I understand correctly, is not the case. To install the adapter, you have to take the hot-end apart for a bit and screw it from the top of the heater block, whereas swapping a Prusa brass nozzle happens all from the bottom and with the Nozzle Replacement Tool on Printables, it can even be done by just loosening the thumb screws. On the other hand, once the adapter is installed, it looks to me that swapping a V6 nozzle is just a matter of unscrewing it, no taking apart needed at all.
So I'm a bit confused. I definitely want to avoid having a .4 nozzle with Prusa brass and a .6/.25 nozzle with an adapter, since that would require me to go through the whole process of (un)installing the adapter every time I switch nozzles (which I hope to be doing relatively frequently.) So I'll either be buying the .6 and .25 nozzles with Prusa brass, or a plain .4 V6 nozzle - but I don't know which yet. I don't particularly mind the cost of buying two nozzle brass combos over one .4 V6 if that's the better option for whatever reason.
So, is there a benefit to buying the nozzles with Prusa brass? Conversely, is there any potential downside to simply using (only) V6 nozzles on my Mk4? Or is there anything I misunderstood about the nozzle replacement process? Thanks!
RE: V6 adapter or Prusa Nozzle Brass?
With a v6 adapter you need to screw the adapter in from the top and the nozzle from the bottom so there is a possibility of getting waste filament on the screw threads, which then may make installing and removing the mk4 because of the filament waste...
what I have done, is to get a spare heat block, heater and thermistor, so I can replace the whole lot, rather than stripping the original hot end down all the time
Regards Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: V6 adapter or Prusa Nozzle Brass?
My experience with the V6 adapter has not been good. As Joan has ascribed above if you go down the path of using it, just have a complete hotend to swap out rather than swapping nozzles. If you install everything correctly you shouldn't have too many dramas with just printing low temperature polymers like PLA for example.
But why faff about with the V6 adapter when you can just have your required sizes ready to go in the Prusa nozzles, they are cost effective and extremely easy to change out with no risk of have hot plastic leak all over your hotend if it fails on you.
I had a similar thought process to you regarding utilising my V6 nozzles in my MK4 machines because I have so many spares of various sizes and specialty nozzles for specialised projects that are from previous iterations of MK3's. As well as having multitudes of spare V6 hotends and spare parts associated with these hotends, I decided to dedicate one of my older MK3S+ machines to the MK3.5 upgrade because of the abundance of spare parts I have for this machine as well as benefiting from all of the upgraded features you get on the MK3.5 like the touchscreen, wifi connectivity, Input shaping print speeds etc etc etc
Good luck and enjoy.
RE:
I did use the V6 adapter for a time, and (at least with the original heat block), it was a really bad experience. My nozzles always came loose after one or two prints, even though I tightened them at 285°C with a 1.8Nm wrench. My hypothesis here is that the different expansion rates of the aluminium heat block and the nozzle/adapter is to blame for that.
As I really want to keep using some of my V6 nozzles, I ordered the copper heat block for the MK4 from Triangle Labs together with their titanium heatbreak V6 adapter. I did not yet test that thoroughly, but the first experiments looked promising.
If you want to avoid risks and potential problems, best just buy MK4 Obxidian nozzles in the sizes you want and use those.
RE: V6 adapter or Prusa Nozzle Brass?
Thank you all! This is exactly what I needed to know. I guess I'll be getting the nozzle/brass combos and leave the adapter for if I ever get into real fancy/specialized V6 nozzles 🙂