Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?  

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

I am happy.  I have not noticed a difference outside of it is jam prone.  I suspect to look at the assembly again.  I must have missed something.    

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

Posted by: @charles-h13

I am happy.  I have not noticed a difference outside of it is jam prone.  I suspect to look at the assembly again.  I must have missed something.    

Yikes! Jam-prone is not what I was expecting. Peeking at the Volcano, but it think I'll just replace the V6 parts and carry on. Thanks for the info. 

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

I replaced the pinin the gears of the Bondtech and it is working now.  fingers crossed.  

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

Posted by: @charles-h13

I replaced the pinin the gears of the Bondtech and it is working now.  fingers crossed.  

Always nice to have you testing hardware for us, Charles. Please update with your findings. My repair work is at least 2 weeks away!

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

I will do some head to head testing.  I am going to clarify the printers as "Prusa MK3S" and "Bear MK3S".  I will do some head to head testing print the same items and post them on the forum.  I am thinking of building a third to testing with a Mosquito Magnum.  I have to wait a while on that one.  I have a few repairs to complete.

Printer status:

1. CR-10S Pro: Working
2. Prusa MK3S: Down to replace a few melted and broken parts.  I am replacing the Fan Shroud with one Printed from Nylon X.  
3. Bear MK3S:  Going Strong
4. Ender-3: Finally Reliable
5. Predator: Down after a mainboard failure.   

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

@bobstro @charles-h13, I wonder if you guys upgraded (if it is an upgrade) to the bondtech and can post some info about the experience. Is it worth it, slight improvement or little to none? Thank you.

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

Posted by: @alex_sc

@bobstro @charles-h13, I wonder if you guys upgraded (if it is an upgrade) to the bondtech and can post some info about the experience. Is it worth it, slight improvement or little to none? Thank you.

I did not. I am looking at other extruders for my Sidewinder, but the Mk3 results seem as good as most other examples I've seen. I did run into limits with the Prusa extruder feed rate when doing high throughput experiments with 3D Solex Matchless nozzles, but that hasn't been a problem under actual printing conditions.

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

@alex_sc

I personally like Bondtech.  I have found a few improvements.  I have not noticed any difference in speed.   It jams less for me.  The one thing I do not like is that you upgrade with their own firmware.  

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

Thank you guys. From my very limited time so far with the printer it seems quite decent in this regard even though a geared extruder seems to be the holy grail of DIY 3D printing. Good to know though. I can then focus on my skill and not blame the hardware. 

RE: Final thoughts on Bondtech extruder upgrade?

@charles-h13

No need to upgrade the fw from bondtech. I always change and compile the original prusa firmware myself. So I am independent of bondtech.

- changing esteps depending on stepper variant and microsteps settings (415/830)

- changing z-max (about 205)

- changing printername (not necessary)

But be careful! If you make changes to the firmware yourself, the guarantee may be lost!
My printer has been in use for more than 2 years, so there is no guarantee anymore.