E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?  

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

I have an MMU2, so I can't install a copper heat block. The higher heat capacity would ruin the cooldown speed between different filaments.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

I have an order in at the moment but E3d are still waiting on the precision 40w heater cartridges, so as soon as these arrive, my order should get shipped.

I am also fitting a titanium heatbreak and PT100 upgrade and already use a nickel plated copper nozzle as I print mainly with PETG.

The nozzle works really well with PETG as it does not stick to it.... Well, that is not strictly true, it will stick to it but comes of cleanly with a little warming.

The original brass nozzle, PETG would stick to it and remain stuck, even after heating, whereas the nickel plated copper nozzle, Once it gets to about 150 deg, I just slide a pair of tweezers along the cone whilst closing the tweezers towards the tip, and any PETG comes of as a complete piece, it just leaves a clean nozzle.

Nowadays, my startup G-Code, preheats the nozzle to 150, and moves it up where i can clean anything off beforehand

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

I run a plated copper block on a E3D, but probably not for the goals you mention.

1. Block is always in a silicone sock. Can't say anything about its non-stick behavior. The sock takes care of all that and gives extra thermal insulation.

2. You must be able to adequately rotate and torque the components during installation. Yes, you can do it on a MK3S by just dropping the hot end, but you will also need to unbundle the cables to get enough slack to safely maneuver the work. Also, protect your print bed with something.

I switched from the aluminum block because the print temperatures I was using 290C was annealing the aluminum to be noticeably soft during cartridge changes. Yes, it take a bit longer to heat up and cool but negligible compared to total print time.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

Posted by: Peter S.

I have an MMU2, so I can't install a copper heat block. The higher heat capacity would ruin the cooldown speed between different filaments.

Is there no way to adjust for this?

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

As with others, I recommend the silicone sock to keep the heater block clean.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

I too recommend the silicon sock, but there are two types, the older version with a small hole where just the nozzle tip pokes out through which makes it almost impossible to dirty your nozzle and heater block, but does not last long, or the newer version which has a larger hole for the nozzle to fit through. The heater block is kept clean and suffers less with heat loss or heat swings. The Nickel plated nozzle helps to keep the nozzle cleaner in between prints.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

Yes, the pro sock with its little hole gets torn to bits the first time it encounters any upward protrusions in a print. Worse, yet it catches and pulls the print object of your plate. However, the pro version does cover the heater cartridge screw head. The regular E3D sock doesn't cover that screw head and you get fouling on that screw head. My solution is use the Pro version, but I slice away the nozzle cover and leave the entire nozzle cone exposed. This avoids the inevitable tear up of the sock.

If printing at higher temperatures, the E3D sock rapidly hardens and weakens. If printing at 290C, a genuine E3D sock will last not very long. For high temp, I use a DIY sock molded out of Permatex copper silicone gasket. It's cheap. One tube makes about 10 socks. You have to be patient with its 24 hour cure in your molds and Dawn is your friend as a release agent. My Permatex socks last hundreds of hours at 290C. 

Silicone socks are fantastic. They improve thermal efficiency, reduce print fan effects on temperature, and keep filament from building up. 

Biggest down side is getting them to stay on, but that is solved with a band of beading wire.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

I highly recommend this link if you are gonna make them. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3742037

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

Pro tip for making your own and getting a cure: Mix 1-2 drops of glycerin (the older the better, it's hygroscopic) into your silicone. No more opening the mold the next day to find it hasn't cured at all.

I am using a mold that covers the nozzle like a pro sock; I have found they are more than fine; the problem with the E3d ones is they get hard, and this causes them to crumble and leave chunks in the print. I have yet to notice this on my homemade ones. So far the only one I had to replace was because it had adhered to some melted R4 parts and tore on removal during a service.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

How wet are your molds when you fill them? I have mine pretty wet with water and Dawn. Also I'm preforming my balls of silicone by kneading in a water / dawn bath. Maybe that's why mine always cure by 24 hours. The Permatex copper ones do indeed last indefinitely. My minor wish is a higher shore hardness high temp silicone.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

I wipe them out with IPA that has a few drops of dish soap dissolved in it. Having an extra wet mold works too, but I had issues with the silicone adhering too much at the time regardless of the amount of dish soap used, and I wanted to avoid trapping water pockets and creating voids.

So now I just mix the glycerine into the silicone with a stirstick and call it done, no messy kneading, no liquid pockets, and it's given me a solid cure every time, sometimes in as little as 12 hours.

RE: E3D V6 Plated Copper Heater Block - Anyone Upgraded To?

Posted by: vintagepc

I wipe them out with IPA that has a few drops of dish soap dissolved in it. Having an extra wet mold works too, but I had issues with the silicone adhering too much at the time regardless of the amount of dish soap used, and I wanted to avoid trapping water pockets and creating voids.

So now I just mix the glycerine into the silicone with a stirstick and call it done, no messy kneading, no liquid pockets, and it's given me a solid cure every time, sometimes in as little as 12 hours.

Same here.  I use Dawn or a mould release that I use to make fiberglass parts.  Both work.