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Finally got to test my new replacement printhead kit

Posted: August 4th, 2018, 3:46 am
by GrueMaster
I have been printing fairly well for the last few weeks. Finally had the print bed dialed in so that all I needed was to give it a nice alcohol rub before printing and everything came out great.

Until tonight. For some reason, the print I started came loose from the bed, and what was supposed to be my first commissioned job in months turned into the PLA blob from hell. It was so bad, PLA was coming out of the top of the fan enclosure (fans are ok).

Rather than spend hours on disassembly and cleaning, I decided to clip the printhead wires and replace the unit with the replacement kit I got from Hictop sometime last year (promotional gift). The process was simple enough (even though there were no instructions that I could find). Just clip the 4 wires to the printhead (2 white thermistor wires, 2 read hot end wires) and crimp connectors to the stripped ends. Since I know a bit about wiring and electronics, I knew how much to strip.

My only real complaint is that this would have been much easier with a proper crimping tool and wire stripper, but the needle nose pliers they supplied worked well enough. Also, the bowden tube was stuck in the old print head, so I had to cut it off, losing ~3/4 inch (not that it seems to matter). They also provided a replacement for that.

Re: Finally got to test my new replacement printhead kit

Posted: March 3rd, 2019, 9:28 am
by Mbur1
Does this new print head work better then the stock one that ships with the CR-10?

Re: Finally got to test my new replacement printhead kit

Posted: March 3rd, 2019, 10:20 am
by GrueMaster
It is the same assembly. The only difference is that it now has two wire plugs above the print head assembly.

Since this post, I have had another minor disaster print, and was able to swap out the assembly in minutes. I now have 2 full backups for such situations (sadly both need to be cleaned before they can be used, and I haven't gotten to them yet). One of these days (copious spare time), I'll clean them up so I have at least one spare. I may buy more just to have different assemblies with varying nozzle sizes.

Re: Finally got to test my new replacement printhead kit

Posted: March 5th, 2019, 2:30 pm
by LePaul
My MicroSwiss jammed solid on me recently. People have said the retractions should be adjusted with that hot end. I thought I had. All I know is the heat creep or something got it. I just ordered and received a E3D TitanAero for it. I printed the PETSFang Evolve mount and cooling solution for it. No more messing around :)