Extrusionhead: is the gap normal?

[lutz 0]

Hello to all,

I am assembling my brand new Ultimaker and so long it worked fine but I worry about a small gap between the aluminum socket and the plywood plate above it.

It's located on the front right corner and I tried a lot to avoid it, without success.

is this normal?

As I see on the Wiki-Picture of the assembled Printhead it seems to be normal but it doesn't look well. How is yours?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultimaker/8185552868/

EDIT: The Fan on the picture above was mounted wrong (on the Backside), please consider this updated Picture to avoid trouble :

 

[owen 19]

That's normal. Most look like that. That gap used to be encouraged to ensure there was pressure on the bowden tube to make sure there was no gap. It's probably not as important now with the latest hot end.

 

[gr5 2,167]

I'm more worried about your heated block. I think you might want to rotate it 90 degrees before you power it up. If it is touching the fan shroud, it will melt the plastic of the fan shroud and allow cold air to touch the tip of the extruder which will cool the tip too much and mess up your prints.

 

[baasb 6]

I also noticed this gap when building my UM and I placed 4 metal washers on each corner between the wood and the aluminium. This straightend the aluminium plate while still putting enough pressure on the PEEK and the white insert. I thought it just would be better to 'equalize' the pressure on each screw/corner.

 

[lutz 0]

Ok, I considered to put in some washers too. Because with the gap the nozzle seems to be a bit crooked.

Because of the distance between the hot end and the fan cover. I will check that, thanks for the warning

[albert 2]

I had the same issue and inserted washers on the posts except on the one next to the PEEK. This way one can keep some pressure on the plastic parts. And the bolts had a tendency to come loose by the vibrations during printing without the washers (or a counter nut on the other side of the alu plate.)

The hole you inserted the PEEK into seems to be on the inner side of the extrusion head. Would that not diminish the maximum build size by a bit? The way it is photographed on the instructions, it seems to have to be in the bottom right hole when looking down from above the printer...just my two cents...dunno if the nozzle would go off the blue tape on the back end of the build plate...or even hit the mounting bolts of the perspex ....?

Albert

[illuminarti 18]

The gap is fine... and in fact the nozzle is in the 'right' hole, and rotated the right way (since the picture is taken looking from the front). The main problem is that the fan is mounted on the back, and it should be on the side (usually the left). With it on the back, it will foul on the Z Axis.

 

[joergen 2]

using washers, and eliminating the gap will reduce the pressure necessary to make a good seal between the brass tube in the PEEK part, and the teflon adaptor. not a good idea.

 

[gr5 2,167]

I didn't notice that! You need to move that fan soon or it will break on the z screw.

 

[lutz 0]

Thank to all!,

fortunately I figured the wrong fan position out, just before I started printing

I updated my first post to avoid confusion for others.

Finaly I srewed it together without the washers, it's good to know that it is meant to be like that.

Lutz