Higher temps for all metal hotend?

[gwatson1990 1]

I recently installed a E3D V6 all metal hot-end on my Ender and I've been wrestling with it quite a bit when printing PLA. I'm a bit confused with what works better... I've read in some places that you should print 10-15C hotter than you normally would with PLA (https://letsprint3d.net/all-metal-hotends-troubleshooting-guide/). Yet, when it comes to addressing partial clogs or jams I'm told to print cooler to prevent heat creep. Anybody willing to share their experiences?

[tinkergnome 926]

First, i hope you know that "all metal" hot-ends are not meant to be used with PLA.
If possible, use it exclusively for PA and PETG (will save you a lot of trouble)....

 

If you really want to bring it to work (at least partly), the passages about retractions and about cooling of the heat-sink are the most important (IMHO). I may be wrong, but I never heard before, that a different printing temperature is needed. 🤷‍♂️

 

Take sure, that PLA is never retracted more than a few mm - especially not at the end of the print! (max. 4 or 5 mm)
You have to avoid that softened PLA comes in contact with the heat-break (or any other part that is made of steel) at any cost. Softened PLA (>50C) sticks like crazy to steel.

 

If you switch between PLA and higher temp materials regularly... well... this asks for a whole new bunch of problems.
Simply don't do it, and if you really have to.... take sure that all residues of the previous material are removed from the whole extrusion train before you load PLA into it.

 

My best advice, if nothing helps: read the first sentence again and make a decision... 😏

 

Good luck!

[gwatson1990 1]

I'll definitely look into it although I'm not a big PETG fan (but I'm interested in trying PA!). To expand on my situation a little more it seems that my issue could be related to lesser quality filament. When using Hatchbox and 3D Solutech PLA's, I was having great success with 6 hour plus prints! However, my frustrations really got started when I bought a 2 pack of SUNLU PLA + in grey and black, which as far as I know has a sup-par rap and it might be better for me to just send the rolls back. 

[TheodorK 11]

Printing PLA with the E3D V6 is very well doable, I've been doing this for a year now with really  good results. But propper cooling is really important, like mentioned in the other thread.

As for retraction settings, I use the default settings for the UM3, because I have the UM3 feeder. These retraction settings work perfectly in combination with PLA.

 

When switching between PLA and PETG it is, like @tinkergnome mentioned, asking for problems. However these problems are easilly fixed if you clean the hotend with ultimaker cleaning filament (I love this stuf).

 

If you think it is the material, make some test prints with different materials, from different brands and see if the results are different. Personally I use Makerpoint PLA (a dutch brand)) and the quality is really good but the rolls are slightly more expensive. This is their webstore:

https://www.makerpoint.nl/nl/3d-printen/materials-supplies/filament/makerpoint/

[TheodorK 11]

As for higher temps, yes an all metal hotend can achieve much higher temperatures than one with a PTFE tube, because the PTFE starts to degrade at about 280 ish degrees, as where an all metal hotend (obviously) does not have a PTFE tube.

 

However, do make sure that the plastic holding the hotend and fans together is heat resistant, because the heat radiation from the heaterblock might cause the softening of the material. It is thus recommended dat you insolate the heaterblock to prevent this.