How long should a Printrbot extruder last? I think I've warn mine out.

The Ubis ceramic must be used as it ships. You can’t run it without the insulator without problems.

All filament degrades the hotend tip and inner barrel slowly. Plastic is actually extremely abrasive. Tips are consumables and will open up larger as time progresses, so your slice must change if you want accuracy.

The Ubis ceramic might need a fan in some circumstances- it all depends on age, wear, type of filament run through it, etc. that may help to keep heat cheap down in a tired hotend.

I have some hotend here that are 4 years old and still going strong.

Good luck!
Brook

@Brook_Drumm When will the UBIS all-metal version be available? I’d like to order a new one, but I really want the all metal version instead of the Ubis ceramic version.

That’s nice you have some hotends over there that are 4 years old, I have a pile of ones that failed just after a month of use, conveniently right after the warranty period was over, talk about consumables.

@Michal_Canecky What 3D Printer are you using?

The tips are the consumables. Those hot ends last if you don’t abuse them.

@bcrazycramer Printrbot simple 2014, which was absolutely unusable, it wouldn’t print nothing lasting more than 10 minutes, before I made this: https://www.tindie.com/products/FemtoCow/printrlight-light-and-extruder-fan-holder-for-printrbot-simple-2014-2/ with the extruder fan I could start finally printing, now I just need to replace the hotend and fishing lines every month.

@Michal_Canecky I am surprised. Experience with printrbot is totally different on this end. We have been recommending them over UM2 and others to schools. Not just because of cost, but because of overall reliability. Once dialed in, they print better then most of the sub $2000 machines out there. Its the energizer bunny… We have even gone as far as modding the UM2 with the printrbot metal extruder to improve it. The only complaint I could make is the reliability of the printrboards… but for the cost of the machine and the cost to replace, not much to complain about.

My first 3D printer was this Printrbot Simple Metal. I’ve learned a ton about 3D printing with this printer. I don’t regret the purchase at all. In fact I want to order a second one so I can print other stuff while I’m waiting on a 8+ hour print job. So I’m totally sold on the Printrbot Simple Metal printer.

@Mike_Kowalczyk Lol, I was doing quite opposite. I have friends involved with school activities and I recommended them to avoid printrbot at all cost. And good they did, otherwise there would be a lot of disappointed kids. I spent so much time trying to get it work, I fixed one thing, other thing broke, fixed that, something else broke. It wouldn’t last more than a week. After I replaced most of the original parts, it was kind of usable, but still printrbot has been nothing but a disappointment, it completely killed my excitement in 3D printing in me. It is now sitting broken in my closed and I have absolutely no energy to deal with it anymore. I will be happy to trade it with someone for a pile of shit of equal weight, pound for pound.

@Michal_Canecky , ouch, sorry to hear about the pain…but I’ll take it off your hands :wink:

@Michal_Canecky , I also would also offer to take it off your hands for a good price. Just curious, is this your first printer/ first time working with 3d printing?

@Michal_Canecky I will ship you a box of rocks if you want to trade it?

So I have no idea how to share a google + photo.

I have my extruder all tore apart. Are there instructions on how to put it back together properly? I’m not sure what to do with this wire that wraps around the threads.