So this one made some waves when Shai Schechter announced it almost a year

So this one made some waves when @Shai_Schechter announced it almost a year ago. Super compact, up to 700°C and only $20 to $30 in retail [ https://3dprint.com/93775/deltaprintr-mini-hotend ]
It doesn’t quite deliver on those last two claims, but overall it’s a nice step forward for two reasons (imo):

  • No groovemount, just two plain M3 threads
  • Compact heater without an aluminum block

So the question is, are you happy with what hotends are today or do you see more potential for innovation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y-Aup3O80I

If anyone needs a reference CAD model for the Mini Hotend. I posted my copy on http://youmagine.com: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/deltaprintr-mini-hotend-unofficial

My, first thought was: “Why does the heatsink doesn’t fit the size of the fan?” But after a further thinking: I guess it is for blowing right onto the heatbreak?
What I REALLY miss, is cablemanagement at the heatsink. With this rectangular design, it is screaming for a groove to put the 4 wires in.

@Rene_Jurack You’re correct. We made the fan stick under slightly so that it cools the heat break directly. For cable management, we actually ship our Delta Go printers with a zip tie around the wires and through the fins to hold them in place. Cable management is really up to the user imo.

Great review again , thanks

@Shai_Schechter Yeah, using a zip tie was, what I had in mind, too. But I imagine it like this way: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46522094/deltaprinter_groove.png (just a quick drawing)
Anyways: Good job, nice thing. I’m looking forward to see this available in europe! This thing looks like it is perfect for my little DICE :smiley:

I see still posibilities in innovation for the hotends and that has to do with easier connect and disconnect it from the extruder. Some sort of simple and small connector that can stand the heat. In my case i need to clean it best often and the current solution makes it hard to disconnect the wires and im always afraid that i break a wire.

@Niels_vd_Spek A quick release for just the hot end is possible but I’m not seeing where it’s worth the effort, I think you mean breaking the electrical connections. I’m thinking kind of like a camera flash shoe arrangement but you need to worry about secure electrical contact, firmwares get very finicky about poor thermistor connectors, and 3.5A (for a 12V hot end) is a lot to ask of a connector.

I kind of like the Monoprice Select way of doing the heatsink (https://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/extrusion.jpg). Cable management is easy by inserting the wires up the grooves. A mini version of that on the Deltaprintr Mini Hotend would make more sense imho.

One thing I can’t imagine is how would you cool that hotend…

Very interesting – If ever attempting a dual-extruder setup, I’d probably end up getting one of these, because realistically, if you used a long full-thread for mounting the hot end, you could effectively jam-nut the top side and finely tune the height without fiddling with nozzle filing and all that other garbage.

This is the direction that the hotends need to go.

The big, clunky, inefficient, inaccurate heater-cartridge based designs are going to go by the wayside, kind of like the dinosaurs. The smaller, smarter hotends will be the survivors.

As far as cable management – there should not be cables hanging off this thing. The cabling should lead to a small PCB on the unit itself which houses actual connectors.

Wiring is a function of the frame, not the individual component.

Random wires hanging haphazardly off components is another legacy thing that needs to go.

@Richard_Kranium Wire management is up to the user, not us I believe. We don’t know how people will attach their hotend and it’s pretty simple to do it yourself :slight_smile:

The coaxial heater isn’t new, but it took someone with initiative to make it nice. Wires are a fact of life. You can make them tidy or not. I don’t understand how adding a circuit board is necessarily a help if you’re trying to limit inertial mass.

@Jeff_DeMaagd , a PCB adds virtually no inertial mass, and severely helps connectivity.

@ThantiK even after you add the pins, housings and other parts to make the board work?

@Jeff_DeMaagd yes. Small PCBs and connectors like these are light enough not to add any significant weight to any common effector/carriage.

Well when I see people sweat over five grams, I had to wonder.

@Jeff_DeMaagd , I’ll measure one of our PCBs at DeltaMaker later today. We do use a PCB for hot end connectivity. I’ll measure it just before it gets attached.

@Jeff_DeMaagd , https://i.sli.mg/Kgq2KI.jpg – closest resolution I could get to the weight of the PCB - 2.85 grams. (grams registered 3, oz registered 0.1)

They’re practically weightless.

Any lighter and the hotend would start floating in midair :slight_smile: