Went to turn on my printer today to test print a part and the hot end is dead, won’t heat up, the bed heats up fine, no sweat. I’m not too happy, the printer is only a few months old with only moderate usage… what is up with this?
I have a few prints I need done for a design challenge, it’s not going to look good when I tell people my Lulzbot printer died after a few months…I expect the hot end to go eventually, but not this soon. I did a quick inspection of the electronics and everything seems ok. I’ve heard mention of small board fuses? not sure about those? Where are they located?
I’ve sent an e-mail to support@Lulz.
I’m assuming these are the parts I need and this is what I need to do…
I can probably live with that. As long as the whole shnozzle doesn’t need replacing.
My next question would be what sort of crimpers are required? and where to cut the wires? above or below the crimps?
thanks guys, feeling a little more at ease now. Doesn’t seem like difficult or expensive of a job.
Thanks, I appreciate the reply. It’s not the thermistor that died, it’s the resistor that makes the heat. The thermistor still looks like it works ok, it reads ambient temperature etc. I tried measuring ohms across the resistor and it didn’t read anything. I popped the resistor out, the small tiny filament(wire) that is wrapped around the resistor was broke. I tried to fire it up just to see if it would work, and got a little flash, seems like that little filament finally burnt up like a piece of tungsten, pretty much 90% sure it’s a burnt resistor, my concern is why it went so soon…weird, other than that, it printed fine, had no issues. The problem is I need to prints some parts for a design competition so time is critical, just hope I can get the parts in time
If I wanted to try a different resistor like a heater cartridge, like what the J heads use…which one should I get?
what is the output to the heater? 12 or 24V. I was thinking of getting a 24v 40W cartridge to have as a backup.
I was contacted by a Jeff telling me this also…I’m being shipped a lulz mini in the mean time, pretty cool CS actually, I won’t forget that. Thanks for the heads up.
Hopefully others will chime in for some of my other questions…
When the resistance for the hotend heater reads Zero, it’s dead.
Without a compression slot across the extruder block the replacement process is tricky to say the least. I had to use a punch and a hammer on mine to get the old heater out, then I made an aluminum shim 3003H14 adapter for the E3D heater. The ceramic glue that holds the old heater in the block prevents it’s easy replacement. Tech support warned that if the heater is not secured to the heater block properly, it can reach temps in excess of 1500 degrees, so be sure if you somehow replace the heater that you have the heater core in full contact with the block. This is made more difficult by the missing set screw and cut across the block to allow for heater replacement.
You could always just buy another hot end and save yourself the hassle, or if you’re under warranty, ask for a new one. The heater is 12Vdc. The diameter of the hotend heater hole is 6mm.
I estimate a total of around 500 hours print time on my Buddaschnozzle before the hotend went out, not counting the time I had on my E3DV6. I replaced the heater and just finished a 60 hour print which turned out great!
Of course when I went to remove it, the build plate cracked and broke, so my TAZ 4 is down till I get a replacement. I’m thinking stainless steel or aluminum nickle alloy. Although SS is cheaper by far.
Great great information, invaluable, very much appreciated. I actually was able to get the heater resistor out without much hassle, but maybe that’s what the problem was, it wasn’t tight enough in there so it was burning up like you’re saying.
seems like a weakness in design of the buda, I notice the J-Heads use the slot and clamp bolt to hold the cartridge in. Seems like the way to go. I want to try a J-head eventually but just don’t feel like doing that mod yet, want to get more experience with the budda’s first. I’ve seen people use thermal paste before they pop the new resistor in, any experience with this?
Yes, I’ll talk to customer service, see if I can get a whole new budda instead, that would be sooooo stellar!!! I’d be up and running right away.
A post above says they should last quite a long time, ie not consumable, but 500 hours doesn’t seem like that much. Rough rough estimate on mine, maybe 10 big prints + 6 hours, and ofcourse a bunch of small stuff, a few hours, so probably around 100 hours total after a few months…
Build plate broke??? dropped the nozzle on it? You’re going to replace the glass with SS? obviously not the same thickness, would that work though, wouldn’t it warp?
The LulzBot All Metal Hot End, the Hexagon, is more reliable than the Buda. It is the next generation–smaller, hotter, more reliable, etc. For TAZ new and current users. Soon.
I am not saying you have to. Lulzbot stopped supporting the part for the Budaschnozzle 1.1 to 1.3 and I have a feeling the 2 will be being phased out so I tried something new to me and I have been very happy.
I believe I have the Mk V-BV. Don’t order it off of Ebay. Order it directly from Reifsnderb off Hotends.com. It is my understanding that he is the creator. His product quality is top notch and the knock offs of of Ebay probably won’t be as good and you want to something more reliable right?
Really good know. Yes, it sounds like the budda 2.0 will be phased out most likely, it looks like they’re moving to an all metal hex hotend. Honestly, I see many area’s where the budda falls short, the whole resistor area, the dinky wood pieces that break easily. It works well when it’s working but there are better designs out there for sure…
Do you have a fan blowing across the PEEK insulator for PLA on your Jhead? Do you need to direct airflow right at the nozzle end like how the stock budda and fan are setup?
Oh yeah, and how are you adapting the J-head to your extruder mount? plate or 3D printed part? if you can link to a thread or show pictures that would be even better! thanks!
The All Metal Hotend is much better than the jhead. Much much. It is a newer generation of hot end. It should be on the site for order later today. Highly recommended.
We will, but I don’t know the timeline for that–it isn’t imminent. Reprapdiscount.com may sell them as well, but they don’t have our version up yet either.
