I recently bought a second-hand lulzbot mini 1.0.4. I’m loving it so far, I did have one question. The previous owner gave me two tool heads that both look exactly like: https://www.lulzbot.com/store/tool-heads/lulzbot-mini-single-extruder-tool-head-v2_1
However, he said one was a 1.75mm head, and another was a 3mm. The 1.75 mm head needs some hotend work (thermistor broken) however, I don’t seem to see anywhere that lulzbot officially made a v2.1 tool head for 1.75. Everything appears identical (I haven’t torn apart the hotend yet to see if any diameter changes)
The only difference I noticed besides the nozzle was the 1.75 has some ptfe tubing right after the extruder gear and into the hot end.
Was there ever an official v2.1 extruder produced from lulzbot for 1.75?
Reason I ask was I was thinking of replacing the hotend with a E3DV6 and a small nozzle with a dii cooler to use as my miniatures print head, and keep the 3mm .5 nozzle for making structural parts. However, if the v2.1 was never really designed for 1.75 not sure if its worth it and should just wait until I have the money to upgrade to the mosquito.
I also have not tried running the 3mm with a smaller nozzle over longer periods for miniatures to see if the extruder can handle the pressure over time etc.
Thanks!
There have been several community projects which converted the stock tool heads to 1.75 mm filament. I wouldn’t shy away from the tool head just because it isn’t factory made, many other community members have had success modifying their tool heads to support 1.75 mm filament. If you do some more research on the topic you will likely find many other users doing the same thing. To answer your question, no there was never and official v2.1 extruder in 1.75 mm . If it as simple are replacing the thermistor and switching out the nozzle size then I would say it is worth it.
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Thanks for the reply!
I’ll probably just try switching the thermistor and nozzle and give it a go. One reason for going E3DV6 is I really like both the dii cooler and the silicon pro sock on it. I use it on a second printer and get great miniatures from it. But I’ve never played with 1.75mm before or direct drive etc. I did some test prints and the overhangs and fine points were a bit uglier in the mini with the v2.1 tool head then on my dii cooler hotend fan on my other machine. My other machine is a bit home built though and I haven’t tuned in the settings to get to be a reliable printer. Its bed is much larger too, would like to use it just for larger parts and tinkering, keeping the mini for minatures and a reliable second printer to make parts.
FYI this DIY silicone sock is a simple upgrade for the hexagon hot end on the mini that really impacts printer quality and consistency. Most of my printers run a V6, but I’ve not had to touch my mini v1.03 extruder since adding this, barring a few part tweaks to handle flexibles.