Hello I'm a new owner of a v5 hotend but before mounting everything. I wonder if it's usefull to put thermal grease on the heater cartridge and on the thermistor before mounting them? This must allow a better heat transfer between the elements... I just need to verify the max temp allowed for the grease :geek: I've seen guys using fire cement but this is more difficult to remove. I'm interested in any advice about this. Tx Didier
Hi Didier, Depending on the thermal grease you get, you may find that you are printing at temperatures that exceed their rated limits - so make sure you do go ahead and verify that because doing so can cause the paste to degrade and give of potentially harmful gasses. We do not recommend putting anything on the heater cartridge before inserting it - and for the thermistor, the Kapton should work just fine.. Do you have any particular reason for wanting to use the thermal grease? Josh
Hi Thanks for the prompt response - No particular reason - except that a th. grease better transfers heat between elements in contact with. It's commonly used in others applications and I was curious. You are right about the risks : temp. and possibilities to be degraded. I will follow the instructions found on the E3D website. Regards Didier
There are greases that can handle the heat of a hotend if fact some go to around 700c. I do not think they are necessary but can be useful as a general purpose grease for delta arms and most parts that rotate against each other. The very, very high temp greases are overkill for such purposes but that is what I use on my printer parts that need lubrication.
I would not use it on the thermistor for the reasons everyone else spoke of (it might be mildly conductive), but i have gotten early positive results from a very small dab of thermal grease in the threads between the heat sink and the heat break,. only a single small dab/dot, and only on the bottom 1/3 of the threads closest to the heat break (You don't want the grease getting into the filament feed path towards the top, so seriously very small dab of grease if you try it on the threads). And make 100% sure its grease, and not paste,. otherwise you might find it very difficult to disassemble later. but admittedly, i am still testing this,. so,..
