Hi, I wondering if a High temp ceramic coating, like on those no stick ceramic cookware, on the inner bore of the stainless steel part and possibly the nozzle would help reduce friction with the filament, as it might help with PLA printing as I am having a problem recently with PLA jamming, seems like it started when I was print parts with more retractions than previously.
3D printing is still in its infancy as a technology and as it matures those are the kind of ideas that the manufacturers are going to be taking a look at. PLA seems to be the most difficult filament to print without jamming and your idea may vary well be incorporated in the hotends of the future. Thinking outside the box is what is needed to enhance and move the industry forward, thanks for your suggestion.
Thanks for the encouragement, I just put in a request for quote/feasability for a high perfomance coating http://www.jet-hot.com/coatings/jet-hot-slick-coat/ on the nozzle and heat break part for the e3d, will keep updated of what I find.
We have been working very hard to perfect the surface finish on the inside of the HeatBreak to now be incredibly smooth in and around the areas where sticking is a risk - ceramics are a cool idea, I will be most interested to hear what jet-hot have to say on the feasibility of it! The link that you posted seems to be for a fluoropolymer coating which will break down at around 350C - but they certainly seem to do some other interesting coatings.. If one thinks a bit more outside of the box and instead uses a "slab"/cylinder of ceramic sandwiched between the cold and hot sides. If you then put a single high-precision hole in the ceramic and could achieve the correct surface finish then it would provide a good surface finish and very low thermal conduction. However a well-finished SS HeatBreak would probably still give it a run for it's money in terms of surface finish and would still be preferable in terms of overall thermal conduction and cost.. All food for thought..
All good ideas but let's not forget that all such improvements add up to money spent and if too expensive to implement the consumer will go elsewhere. It is hard to remain competitive in this cut throat world and they copy everything you do and I guarantee that the consumer will go for the cheaper price if it looks at all like the better but more expensive hotend.
Just updating, So far only one of the vendors I have approached to coat the parts has responded. They said "We are unable to use our thermal spray process to coat these parts due to part configuration and I.D size.", not sure why the others have not but probably has something to due with the quanity, 3-5 units, I asked for. Anyway I will keep trying and am also following up on coatings by Dow Corning https://www.dowcorning.com/content/auto ... orial.aspx and a graphite ceramic type you can apply yourself http://www.segaerosol.com/.
If interested in a DIY option...might also look at Cerakote's Micro Slick dry film. http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/finishes/C-110Q/micro-slick-dry-film-coating/ Cant take 1,200F so good for currently available materials. Application instructions say that electrostatic application may be used but it is going to be difficult to apply any coating to the small ID's we deal with. A Vapor Deposition process may be best bet but I don't know what kind of materials can be "deposited" with this process.
The only thing to rememeber is any coating they put inside the hot end will reduce the size of the filament going in. the drawins show 2mm hole I beleive in the heatsink. so adding a coating to the inside without first making it wider will reduce what can go through it
