Volcano vs. regular V6?

Discussion in 'Volcano' started by mandras, Oct 30, 2015.

  1. mandras

    mandras Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2015
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hi,

    I'm new to 3D printing and I understand from all those internet sites and videos just how great Volcano is and how fast and strong you can make your prints. Now what I'm not getting is why the longer melt zone is bad for regular printing as we're used to, possible with a V6 hot-end. Why is there no 0.25mm nozzle for Volcano, what are the drawbacks compared to a V6 with a 0.25mm nozzle?

    Also, has anyone actually ever printed with Volcano AND a traditional hot-end in the same print? I read ideas such as a smooth surface with small nozzle and a strong structure inside with Volcano, but has anyone ever actually done something like this?
     
  2. Sanjay

    Sanjay Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2014
    Messages:
    126
    Likes Received:
    119
    Polymers do not like being held at their melt temperature for long periods of time, they begin to degrade and depolymerise giving off gasses and losing their important material properties.

    If a 0.25mm nozzle was used on a Volcano system then because of the much reduced rate of flow when using a 0.25mm nozzle the filament would be held at high temperature in the long melt zone for a much much longer time than when using the larger 0.40+mm nozzles.

    I have done a little with larger nozzles for infill and smaller for external perimeters at lower layer heights. Although it sounds great in theory much of the benefits don't really materialise in reality. Print time isn't massively reduced, the large layers and the small layers don't interact perfectly and quality is lost, as well as the issue of oozing from the larger nozzle which is sitting idle for a long time while while the smaller nozzle does it's work. It's also a real PITA to set up on a slicer.

    With the above said, we do offer a 0.40mm nozzle in Volcano size. If someone can show me that they can use the 0.40mm nozzle for low layer heights (say 0.25mm and below), and a larger nozzle such as a 0.80mm with fat layers, for the internals, and produce stronger prints at high quality in less time then I'll gladly make them up some smaller Volcano nozzles and get them on the site. I'll also refund them the cost of their Volcano and I'll ship them the smaller nozzles for free.

    Challenge initiated. ;)
     
    sednya, Elliot, Jarrett and 2 others like this.
  3. jet

    jet Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2016
    Messages:
    231
    Likes Received:
    24
    "Here, hold my beer..."

    One of the V6 temp sensors fried on my BigBox. Digging through the parts bin to find something to fix it I found a NIB Volcano kit with four nozzles, heater block, heater, temp sensor, and other goodies.

    Any reason I can't pull the heater block off a V6 and replace it with a Volcano heater block in a BigBox? This would be a crazy way to do rough drafts or print structure for prints done in Edge from the .25 V6 on the other extruder.

    [EDIT: the Volcano height is so more more than the stock V6 height that I can't run both heads. At least I did a physical test before cutting and soldering...]
     
    #3 jet, Jul 31, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2019
    sednya likes this.
  4. Russell

    Russell Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2019
    Messages:
    25
    Likes Received:
    3
    I know this is from a while ago, but your post was also on an old thread, so unlikely to get an update from the original posters.
    What exactly is your question. I have Volcano heater block (with volcano hotends) working on the Bigbox, so that works fine. But are you suggesting to use it with a normal V6 hotend that is not the longer Volcano hotend? I dont think that would work, as there would be a gap in the heatblock where the nozzle stops, but thats just a guess.
     
  5. Doug Scott

    Doug Scott New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2020
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    If I understand it correctly he is referring to running a dual extruder setup one being Volcano, the other being regular v6. The purpose is to be able to use the volcano for the parts of the print that would take advantage of it, while also having the standard v6 hotend for the rest of the print job.

    I just picked up a couple of volcano type hotends off a Chinese site for less than a cheap clone v6 hotend. I don't really get why such a large nozzle by default. I am very new to the volcano type hotend, so I need to do a bit of research to see if I can locate the logic of how they work.
     

Share This Page