Diamond Hotend

Help bringing multicolor printing to the community

Over at RepRap.me we have been isolating ourselves for some time, deeply buried in the development of something special. We are now ready to reveal some of the details behind our latest achievement: The Diamond Hotend and we encourage everyone interrested to back our Kickstarter campaign launching April 1st.

Assembling

Instructions written with Prusa i3 Hephestos in mind

1. [picture reference] If you have'nt already done so, download and print the Diamond Hotend Cooling Shield. For normal use PLA is the material of choice, however if you want to experiment with printing materials that require higher printing temperatures, to avoid the possibillity of a shield meltdown, we advise printing the shield in ABS or another material with a higher glass transition temperature (Tg).
2. [picture reference] Insert the two M3 nuts into the hexagonal holes into the rear of the printed part and press them into place. If necessary use a soldering iron to heat the nuts to melt them into place.
3. [picture reference] Screw the Heat Breaks into the three threaded holes in the Diamond Hotend.
4. [picture reference] Apply a small amount of the thermal compound to the center hole of the Diamond Hotend.
5. Insert the heater cartridge into the center hole of the Diamond Hotend and press it in as far as possible.
6. [picture reference] Wipe off excess compound. If there's no excess take out the heater cartridge and repeat from step 4.
7. Dip the thermistor tip into the remaining thermal compound and press it into the 2 mm hole in the Diamond Hotend along with some millimeters of the PTFE tubings, which will keep the thermistor locked in place. Optional: you can also choose to glue the thermistor into place with thermal glue (not included).
8. [picture reference] Stack the three Thermal Isolator Sheets and feed the loose wire ends through the corresponding holes, then firmly press the sheets onto the three Heat Breaks.
9. Screw the HeatSinks loosely onto the Heat Breaks. Do not tighten them yet, we will do this later.
10. [picture reference] Grap the wire ends from the heater cartridge along with the thermistor wire ends and feed them all the way through the pointy end of the Cooling Shield orienting the shield in such a way that the thermistor is located closest to the Cooler Shield mounting plate.
11. Making sure the wires remain in the central opening of the Cooling Shield, press the shield into the assembly. The rear end of the HeatSinks should click perfectly into the grooves on the Cooling Shield.
12. Screw tight the HeatSinks. Be careful not to overtighten or the Heat Breaks might collapse.
13. [picture reference] Attach the HeatSinks assembly to the Cooling Shield using 3 cable ties.
14. [picture reference] Mount the wires to the inner rear part of the Cooling Shield (the side wich has a groove where the cables will fit) using a cable tie.
15. Cut off any excess of the cable ties.
16. [picture reference] Mount the fan using 4 pcs M3 x 20 mm screws. Make sure to orient the fan such that the airflow goes down into the cooling shield (label side of fan pointing into the assembly) and the wires coming out at the same side as the other wires.
17. [picture reference] Attach the hotend mount onto the carriage using 2 pcs M3 x 20 mm along with 2 pcs M3 washers.
18. To avoid filament clogging and/or meltdown of the cooling shield the fan must be constantly running, so be sure to connect it directly to 12 volt. On a RUMBA board there is a 2 pin terminal located right next to the EXP3 header referred to as 12V. Connect the black wire to - and the red wire to +.
19. Strip the outer 5 mm of the heater cartridge wire ends and mount them in the Hotend power output screw terminal. On a RUMBA board this can be done via the terminal referred to as HE0.
20. When heating up your Diamond Hotend the first time, carefully retighten the HeatSinks while hot. You may use a water pump size plier but be extremely careful not to overtighten. To avoid making marks or scratches on the heatsinks, put some cloth in between.

Congratulations! You should now have a working Diamond Hotend. You should now be ready for attaching 3 pcs 1.75 mm bowden extruders, a RUMBA motherboard (recommended) and your existing 3D-printer.