Long time no post, but I was busy with other projects. I got into house automation, built a new Hackintosh as my 1st generation core i7 got a bit slow lately.

I did built some more Prusa MK3(S) clones, but basically all the same pattern. Still used cheap parts from Aliexpress, just for the motors I switched to original LDO motors(same brand as Prusa uses). Why, it is just less hassle and better print results at the end.

So in summary I felt not much was worth posting about it. Posting more and more builds of the same 3D printer over and over again did not sound that interesting to me.

So what changed? Well I did follow the rapid improvement of extruders and hot-ends, but never felt the urge to spend hundreds of € for extruders and hot-end to hopefully improve the print quality. I was pretty much happy with the print quality of my E3D V6 clones, once I properly calibrated and configured my printers. The only original part that all my printer have in common is the NozzleX from E3D. Which I never replaced on any oy my printers, regardless of printing hundreds of hours with PLA, PETG and some PC and Nylon.

But as the facebook groups where flooded with praises for the Bondtech© BMG Extruder and the Slice Engineering® Mosquito® hot-end I thought it is worth to try out the cheap clones of them.

So I was basically looked up at home due tot he COVID19 restrictions and after watching everything on Netflix and Prime Video I spent way to much time in the Internet. Then on the 11.11 sale on Aliexpress I pulled the trigger on 3D printer parts and home automation gadgets for hundreds of €.

There was a lot of crap that was not worth the money and again I was upset about the Aliexpress customer service that closed some of my disputes without any comment and no refund. Even when I provided photos of the damaged or missing parts. Obviously Aliexpress customer service does not find it suspicious if a seller takes down an item after getting the first bad reviews and then just re-lists the same item.

First item on the list is the Mellow all metal NF-crazy hot-end. Basically a Mosquito® clone, but the heat block is slightly different. So much that the extruder bodies for the Mosquito don't fit.

Also to mention that you just get the hot-end, not heater cartridge, no temp sensor.

I guess the reason is that the want to avoid legal problems. But you can then also buy a Mosquito silicon sock from Mellow that has the option "with block". And you get the heat block in original shape.

Once you switched the heat block, you got yourself an exact clone. BTW: you can use the disassembly manual for the slice engineering website.

I also ordered the Dragon V2 hot-end from Triangle Labs. Not an exact clone of the Mosquito, bit a kind of a merged design between the Mosquito and a V6 hot-end. First I ordered the standard version, which is in use in one of my MK3S clones now for a couple of weeks and very happy with the print results. It has a NozzleX of course.

I addition I ordered the Prusa i3 MK3/MK3S upgrade kit from Triangle labs, which is basically a BMG Extruder clone. I did not take any photos from the build as this was in December when we had more COVID-19 lockdown and I had to take all remaining vacation from 2020. On 2nd Jan 2021 it was ready for the first print.

This is the fully assembled kit with Dragon hot-end and pancake stepper motor.

This is the very first out of the box print, without any calibration done yet. It was some old PLA, not dry so there is some stringing. But already looked nice. Later I did some more extrusion calibration.

Then I ordered a set of 30 magnets supposed to be for the Prusa heat bed from 3D SJHE Tech Store. But they are total crap. The seller claims that they are N35UH, but they are not. Again total crap.

Let me explain why. 

1) Those magnets are less powerful than the one Prusa uses.

2) UH means they would be certified for use at 180°C. But the lost their magnetic power at 80°C.

So let me explain the problem with magnets. Heat reduced the magnetic force and can even lead to permanent loss of magnetic force.  There are different categories for heat resistant magnets EH is rated up to 200°C, UH up to 180°C, SH up to 150°C, just H up to 120°C and just M up to 100°C. As you usually not heat the bed over 100°C would might think H would be fine, but being exposed over longer period of time the value is reduced again.

The N35 would be the material and magnetic force, a higher number means more force.

Prusa uses N45SH magnets, hard to find, mostly you find cheap fakes like this.

Because I am so happy with the Dragon hot-end, I ordered a 2nd full fit of Dragon hot-end and BMG clone. But this time I went for the "high-flow" version, kind of a volcano version. 

I will make an extra blog entry for the build of this hot-end / extruder combo.

Another thing I am very happy with are those powder coated steel sheets from Energetic 3D Store. Only one side has the structures powder coating, the other side has a PEI sticker. Don't get confused with the headline. This seller has no smooth powder coated sheets like Prusa has now(well they are always out of stock).

I like the golden color and I have the impression they have more "grip" as the original Prusa ones. The texture is "rougher", feels a bit like thousands of prices of broken glass. I use IPA with paper towels to clean and they rip little pieces out of the paper towels.

I have used them now for a couple of weeks with PLA and PETG, no issues and still as good as at the first day. I want to try some Poly Carbonate and ABS soon. I paid 20€ per sheet in the Prusa MK3 size including shipping to Germany.

For the same seller I bought flexible build plates for my first DLP printer. Again I am happy with the quality. 

Which leads to these nice toys. A Elegoo Mars 2 Pro and the Elegoo Mercury 2 wash and cure station.

So expect some blog posts about the hack I planned for those 2, like a Raspberry Pi Zero for remote control over WLAN.

Besides the post of the detailed build of the Dragon hot-end / BMG extruder clone combiner's you can expect some updates on other topics. Like the use of a Raspberry Pi 3A+ on the Einsy Rambo board, as the zero is just not powerful enough to work with the latest version of Octoprint and some plugins.