{"id":26741,"date":"2020-04-08T16:50:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T20:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dyzedesign.com\/?p=26741"},"modified":"2020-04-09T15:10:31","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T19:10:31","slug":"spiral-heaters-are-the-next-step-in-3d-printing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dyzedesign.com\/fr\/2020\/04\/spiral-heaters-are-the-next-step-in-3d-printing\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiral Heaters are the Next Step in 3D Printing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new generation of 3D printer heaters, spiral heaters, is expected to be used more and more in 3D printing in the coming years as they offer better control and consistency. Let’s see why spiral heaters are meant to be the next big thing by going over the history of hotends and heating cartridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit of history<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

3D printer hotend has come a long way. Starting with the first design from Adrian Bowyer, then to the very famous J-Head, things have changed and improved over each new generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NiChrome wire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you check back in 2007, the Darwin 3D print was one of the first. Created by Adrian Bowyer, it uses the \u201cThermoplast Extruder\u201d, one of the first, most effective, and simplest hotend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thermoplast Extruder. Mounted electronics, PTFE hotend, direct drive, this extrusion system is the mother of all<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By looking at the heater section, you\u2019ll realize that this hotend uses a NiChrome wire. It\u2019s a resistive wire very commonly used in heating elements. It\u2019s a very efficient and reliable solution, as the purpose of Nichrome is to heat, and its maximum operating temperature is way beyond what we use in 3D printing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Thermoplast hotend wrapped with NiChrome<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you look closely, you can see yellow fibreglass insulation on the heating wire. Other hotends with similar designs used bare Nichrome wire. Extra care was needed as shorts with the wire could make the hotend not usable. More insulating and planning was required with bare wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Temperature Resistor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The J-Head has been one of the most popular hotend. It\u2019s well designed, easy to use, and performs incredibly well. It\u2019s one of the first hotend to use PEEK as its main material. The machining complexity and number of components were kept at a minimum. The model you might have seen is the J-Head Mark V-B, with brass heater block and grooved PEEK body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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J-Head Mark V-B<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This design uses a Riedon resistor. The specs are 5.6 \u03a9, with a maximum dissipation of 5 W. The maximum rated temperature is 250 \u00b0C, which is good for printing most polymers. The maximum temperature right might not be well adapted for our application, however, as the data sheet suggest lowering the power to 0% at this temperature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riedon UB Series power derating curve<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The big improvement of using a high temperature resistor is that you could assemble it in a few minutes, and change it in about the same amount of time if it fails. Kapton tape was most often used to hold the resistor in place, which made it simple for anybody to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Heater Cartridge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Around 2012, we started seeing more and more heater cartridges in 3D printers. For example, the delta 3D printer BerryBot3D included them with their hotend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The BerryBot3D with a heater cartridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These cartridges were well adapted for the situation. The inside contains a heating wire, insulating ceramic, and the housing is in steel. It\u2019s a self-contained heater available is roughly the same format as the heating resistor. People started swapping their J-Head resistor with this heater cartridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside a heater cartridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The need for improvement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All the previous had their strengths and weaknesses. But each of them was an improvement over the previous solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n