One of my mods for the M200 that has proven to be effective and inexpensive was to wrap the hotend in teflon tape, commonly used in plumbing applications.
I have found it to be very effective in keeping the hotend pristine and free of gummy residue. Just thought that I'd share.
Who needs a silicon boot? :lol:
I like to keep the hotend in a nice looking condition too ... :)
So I've put a flat rectangle Capstan foil (5.5cm x 4cm) with just a hole for the nozzle underneath the hotend for "shielding" (the foil is in touch with the bottom side of the hotend). That worked fine so far.
But honestly said I'm really new to 3D printing, so I'm not sure if that is really good for the hotend in the long run ... maybe the surface of the entire hotend must be kept unpainted / uncovered to get enough contact of cooling air? who knows ...
I like to keep the hotend in a nice looking condition too ... :)
So I've put a flat rectangle Capstan foil (5.5cm x 4cm) with just a hole for the nozzle underneath the hotend for "shielding" (the foil is in touch with the bottom side of the hotend). That worked fine so far.
But honestly said I'm really new to 3D printing, so I'm not sure if that is really good for the hotend in the long run ... maybe the surface of the entire hotend must be kept unpainted / uncovered to get enough contact of cooling air? who knows ...
As discussed in other threads, Cooling of the heater block is not something we want. It defeats the purpose of the heating block which is to keep the material hot while it is prepared to be extruded. Even if you were to actively heat the block by external means you should be able to print fine so long as you do not exceed the normal printing temp range.
-Michael
Michael, I don't think the ZX81 (or Renny) is talking about cooling, he's trying to insulate the hot end just by wrapping it in Kapton tape ("capstan foil").
ZX81, a Kapton wrap is not going to affect the printer much if at all, as Kapton is not much of an insulator. Some people do maintain that wrapping a hot end in some sort of insulative material (which they then often fasten with a Kapton wrap) reduces print curling due to downward-radiated heat. Insulating the hot end will also reduce the "temperature dip" that happens whenever the print cooling fan comes on or increases in speed. In some situations, however, that dip is deliberately used by Zortrax to make raft or support removal easier by quickly lowering the extrusion temperature.