[Gulfcoast Robotics] All Metal Hotend Conversion Kit - Polished Titanium Heatbreak for Creality Ender 3 Pro and V2, Ender 5 Pro and Plus and CR10 3D Printers

Prior to getting this hot end, I was struggling with printing PETG and having it stick to my bed. After the first 2 good prints, I couldn't get another reliable print from that spool to save my life, and it was very frustrating. Whether it was not sticking to the bed, excessive stringing, not extruding enough, or a slew of other issues I was having, it was just being difficult. Finally, I was able to get that print to stick (on the stock hot end), but I had to be at 235C in order to do it! I took a look at my PTFE tube and it was charred and breaking down at that temp. SO I ordered this kit and was very impressed. Build quality is good. No instructions came with it, but their support team responded to an email without a few hours with a detailed guide and answered all my questions. (Installation is very straightforward, but I'm glad I asked the questions I did because I didn't know about the Heat to 250C then tighten the nozzle). My first print with the same material I was having issues with printed just about perfect. There was still minor stringing issues, but that can be dialed in with settings. What really shocked me is that this material, which the old hot end needed to be at 235C in order for a possibly-ok print printed fantastic at 215C! thats a whopping 20C lower, the stock hot-end would barely extrude properly at that temp. I'm curious how this compares to the TH3D titanium all-metal conversion, which just replaces the heat break on the stock hot end. I had that as well in case I didn't like this, but am so satisfied with this product I think I'll save the other one as a spare / if I decide to go to a dual-hot end setup.

While I wish they included paper instructions, the bag that the hotend was in had a qr code on and when I scanned it, it took me to the website where they had excellent detailed step-by-step instructions with lots of pictures that very thoughtfully and verbosely explain the very easy installation procedure. moreover, despite having them already, the hotend upgrade kit includes all the tools you need to install it. everything goes together exactly like the stock hotend except the hotend and heat brake are separate pieces that come apart with a grub screw and because it's actually all-metal, the ptfe tube doesn't go into the heat brake, just into the coupler where it meets the top of the assembly so you have a little more sticking out of the top. you can either trim your ptfe tube (recommended as the end is probably fried anyway if you've been printing with it on the stock hotend for some time), or let the excess hang there. for the price (which is honestly fantastic!) this is a great upgrade to be able to print higher temp materials without frying your ptfe tube (like abs for example which is why I bought it). I'm going to be using my ender 3 with a cardboard box enclosure to print the parts required to construct a voron 2.4 soon. following the instruction guide online, they recommend reducing retractions in half to 3.5mm and after making that slicer correction, I get honestly FANTASTIC PLA prints. (I haven't bought my abs yet, but if this prints as good with abs as it does PLA, I'm REALLY happy with this. I will very likely be buying another one of these for my tevo torando (which is a cr-10 clone and has identical mounts and cooling configuration as the ender 3). I would recommend that this company start including the web instructions on paper with their stuff for people who don't want to have to refer to the internet via computer or phone for installation or don't know how qr codes work (I see some other reviews stating that this doesn't come with instructions and i think they totally missed the qr thing (which isn't nearly as huge in the US as it is in other countries), but I can easily give this product a 10/10 review and as I said, will likely be buying another one just like it for my tornado. oh, and in case anyone is wondering, it uses the standard mk8 hotend design so it accepts the same nozzles as the stock hotend (so if you have a bunch already they'll work)

This works nice and I am happy with it. I originally installed per instructions (at least I thought I did). After a few nice prints it started to leak. This only caused issues with PETG where a blob would build on the side of the nozzle, brown up, and then drop on the print. This lead to either a random brown blob on my print or a collision and layer shift. So... I took apart and cleaned/polished the heater block and heat break with a heat gun, wire bush, and file. Then I put the block and break back together, using a heat gun to get em hot and tightened up good. Then added a new nozzle, heated it all up and tightened good. Been running perfect since. Im saying to make extra sure that the break is tightened into the block with heat and then the nozzle into the block so it is all tight and there is no way anything can ooze past those threads.

I used one of these on my Ender 3 v2 and it was like a gift from heaven. 99.9999999% of my persistent heat creep issues were solved with this hot end. That being the case, I ordered one for my Ender 3 Max thinking I would avoid any heat creep issues with the stock hot end. AND, that mostly happened except despite installing it correctly and cold and hot tightening the grub screws and the print nozzle, I got consistent leaks around the threads of both the nozzles and the heat break with predictable results - clogged nozzle and persistent under extrusion. I had read user reviews about the leakage, but paid them little heed due to my experience with this hot end on my E3 v2. To make a long story short, after some investigation I discovered the threads for the nozzle and the heat break had what I consider excess play and even when properly tightened - cold and hot, allowed for leakage around the threads. After some careful consideration on a solution, I opted to wrap the threads of the heat break and the nozzle with common plumbers teflon tape. Its working temp on the high side is 500 C, which is hot enough for the filament I use. I currently print only PLA, so this solution seems ideal. After reassembling with the teflon tape and re-tightening (cold and hot), the leakage problem is gone along with the attendant side problems and the printer produces beautiful results. Unless you print with very high temp plastics this solution is easy and inexpensive and makes this clone a worthwhile purchase. Barring the leakage problem, this is a very good product, well made, easy to install and with the titanium alloy heat break has eliminated my heat creep problem.

I only had this for a week, but I've been printing a lot and every print comes out successful. I also manage to successfully complete several 24hr+ jobs. My biggest concern was leaking, but after all the print jobs, the setup looks completely clean. I also notice very little stringing even thought I lowered the retraction distance from 6mm to 5mm as recommended. I had a lot of stringing with the stock setup. My printer has always suffered from heat creep, this block has finally solved that problem. I was always clueless why my printer suddenly stop extruding during mid-print. Evidently, it was not caused by bad bed leveling, dirty nozzle, narrow tubes, or poor airflow. It was all due to the stock heatsinks! It might cost twice as much as a pack of stock heatsinks, but at least you won't be wasting your time fixing heat creep issues, and getting cleaner prints too. I installed it on my Ender 5 Plus. It is basically a drop-in install. No other modifications necessary. It is very easy, especially for those who have experience fixing cold creep issues. Some tips: tighten the screws and nozzle at 240c, make sure no wires get in the way of the fan, check for fluctuating temperatures, and check for leaks after a print. UPDATE: Took off a star. I bought it for my Ender 3 and this time it wasn't a smooth process. The fitting was really tight. The heater core did not go all the way in and my nozzle had a really tight fit. I did not use the included nozzle because it had a different ranch size and I only use 0.3mm. Tightening it was very difficult because you needed one ranch to hold the block and another one to turn the nozzle. This caused a lot of scratching on the block and it was a dangerous process since the temperature had to be high during the tightening process. I was also getting heat creep for every print until I lowered the retraction all the way down to 1mm@35mm/s. It was currently set to 4mm@45mm/s. All that said and done, my Ender 3 is getting good results now. UPDATE: Sadly after a few months of use, the block suddenly started leaking. I attempted to remove the nozzle, but since there is no rotation lock, my pliers ended up shorting the heater core. Also, since the bottom screws are so small, they were stripped when I tried to remove the heater core. Now I have to replace the entire heatsink unit and the heater cart. I also couldn't install another new nozzle since the thread have warn out so I can no longer screw in another nozzle. So my final thoughts, if you installed it correctly the first time, it will eventually get warn out, then you will try to fix it and realize it cannot be fixed due to the poor design of this system and cheap metal that easily strips.

When I started printing PETG, I used to get blocked hotend's all the time. The issues with using an all metal is to follow instructions on installing. If you want a good result, then understand how they work. 1/ You must get the heat break to fit tight against the nozzle to stop any leaks. 2/ When you change nozzles, NEVER allow the heat block to move as you remove the nozzle. This hot end does not have the two screws (that screw up the function of high temp printing). Hold it tight with a pair of good pliers or with a crescent wrench and only change nozzles at the full temperature. The printing results are extremely good with this. Along with normal maintenance of the printers. Before you print anything make sure all the screws are tight, and the rollers have a clean track, have no wiggle, and the rollers are snug against the tracks. When I start a print, I will always check the bed for having no movements, and runs very smooth on the rollers. If you find any movement up or down after snugging the rollers, then you have a bad roller bearing or two. After 300 prints the quality is still nearly perfect. The layers look really nice. And I print my PETG parts at 0.12 layer height and some at .36 width for extra strength. I print mostly PETG and have great results. For TPU you want the teflon tube in contact with the nozzle, because you need all the "slick" you can get to make it into the nozzle and make nice flexible prints. For that I use the "Hot End Fix" on Thingiverse.

First things first: yes, this does work. If you print mainly in FDM what you're doing by installing this is trading the possibility of a PTFE clog (where the PTFE pulls away, allowing filament to expand and clog) for a possibility of a clog between your nozzle and the heatbreak thread. If you don't routinely get PTFE clogs and you don't need the other benefits of an all metal hot end then you don't necessarily need this. After installing I can say that I get fewer clogs. It is more rare (for me) to get a clog between the nozzle and heat break than it was from the PTFE receding. So that's good. So not having PTFE clogs has been amazing. What's not amazing is ensuring there's no gap between the heat break and nozzle. You have to thread both in very tightly so that they meet in the center with zero gap. There zero margin for error. I put my hot end at 250 degrees and tighten the nozzle with a socket wrench (much easier than using a wrench - recommended!). So why three stars? First of all, nowhere in the product description does it say you need a 7mm wrench. A stock ender 3 comes with three types of wrenches: a 6mm (for the nozzle), and a dual 8/10 mm wrench. Why the heatbreak wouldn't be designed around one of these sizes or, better yet, made to fit a socket wrench of some size is beyond me. I know this is a clone. It just copied someone else's design. But a quality of life change could have been made. The point of the matter is that getting the heatbreak nice and tight is challenging. You have to heat to a very high temperature which makes handling it difficult, and you need a *thin* 7mm wrench, as there is very little surface area for a 7mm wrench to grip on to. At least a socket is more conducive to getting a tight fit, instead of slipping and sliding around with a thin 7mm wrench with a scalding hot piece of metal held by pliers or another wrench. It's true I get fewer clogs. But when I do get a clog, there's a lot of hope and prayer involved in making sure I threaded both the heatbreak and nozzle appropriately. So it's pretty much a net wash for me over whether its better. Fewer clogs, but when I do get a clog it's significantly longer to troubleshoot and make sure its reset correctly.

Was having trouble printing PETG on my Ender 3. It would work about 15-20 minutes and then the nozzle would clog. Found some discussion suggesting that the stock hot-end allowed too much heat into the material feeding into the hot end causing it to melt prematurely and clog the nozzle. Currently 3 hours into a pretty substantial print and this hot-end is working well. One issue I had was the heating element was slightly smaller than the block was made for and getting it to clamp down required I torque down on the clamp screws more than I probably should have. If I had it to do over again I think I'd try adding a little aluminum foil between the heat element and block, but I did get the element secured and it's working find without any additional material.