Stock Extruders vs Upgraded / Replaced ones

[Geoff]

Hi guys,

I was wondering.. When did you buy your flashforge, and what sort of Extruders did you get?

I bought mine some time back now, and it came with the original extruders you see in the picture (original extruders on the right side) These were fine, they did the job great (until some dodgy filament came along)

Failing to unblock them, I ordered a new set of extruders from Flashforge as I've mentioned a few times, and they are the ones on the left in the picture. They appear to work alot better in terms of gripping filament, I have not done about 200 hours on them and not had 1 slip of filament, and all the filaments that used to "click click click" don't really do that anymore, and yeah the design is slightly different on these. The thumb tab is spring loaded, which does two things.

1. It keeps the black tube that holds the filament in the hole.. handy.

2. It moves the bearing that presses against the other side of the filament (the soft side that pushes against the gear side) which keeps the filament pressed tight against the gear, which is I assume what stops the gear clicking and misfeeds I used to get.

So, which extruders did you guys get and have they upgraded the stock model to these newer extruders?



The other difference is the notable thermistor wiring now goes around the back which is much neater.

[Billzilla]

Mine is a pretty new one, it seems to also have the new extruders.

[Geoff]

Mine is a pretty new one, it seems to also have the new extruders.

Thanks Bill, it's good to know they upgraded the stock model, besides being a better build it means less issues and warranty claims for them I guess, meaning they can focus on making new machines!

I'm sorta stuck with my machine for now, I would love the new creatorX, hell knows my machine here needs a rest lol, but im already up to about $1800 on a normal flashforge, so with the replaced heads I've already spent more than they cost

If I was single and had no kids, hey, I'd have 10 of them sitting on my desk here, but yeah... priorities

[Iain]

My flashforge I purchased in Feb has the new extruders. They are very easy to disassemble and clean, on only one occasion with ABS filament it would not retract or extrude and had to push it out manually. I think I had left it in the extruder for a long period of time without using it.

[Geoff]

My flashforge I purchased in Feb has the new extruders. They are very easy to disassemble and clean, on only one occasion with ABS filament it would not retract or extrude and had to push it out manually. I think I had left it in the extruder for a long period of time without using it.

Yep, it does happen unfortunately. Some filaments I can leave in there forever, some bulb up and wont unload.

The other extruder is always hot even if it's not getting used, and while 40-50c isnt enough to melt the plastic in the dormant nozzle, it is enough to make it swell. If the thermistor is reading 45c, the inside of the tubing would be around 5c hotter. Have you left anything in your Car before and it melted over time? car's get to 50c easily inside, so you can see how the filament gets affected by small residual heat over time.