OPAM Hot End

[Brian_Krassenstein]

A new one piece water cooled hot end called the OPAM has just launched on crowdfunding website Indiegogo. The OPAM (One Piece All Metal) hot end can printing using temperatures as high as 350°C and has been fully tested with multiple materials, including PLA, ABS and PC-ABS. You can find out more over on 3DPrint.com: http://3dprint.com/63040/opam-water-cooled-hot-end/


Below is a photo of the OPAM hot end:

[richardphat]

Honestly it is overkill for the typical filament, but it is cool and nice to have.
There should be a warning with this set up, it will wear out your electronics faster as you must provide more current in order to keep the right temperature.
The pump provided is a fish tank pump and you can't really control the flow out of the box that is the problem.

[brbubba]

Honestly it is overkill for the typical filament, but it is cool and nice to have.
There should be a warning with this set up, it will wear out your electronics faster as you must provide more current in order to keep the right temperature.
The pump provided is a fish tank pump and you can't really control the flow out of the box that is the problem.

The flow shouldn't matter. The issue I see here is that he doesn't have a way to dissipate the heat in the water. Long prints may present some issues without introducing a small radiator. Interesting idea, but I completely agree, this is overkill and adds unneeded complexity to your build.

[JRDM]

The flow shouldn't matter. The issue I see here is that he doesn't have a way to dissipate the heat in the water. Long prints may present some issues without introducing a small radiator. Interesting idea, but I completely agree, this is overkill and adds unneeded complexity to your build.

An external radiator is needed, but I gather that's standardized in the PC water cooling circles. And this seems to be made to appeal to them.

As it is, I do question the need for this. Fan cooling works fine on E3Dv6s and Picos, I've run both up to 400˚C and the fins remain plenty cool enough to touch, and requires less parts to do so. But hey, if there's a benefit, then they're more than welcome to give it a try. I guess water cooling should be quieter provided the pump and radiator fan are chosen well.

[raysspl]

Oooo! I wanna try this!

[JRDM]

"over 100 hours of testing" Is that supposed to be a lot? Is that divided between all six prototypes, or just one long part build?

If it's all-metal, why does the barrel look like plastic?

[richardphat]

Correct me if I am wrong, but since when pipe and fitting were meant to be in application where they move alot?
Are the fitting and connect wear proof from movement?

Heck even in stationary you do get leak in desktop already...