E3D-v6 on Prusa i3
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For all variants of the i3 design, the 1.75 universal and 3mm direct should fit the extruder that comes with Prusa i3 kits easily or with minimal modifications. A groove mount plate may be needed but usually the hotend can be attached with 2 M3 screws to hold it in place. The 3mm Bowden will need either some modifications to the standard extruder to accommodate the extra height or for it to be mounted using a groove mount. If you're upgrading your hotend or you can get a custom printed extruder there are specific designs that can hold the e3d v6 much better.
Contents
Standard Kit Extruders
What You'll Need
- Allen Keys
- 2 x 20mm M3 screws
- Drill bit to clean out hole for PTFE tubing.
- Something to remove some plastic (pen knife should be sufficient).
- Greg's wade extruder or similar.
- Fully assembled hotend (See E3D-v6 Assembly for the assembly instructions).
Assembly Steps
For assembly of a Greg's wade extruder, this is a roughly the same as any of the many you can find on the internet. For the assembly of Prusa i3 Rework assembly.
1.75 Universal
The best practice is to run the PTFE tubing from heat break all the way up to the hobbed bolt in one continuous section. This might be easy to do if your extruder already has a wide enough filament guide hole, if not then you can either widen the existing hole or just cut the PTFE tubing off flush with the top of the hotend. You may have to dissemble the hotend to get the length right.
The Bowden coupling means that a small amount of material has to be removed from the extruder to accommodate it, allowing the hotend to sit flush.
To fix the hotend in place, insert it into the bottom of the extruder and insert the 2 M3 screws to hold it in place.
3mm Direct
The 3mm direct doesn't need any PTFE tubing so can just be inserted in the the bottom of the extruder and attached as with the M3 screws as above.
3mm Bowden
This option isn't likely to be used with a standard extruder and you may struggle fitting it to one. The additional height necessary to accommodate the larger Bowden coupling means that the only way to mount it is by using a groove mount plate, even then it might not be possible due to height reasons or lack of the two vertical holes placed 50mm apart on the bottom of the extruder. The PTFE tubing is 1/4" (6.35mm) so it wont be possible to enlarge the filament guide hole enough without going through the perimeter walls. This means cutting off the tubing so it is flush with the top of the hotend.
Specific E3D V6 Mounts
Bowden Users
If you already have access to printing facilities or find a supplier who will print specific parts for you then a v6 specific setup will have far superior clamping of the hotend than that of the above designs.
A Bowden mount for the rework x carriage is available here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:547706
i3 Rework Direct Users
A nice looking v6 extruder based on the i3 Rework type is available here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:257811
