Introduction
The Titan Aero is a very similar build to a Titan and a V6 put together (which shouldn't come as much of a surprise).
Please note, though, that you should be very careful of the following safety cautions:
- Be aware of your electronics. Don't work on your printer while it is plugged in or turned on.
- Be aware when you heat up your new hotend not to burn yourself on the heater block nozzle or heater cartridge.
- The standard Titan Aero is capable of printing up to 285°C, do not exceed these temperatures unless you have replaced the thermistor cartridge with a PT100, the aluminium heater block with a Plated copper heater block, and the Brass nozzle for a Plated copper, Hardened steel or Nozzle X.
- The firmware modification is not optional it is a mandatory step,
- Make sure you have ordered and received the correct voltage heater and fan to match the power supply of your printer. All of our current heater cartridges should have the voltage and wattage laser engraved on the cartridge.
- Connecting 12v parts to a 24v power supply can result in overheating, component damage, or fire. If you are unsure double check the rating on your power supply.
- Your HotEnd and your printer are your responsibility. We cannot be held responsible for damages caused by the use, misuse or abuse of our products.
Tools
Parts
- V6 Heater Block
- V6 Nozzles
- V6 Heat Break
- Thermistor Cartridge
- Heater Cartridge
- M3 Grub Screw × 2
- M3x10 Socket Dome Screw
- Extension Wires
- Titan Extruder Body
- Titan Idler Lever
- Titan Filament Guide
- Steel Pinion Gear
- Delrin Gear with Filament Drive Shaft
- PTFE Tubing
- M3x8 Screw
- M3x30 Screws × 3
- M3x25 Screw
- M4 Thumbscrew
- M4x10 Button Head Screw
- Idler Spring
- Shake-proof Washer
- Titan Aero Lidsink
- 9mm Roller Bearing
- 40mm Fan
- Silicone sock
- Compact but powerful motor (optional extra)
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Gather the nozzle, heater block and heat break:
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Nozzle
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Heater Block
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Heat Break
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You should be looking at the side of the heater block with three holes in it
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Screw in the nozzle all the way into the heater block. Don't worry about tightness yet.
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Then, unscrew the nozzle by a 1/4 of a turn. This will leave a little space to tighten after screwing in the heat break.
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Screw in the heat break until it touches the nozzle.
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Tighten the nozzle against the heat break. No need to over tighten, we'll be hot-tightening later.
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If there is significant space between the nozzle top and the heater block you should re-adjust your nozzle and heat break to eliminate that space.
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Gather the parts you'll need to install the thermistor:
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Thermistor Cartridge
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The Smaller, 1.5mm Hex Wrench
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M3 Grub Screw
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Heater Block
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Slide in the thermistor cartridge.
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You can slide the cartridge in either direction so that the wires extend from one side or the other of your heater block. Think about how you'll be organising your wiring to decide which makes sense for your printer.
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Screw in grub screw until it just touches the thermistor.
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Tighten M3 grub screw by an 1/8 of a turn.
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Before you install your heater cartridge, you should double check that you both purchased and received the correct voltage cartridge. This process is less annoying than putting out a house fire.
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Your heater cartridge will be either 30w or 40w, with blue and red wires receptively.
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If you have a 12v heater cartridge, your resistance reading will be (about) 3.5 or 4.8 Ω for 40w and 30w respectively.
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If you have a 24v heater cartridge, your resistance reading will be (about) 14.4 or 19.2 Ω for 40w and 30w respectively.
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Gather heater block, heater cartridge, 2mm hex key and M3x10 screw with washer:
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Heater Block
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Heater cartridge
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2.5mm, Hex Wrench
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One of the longer M3x10.
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Slide in the heater cartridge. Typically you'd want the wires to come out the same side as your thermistor wires.
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Tighten the M3 x 10 socket dome screw with 2.5 mm hey key until the clamp deforms slightly (as shown in the second picture).
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Gently tug the heater and thermistor wires to check they won't slide out
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Before beginning your build, make sure that you have an appropriate mount for your extruder. If you have a commonly upgraded printer (Ultimaker 2, Taz 5/6, Prusa i3, etc) you'll likely be able to find 3D models of well designed Titan mounts on your favourite 3D model sharing site.
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When installing the Titan, you must have something to separate the motor from the extruder body by 2 mm. Typically, a piece of your mounting bracket will attach here and provide this space (for reference take a look at our Prusa Mounting Bracket). Having a separation of more than 2mm will mean you need longer screws to hold the assembly together.
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Gather
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The motor you'll be using + mounting bracket
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Extruder Body + Large Gear
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M3x8mm Screw
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M3 Grub Screw
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Pinion Gear
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The Smallest, 1.5mm Hex Wrench, and Mid-sized, 2.5mm Hex Wrench
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Thread the M3 grub screw into the pinion gear slightly so you don't lose it
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Slip the pinion gear onto the motor shaft with the grub screw facing down, towards the motor.
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Slide it about 3/4 of the way down the shaft and tighten the screw.
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Slot in the Hobb gear (attached to the other gear)
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You need to have the top of the pinion gear flush with the top of the Hobb gear.
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If it isn't—and it likely won't be on the first try—loosen the grub screw and adjust the positioning of the pinion gear on the motor's shaft. You may need to unscrew the extruder body to get at the grub screw.
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When you think you've got it, try pressing down on the Hobb gear lightly to see how it will fare when the whole extruder is screwed in and make sure it's still flush.
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Screw the M4 nut all the way onto the M4 Screw or Thumbscrew.
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Push the spring over the threaded part of the screw. The nut will eventually let you adjust the tension on your extruder by travelling down the screw and compressing the spring.
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Position the other end of the spring on the little bump on the idler lever.
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Drop the thumb screw / nut / spring assembly into the extruder body.
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The screw will slot into the nut-channel in the extruder body, and the idler arm will slip onto the motor shaft.
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Make sure that the nut slots into the channel fully and that the idler arm is pressed all the way onto the motor shaft.
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Gather:
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Titan Aero heat sink
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Assembled Heater Block
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Thermal Paste Sachet
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Screw in heat sink and tighten by hand—no need to over-tighten.
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Wipe away any excess thermal paste.
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Insert the 9mm diameter bearing into the the back of the Aero heatsink, this is designed to be a tight fit but you should be able to push it in by hand.
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Gather:
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Filament Guide (1.75mm or 3.00mm)
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PTFE Tubing (for 1.75mm filament only)
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For 1.75mm Filament:
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Cut a 23mm length of PTFE and insert it fully into the top of the heatbreak.
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To reduce the possibility of jams, ensure that both ends of the PTFE are cut squarely and the ends are not deformed, we recommend using a sharp knife rather than scissors for this.
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Slide the 1.75mm filament guide over the protruding PTFE. The flat side of the guide should be flat with the back of the lid.
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For 3.00mm Filament:
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Simply slide on the filament guide, and hold it in place when pushing the lid on the Titan body. The flat side of the guide should be flat with the back of the lid.
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Gather:
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M3x30 screws
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M3x25 Screw (the shortest M3 screw)
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Shake-proof Washer
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Assembled Body
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Assembled Lid
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The mid-sized 2.5mm Hex Wrench
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Press the heatsink onto your extruder. It's a bit of a tough fit, but it will all fit in.
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Screw two of the longer 30mm M3 screws you're using on the right two holes on the lid.
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Screw your short screw into the lower right hand corner of the lid.
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This screw goes into the brass insert on the back of the extruder body, not your motor.
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Slip the shake-proof washer onto the screw with the blue patch lock on it.
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Screw in this screw until it is finger tight and no more.
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If you find that the screw is not biting it may be due to the teeth on the slip proof washer protruding slightly which increases the thickness, try to flatten out the teeth before trying again.
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Try to rotate the large acetal gear to see if it moves smoothly.
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If it is hard to rotate, check the position of the steel pinion gear, it may be too far forward. Adjust it so that it is flush with the front face of the acetal gear and try again.
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If this does not solve the issue, then the screw with the shake-proof washer on it may have been overtightened. If loosening this screw allows the acetal gear to run smoothly then the screw has been overtightened and permanent damage may have been caused to the bearings; seek replacement bearings if this is the case.
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If the large gear exhibits “backlash” (there's play between the large plastic gear and the metal one on the drive shaft), loosen all screws on the lid and rotate the body such that the gears fully mesh.
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Re-tighten the screws as described in the previous steps.
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Place the fan on top of the heatsink fins and use the 2.9x13mm self tapping screws to secure it in place.
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If you're printing 1.75mm filament, you can guide it a little better by putting a length of PTFE tubing in the top of the idler lever
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Press the tubing into the lever.
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To prevent damage to the fragile thermistor wires it is important to provide strain relief to provide protection against printer movements tugging at the wire.
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Failure to do this step will significantly reduce the lifespan of the thermistor cartridge .
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Hot-tightening is the last mechanical step before your Aero is ready to go! Hot-tightening is essential to sealing the nozzle and heatbreak together to ensure that molten plastic cannot leak out of the hotend in use.
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Using your printer's control software (or LCD screen), set the hotend temperature to 285°C. Allow the hotend to reach 285°C and wait one minute to allow all components to equalise in temperature.
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Gently tighten the nozzle whilst holding the heater block still with a spanner and using a smaller 7mm spanner to tighten the nozzle. This will tighten the nozzle against the Heatsink and ensure that your hotend does not leak.
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You want to aim for 3Nm of torque on the hot nozzle—this is about as much pressure as you can apply with one finger on a small spanner.
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You're all set with assembly! All you have left is configuring your firmware to deal with your new extruder. Follow one of the links below to update your firmware:
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In your slicer of preference find the retraction settings. In Slic3r this is in printer settings.
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Start with a retraction length of 0.5mm
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If you experience blobs or stringing on the surface of the print increase the retraction length to 2mm.
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Place the Silicone sock on the heater block.
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Whenever you install a new hotend, it's important to run a PID tune. This will allow your printer to adjust some internal parameters so that it can learn how your hotend heats up. This way, your printer can anticipate how much power it needs to give your hotend to get it up to temperature, but not over.
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Use a computer to connect to your printer. If you have a typical RepRap printer, you can use PrintRun, Repetier Host, Simplify3D, or MatterControl.
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Other, closed-source, printers may be better suited to their manufacturer's recommended printer control software.
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10 Comments
A couple of things I can’t find:
Step 4 mentions we will be hot-tightening the nozzle later but I can’t find where this is described.
I can’t see any mention of haw to install the idler assembly, Step 27 shows it installed but there’s no previous step for doing it.
2 remarks:
1. In this guide the step is missing that explains the placement of the idler (can be found in the titan guide).
2. When using the Prusa I3 adapter from the prusa upgrade kit, step 31: the “2mm mount” screw is too short, and the “7mm mount” is too long.
As everyone has mentioned, the idler installation step is indeed missing (didn’t initially realize as I left the idler in the box). Either way, just went to the e3d wiki and check titan idler for a quick picture; here’s the page for reference, https://wiki.e3d-online.com/Titan_Assemb....
Is there a guide to show the electrical connections? Especially for the cooling fan. I am building a printer using an Arduino Mega and a Ramps 1.4 board with a dual extruder set up. I know where the heaters and thermisters will connect, but need to know where the fans will connect.