Difficulty
Moderate
Steps
42
Time Required
00:45:00 - 01:00:00
- Heater Block Metal Assembly 5 steps
- V6 Electronics Assembly 7 steps
- Titan Body Assembly 5 steps
- Titan Aero Assembly 25 steps
In Progress
This guide is currently being written. Reload periodically to see the latest changes.
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.
Parts
- V6 Heater Block
- V6 Nozzles
- V6 Heat Break
- Thermistor Cartridge
- Heater Cartridge
- M3 Grub Screw × 2
- M3 Washer
- 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.
these instructions - steps 3-5 - don’t really work on an Aero since they lock the heater block to the heatbreak, and therefore also to the heatsink in a fixed and arbitrary rotation . If your final heater block orientation matters to you then you need to screw the heatbreak into the heatsink first. I wrote a more detailed explanation but it’s too long to post here.
The final orientation of the Heater block can be adjusted during the Hot tightening stage by orientating the heater block with a pair of pliers and holding it there whilst you tighten the nozzle.
Dan Rock -
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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.
I don’t see a hot-tightening step below. How is the hot-tighten supposed to work?
The Hot tightening is at step 39.
Dan Rock -
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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.
I’ve noticed that while the hot-end is hot (215 C), the thermistor can freely slides out, indicating that the contact is not very tight (I have not touche the M3 screw since receiving the extruder as part of my Prusa i3 MK2S).
Given the warning above I assume I should not try to tighten the thermistor while the hotend is hot since it will deform it when it cools down?
(Indeed I don’t have any problems with the current setupas as PLA melts at 205C/215C as reported by the thermistor, indicating it’s accurate even though it is not tight when hot).
The warning above is to prevent deformation of the cartridge which can lead to incorrect temperature readings. The thermistor cartridge should not be loose at any temperature, this can be very dangerous and could lead to thermal runaway. Make sure the thermistor is not able to slip out the heater block you will be able to do this at room temperature. You will be able to tell if you have tightened the grub screw enough when you do a gentle tug test.
Dan Rock -
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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.
Either the text or the picture need to be corrected.
The example picture says that a resistance 5.2 ohms is ok for a 24v heater cartridge at 30 watts (due to the blue insulated wires shown).
However the text contradicts this for 24v heater cartridge saying that the resistance of a 24v 40 watt heater cart should be about 14.4 ohms or about 19.2 ohms for a 24v 30 watt cart.
The 4.8 ohm resistance of a 12 volt 30 watt heater cart in the text is a closer match to the 5.2 ohms in the picture!
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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.
confirmed - it should read 2mm
Thanks a lot! I’ve fixed the guide. Good catch!
Gabe S. -
The hex wrench size was fixed in the first paragraph, but not in the detailed list. It still says 2.5 mm.
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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
In step 10 you mention “the Larger, 2.5mm, Hex Wrench” so maybe this needs to be updated from 2mm to 2.5mm
Thanks! I’ve updated this (only 2 years later!)
Gabe S. -
Which is it? Step 10 mentions 2.5mm and 2mm. :-p
Hi Thomas,
It is indeed 2.5mm, I will make sure to update any mentions of 2mm.
Dan Rock -
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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.
Confirmed on my build. Better not to provide anything than to provide these wrong tools.
1/16” allen on mine too, and my compact but powerful motor does not hav a fully round shaft like said above.
For my Aero, the right position for the pinion gear was having the motor end of it flush with the front face of the mounting bracket. This will save having to disassemble things a few steps later to adjust the gear position
Would you explain a bit more about gear positioning?
Roberto -
A following step show clearly the reference to position the gear in relation to the hobb gear.
Roberto -
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Take your M3 screw that you picked out before and slip it through the hole extruder body in the groove mount (lower leftmost screw hole).
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Slip the screw through your mounting bracket (including spacer if you're using one) and screw it into your motor.
In this step you will almost definitely be inserting your mount (which you may well have printed or otherwise sourced apart from this E3D kit). Here are some photos of what mine looked like at this step, with my mount sandwiched in:
Parts:
https://dawning.ca/wp-content/uploads/20...
Mount on Motor:
https://dawning.ca/wp-content/uploads/20...
Screw going in:
https://dawning.ca/wp-content/uploads/20...
I’d edit this guide and add my photos if I could, but I guess it’s locked for editing at the moment.
Here are some printable mounts.
2020 mount: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:207383...
General Bracket: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:147790...
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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.
These instructions don't really illuminate the larger picture, nor say what will happen if you don't align the pinion and drive gears.
If the drive gear is too far out (away from the motor) it will pinch the idler arm against the heatsink and cause really excessive friction. You won't be able to see it inside the closed unit so you'll just wonder wtf is going on. (this is hinted at in step 30).
If the drive gear is too close to the motor then it won't be making full contact with the pinion gear which could cause uneven wear or cause the pinion gear to run out of true, which would in turn cause the pinion gear to rub against the idler - again causing excessive friction.
All this assumes that the pinion gear is correctly installed on the hob, there have been reports of that not always being the case, although it seems OK on mine.
It is hard to know if you have it aligned correctly until you put the lid on tight and see if you can turn the pinion easily by hand. As in step 30. Test this early and often.
Thank you for your feedback, I have added some cautionary notes to reflect these concerns.
Dan Rock -
During this step it can be helpful to test-fit with the heatsink, having already inserted its bearing. The hob tends to tilt when only the back end is supported by its bearing, causing the side of the large gear nearest the pinion to change position relative to when it’s supported and aligned with both bearings.
The original BigBox build instructions for Titan assembly eventually lead here, but this info isn’t really relevant either to the Titan install on the BigBox or to the original parts which are shown here…
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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.
see my comment on step 3 that this should be done earlier.
These instructions are correct that you don't want to overtighten, the throat of the heatbreak is fragile and you can twist it right off if you apply force with a tool.
BUT when the whole thing heats up the heatsink seems to expand more than the heatbreak and it can become loose in use which you really don't want. So it needs to be firm at this point, but not tight enough to risk damaging anything.
A suggestion I have seen and support although I haven't tried it yet myself is to get the heatsink warm with a heatgun or hair dryer before screwing in the heatbreak, then it should grip better when it cools. I imagine it doesn't actually need to get very hot, since the heatsink should never be hot in use.
If you have a heated bed, just lay the almost-tightened heatsink and heatbreak on the bed at around 50°C until it’s very warm to the touch, then finger tighten and allow to cool.
bruceb -
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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
The 2.5mm hex wrench I received is too large for my screws’ sockets. I’ve verified the size of the wrench to be 2.49mm across each pair of facets. The screws I received are around 2.125mm across their socket’s facets. You can tighten them with the 2mm wrench, but you must be careful not to round the wrench or screws.
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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.
Even after I try to flatten the washer, the screw won't allow the threads to catch, they only catch without
Make sure the spacer you are using is 2 mm thick, if yours is thicker than this you will have issues. If your spacer is 2mm thick then double check that there are no print artefacts that are increasing this thickness, if possible use a file to tidy up the mounting surface.
Dan Rock -
I have experienced the same issue with the washer provided by E3D. Without the washer, the screw only catches by 1-2 threads. I am going to proceed without the washer and more Locktite on the screw.
While my first experience was the typical corporate inconsideration for moral business, I will say I am a bit disappointed, and probably won’t order from E3D again.
Was screw length not considered when engineered? do unsuspecting customers have to deal with this “left over” stock?
Hi Albert,
I’m sorry to hear you were not left with a positive experience, the screw length is something that was carefully considered, the screw with the patch lock and the anti-shake washer is not intended to be aggressively tightened, by doing so you risk compressing and damaging the bearing which can cause issues with extrusion later on during prints. The screw is only intended to just bite the thread hence why the patch lock is added. The other thing to also mention is to make sure 2mm is the maximum thickness of the spacer element of the mount. If the mount is thicker then it will provide issues.
Dan Rock -
Hi Albert,
I’m sorry to hear you were not left with a positive experience, the screw length is something that was carefully considered, the screw with the patch lock and the anti-shake washer is not intended to be aggressively tightened, by doing so you risk compressing and damaging the bearing which can cause issues with extrusion later on during prints. The screw is only intended to just bite the thread hence why the patch lock is added. The other thing to also mention is to make sure 2mm is the maximum thickness of the spacer element of the mount. If the mount is thicker then it will provide issues.
Dan Rock -
OK so I was struggling to screw it in with the washer. I took the screw out and put the washer in the opposite direction and voila. I guess you just need to have some patience and try gently.
Good luck.
Hi Salman,
I’m glad to hear that you were successfully able to use the screw and anti shake washer, just in case anyone else reads this thread it’s important to mention that the washer is manufactured by being stamped out, this means it may not be as flat as it would ideally be and therefore can add an extra few mm of thickness that may interfere with the ability to get the threads to bite. in order to get the best performance it may be necessary to flatten out the washer, there are numerous ways of doing this but a suggestion would be to use something flat to apply pressure to the washer on a solid flat surface. Or if you have access to a vice compressing the washer between the two jaws would also work.
Dan Rock -
Hi Salman,
I’m glad to hear that you were successfully able to use the screw and anti shake washer, just in case anyone else reads this thread it’s important to mention that the washer is manufactured by being stamped out, this means it may not be as flat as it would ideally be and therefore can add an extra few mm of thickness that may interfere with the ability to get the threads to bite. in order to get the best performance it may be necessary to flatten out the washer, there are numerous ways of doing this but a suggestion would be to use something flat to apply pressure to the washer on a solid flat surface. Or if you have access to a vice compressing the washer between the two jaws would also work.
Dan Rock -
For gods sake… include a few mm longer screw. The flattened washer height is 0.6mm so just don’t tell people the did not flattened it enough when they are already on material height level. Should I buy hydraulic press now to make it even flatter?? This is clearly a design mistake and there is no problem with that if you admit it and make correction. Telling people they are using it wrong is poor apple practice and I hope you are not that kind of company. The extruder was quite expensive so people should get quality product not silly excuses. How can you put into design part which is holding on 1 or 2 screw threads ?
This is really driving me nuts as we are talking here about one silly screw ruining the whole experience…
Anyway … I am using no washer for now and will buy a bit longer screw as E3D is not able to do that.
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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.
when adjusting the body rotation for backlash be aware that you are also moving the hole in the centre of the heatsink relative to the motor shaft, which could cause it to rub, causing excessive friction. I actually lightly reamed the heatsink hole with a drill bit and lubricated it with pencil graphite. Not sure if that was really necessary, best just to make sure the motor shaft doesn't touch the heatsink at this point.
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Gather:
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Aero Asembly
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4x 2.9x13mm Self-Tapping Screws
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40mm Fan
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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.
I would strongly recommend using M3 machine bolts instead of self tappers. IMO proper bolts and a threaded heatsink to accept them should be standard. The fan blocks the bearing bolt, so you can’t disassemble it with the fan on, so every single time you need to do anything to your aero (other than adjust the idler tension) you will have to remove the fan.
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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.
The picture is misleading, you can’t do this step in the way shown if you already followed step 23 and put the throat in the block. Its also not made clear that the throat/block assembly winds up loose because the weight of the wires keeps torqueing the assembly as you manipulate it so until the carriage is completely assembled and you know where the wires will run its fiddly to prevent the parts from unscrewing then you need to tighten up according to the earlier steps when its more difficult to see how much space you are leaving.
This.
This is such an amazing way to do a manual and describe all the steps, but minor details like this or the fan already being shown installed in step 33 really lower the overall experience.
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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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Cancel: I did not complete this guide.
7 other people completed this guide.
8 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.
The Titan Aero nozzle heat-tightening procedure does not address obtaining a desired heater block angle, unless I'm missing something. This is required in many appplications, and should be mentioned.
I'm referring to Step 39 at
The procedure at calls for tightening the nozzle with the heat break not connected to the extruder proper.
This will produce random results in terms of heater block angle once screwed into the extruder: you simply can't predict what angle the heater block will end up at. This matters in many cases, and any mention of this is omitted. As such, re-doing the heat tightening to achieve the correct angle is likely to be necessary in most cases - which is a sensitive step as people can mess up the threads or tighten insufficiently unless they are familiar with proper torquing.
The heat break must be tightened into the extruder proper first, no?
To address the last comment - I would suggest the following for heat tightening:
Step 38A: (Remove the heat break from the hot end and) Screw the heat break into the extruder body by hand - and then tighten gently using vise grips. Warning: do not mess up the threads on the heat break by clamping too hard on the threads.
Step 38B: Screw the heater block (with heater cartridge and thermistor already inserted if doing the Volcano heater block, as they won't fit later)) over the heat break until the correct angle of the heater block is achieved. Screw in the nozzle loosely.
Step 38C. Heat up the block.
Step 38D. Once at temperature for 1 minute, tighten the nozzle to fix the heater block at the correct angle.
Am I missing something, or is this the only way to achieve the desired heater block angle?
