Extruder assembly

Hello,
Photo of the extruder from repository are attached bellow:
[www.dropbox.com]
[www.dropbox.com]
as you can see in the picture there is a gap between the part that holds the head and the extruder itself. why this is happening?how to solve it?
another issue, how do I place the head directly down the whole that extrudes the filament? I can inter a small wooden stick to the whole to make sure all parts aligned. is there any better solution?
Morad

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2014 04:27PM by EEstudent.

The X carriage fits between the extruder and the hotend assembly.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Thanks.
I will just leave it to the end then things will clear up, This is my first assembly and i still not sure where each part fits

I remember you were building a prusa i3, so you are on the right track. However, there looks to be something attached to the top of the jhead, i would guess that is a pneumatic pushfit connector which is used in bowden setup? I havent seen a jhead that comes like that, but if that connector unscrews (assuming its even meant to come off), then the black top bit of the jhead will fit into the recess in the extruder, then attach the groovemount (its currently upside down in your photo). It should clamp together nicely and all aligned.

Thanks
this is the J-head I have:
[www.ebay.com]

any help please? the gap is not supposed to be there otherwise the filament will not go through into the head (i tried it )
another photo:
[www.dropbox.com]
does it seem OK?
I am not sure how am I supposed to attach the extuder to the x carriage, just connect it using 2 screws? it is not heavy?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2014 04:50PM by EEstudent.

Hi, you should have a mount similar to this:
[www.thingiverse.com]
It attaches your extruder to the x-carriage. Also, it looks like sdavi is right - the adapter on the top of your j-head is not very common. It should attach straight onto the bottom of the Wade's extruder (which usually has two holes for M3 screws to hold the hot hand).
Good luck!

Thanks but it didn't solve the problem.
the j-head I have doesn't fit the extruder as i explained with the photo, however by looking in eBay a found that it is common j-head.
what should i do?cut the extra piece of metal?

Looking at the Thingiverse page for the Greg Wade extruder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18379) it seems there are different mounts for the hotends. There seems to be one that might fit your hotend. Do you have access to a 3d printer to get one? If not, do you think you could fit some washers in between the extruder and the holder just to get it going and print yourself a better extruder for your head.
Good luck!

Rather than print a new extruder, you could just measure the top bolt length, diameter, gap etc etc and design and print an adapter piece, something along the lines of like the image attached. Even if it was just the top round part of the adapter at least it would help align the feedhole and hold the bolt in place, might remove some potential movement.

Edit: the extruder just bolts directly onto the x-carriage with the 2 screws.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2014 02:55AM by sdavi.

I had a similar j head that was to be mounted on a "standard" j-head compatible extruder body. Rather than re-printing the body, i just modified that "non standrd" J head to fit my needs.

Unscrew the the brass part from j head, and ... just take hacksaw and take the protruding hexagonal part off. As it is brass it shouldn't be too hard task. Now your end up with two parts that has hole thru. One with threads on outside and the hexagonal top part. Save the top part to box labeled "will be usefull one day" and concentrate to the threaded part. Now either saw or file a slit to top surface of the part. Now you can use flat screwdriver to screw the threaded brass part to the j-head so that the ptfe tube fits nicely between the brass and heater block but doesn't get compressed. A little chamfer to the top of the brass part will make filament feeding more easy.

Thanks
I will try to do it.
what is the best way to make sure that the hole in the extruder and j-head are aligned?

Quote
Farmer
I had a similar j head that was to be mounted on a "standard" j-head compatible extruder body. Rather than re-printing the body, i just modified that "non standrd" J head to fit my needs.

Unscrew the the brass part from j head, and ... just take hacksaw and take the protruding hexagonal part off. As it is brass it shouldn't be too hard task. Now your end up with two parts that has hole thru. One with threads on outside and the hexagonal top part. Save the top part to box labeled "will be usefull one day" and concentrate to the threaded part. Now either saw or file a slit to top surface of the part. Now you can use flat screwdriver to screw the threaded brass part to the j-head so that the ptfe tube fits nicely between the brass and heater block but doesn't get compressed. A little chamfer to the top of the brass part will make filament feeding more easy.

I've solved the problem.
I just unscrewed hexagonal part off, I had to use more power to remove it. I also filed the whole so that the j-head fits the extruder. I guess I will have to remove the j-head to insert the filament then attach it again.
I am almost done

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2014 03:47PM by EEstudent.

Sometimes the most simple solution works

but but... i don't see no reason why the jhead should be removed during filament change ? Just insert the filament and turn the hobbed bolt manually until the filament has reached the hot end bottom. The hole from extruder body should be aligned just fine with the j-head top hole. Maybe slight taper will help. And make the filment head a bit pointy so it will slide in better. You can do that eg. by meltin the filament with lighter and then pull apart. The melted part should become thin. Then just cut and insert.