E3DV6 Hotend Sock

cults3d

This is a mold for a sock for your e3DV6 hotend which you can print. You might want a sock if you don't have one or your existing sock has degraded to the point where it can no longer be used. A sock on your hotend reduces the amount of cooling that your fan causes on the hotend when it activates to cool the print. A sock also prevents materials from getting stuck to your hotend while printing and then depositing elsewhere. If you are printing very high detail objects with bridges such as chain mail, a sock will prevent the hotend from melting your previously completed work from proximate heat. A sock reduces the chances of setting fires or getting burned by your hotend. Socks fall off and degrade over time so they have drawbacks too. Instructions: Print the part, I used TPU so it would be flexible, but you can use PLA too. Cover the inside with a layer of petroleum jelly to easily release from the printhead after molding. Use a thin coat and wipe any excess. Fill the mold about 1/3 way with high temp silicone gasket maker. Let the mold sit and smooth out the level from gravity for at least 10 minutes. Leave filament in your hotend, and disconnect it from the bowden inlet to the heatbrake and cut the filament off just above the connection point. Leave your thermister and heat cartridge connected. Put the mold on the bed, with a paper towel under to catch any silicone drips, close to your hotend location. Looking at how the mold's cartridge holes line up with the mold, use a knife or scissors to cut a slot in the mold to pass wires for the thermister and cartridge through. Unscrew the hotend and throat from the heatbrake, leaving the throat in the hotend, it should come out with the filament still sticking out above it. Stick your hotend into the mold and squeeze more silicone into the sides it isn't running over from. You have plenty of time to get this right if you need to fill more silicone in the mold, wait for it to even out, and then stick the hotend back in. Wait a day and don't print anything. Your printer sits with its head in the mold. Screw the mold covered hotend back onto your heatbrake and assemble your printhead enough to have the heatbrake fan active. Heat the hotend to 160C and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Using a pair of pliers, pull the mold off the printhead. It should release easily at this temperature. Assemble your print head and print. You may want to do a little manual cleaning of silicone off the head or it will create its own hole to print through and deposit little pieces of silicone on your print surface during the next print. I found high temp silicone that specifies that it can take up to 275C which is well above any of my typical print temp requirements.