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Today I will review a new exciting product from a well-known 3D printing company: E3D! They are liked for revolutionizing hotends throughout history, and this time they did it again with the Revo HeaterCore. I will talk about some aspects of this new product that are game-changers, and I will rant about the features that I don’t like to balance the pros and the cons.
Contents
What is the Revo heaterCore?
The HeaterCore is an integrated heater block, heater, and temperature sensor. It is a product that should get rid of all the complications assembling an hotend and eliminates all the compatibility issues by packing everything together in the Revo ecosystem. In fact, for now, it only works with the Revo RapidChange and the Hemera.
HeaterCore components
The heaterCore is essentially made from a ceramic round body, a 40w heater, and an incorporated thermister. The ceramic body is slightly fragile, so you need to pay extra attention when handling it. Besides the body, the other components seem mostly the same as in the V6, but the differences in the results are huge!
The round and compact design are great to squeeze it in minimal hotend builds.
Installation process
When you hold the HeaterCore in your hands for the first time is pretty scary as it seems confusing and very small, but believe me, it is much easier than changing a nozzle on a V6.
Take the E3D Revo HeaterCore and insert the Revo RapidChange nozzle all the way through.
Get your Revo Micro and start screwing the nozzle all the way through and voilà! Just make sure that the spring is locked in the heatsink. You can simply change the nozzles in a matter of seconds without any tools or particular knowledge! That’s why this configuration is great.
E3D Revo HeaterCore compatibility
As I’ve already said, the heaterCore is compatible with Hemera, and all Revo Products. The height of the heaterCore is nearly identical to the V6 block. The final size of the whole extruder ends being 1 mm shorter. It is not excluded that it will work on other hotends.
Print Quality
We all know that print quality is not determined only by the hotend or nozzle, but I have to say that I’ve seen an improvement in the flow. The extrusion is more precise and the printed line has that round perfect shape to it. I’ve seen great improvement with TPU which caused me lots of problems, with the HC the flow was more constant and less under extruded. Here are some of the prints made with the HC.
Things I like about the E3D HeaterCore
There are lots of good aspects of the Revo heaterCore; some are obvious, some are less.
Small dimensions
The most obvious one is the size of it. The size is the winning aspect of this innovation. The small size, and especially the round form makes it so easier to fit it on any 3D printer.
The shape would work great especially with 3d belt printers, which have the hotend on an angle of 45, so the smaller the better.
Let’s not neglect nonplanar 3d printing, the small size could easily permit you nonplanar moves at the angle of 25 degrees, which is an improvement!
Easy to change the nozzle
Another great aspect is that it’s easier to change nozzles thanks to the Revo RapidChange that provides zero tool use and zero hot tightenings. You have much more grip space to hold the nozzle to unscrew it, and you’re not damaging the heater block, like with the v6.
Ultra-fast heating
One of the less obvious aspects is the heating time! You will be astonished by how fast it heats! The Revo heaterCore takes 3X less time to heat than the v6. It goes from 0 to 200 degrees in about 40 seconds, which makes it the fastest heating hotend I’ve ever used! This is due to the small build but also from the 40w heater, which is more than enough for this little guy.
Ultra-fast cooling
It heats fast, and it cools fast! I love the fact that it cools this quickly because it reduces oozing after the print finishes. This aspect is as important as the heating time.
Super reliable with high-temperature filaments
You can see the benefits of the HC when printing with high-temperature filaments like ABS, nylon, or hips. After a PID tuning the HC is very stable in terms of temperature, which is what you need with this kind of filament.
Strong cables and practical connectors
The Molex connectors that come with the HeaterCore are great! They make life easier when you need to do some maintenance or simply need to remove the hotend, without having the cables attached all the time.
Also, having them installed means that if you need to change the HC with a new one, you don’t need to redo all the wiring. Not to mention that lots of the E3D gear come with them. The wirings are robust and very well soldered on the ceramic body. The terminal part is protected by a metal rod, so you don’t rip the wires by accident. It doesn’t seem very solid from the pictures but believe me! It is very well built.
Removes lots of problems
The considerable advantage you can have from the HeaterCore is that it removes many problems, especially if you are a beginner and don’t fully understand how a 3D printer works. Not having to worry about all the hotend electric parts is exceptional! One of the main issues was the thermistor, which broke effortlessly due to the small size and thin wires. Let’s not talk about the heated cartridge, it takes space, and those thick cables are terrible. The solution was eliminating those 2 parts which I find a fair compromise.
Thinks I dislike about the Revo HeaterCore (HC)
Zero reparability and retrocompatibilty
It’s a little bit the same thing Apple does.
The Revo heaterCore removes many problems and weak spots from the previous designs, but having these bonuses has its downsides. The problem with the heaterCore is that if something breaks you need to change the whole unit. Also, it works only with Revo products, it will be nice to be possible to use them on older E3D products.
It stains very easily.
The rubber cover protects it very well but I advise you to put some Kapton tape around the HC body to maintain it clean. The ceramic part is hard to clean.
If you find any weak spots of the HeaterCore don’t hesitate to write me below in the comments section!
Conclusion.
I like the innovations that the heaterCore brings in the field! It is a step further to reducing size, weight, and complications when we talk about hotends!
I haven’t had any problems till now and I’ve used it for a while. It will become my main setup from now on, and we will see if it’s that great and if it stands the challenge of time!
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