Print High Temperatures on the Voxelab Aquila with a new Heatbreak! 

Thank you so much! I'm glad you made this upgrade and it worked out. I promise to keep these videos as informative as I can. Thanks for the view and the comment !

We must be on the same wave length! I have probably purchased Gulf Coast Robotics all metal hot end for 11 of my printers! I really think they have high quality products, I even started an (GCR)all metal hot end video, but put it on the back burner and never got around to finishing it. Thanks for always watching and leaving a comment, and I think you might lead me to finishing my all metal hot end video!

@@PrintsLeo3D hrmm, should I just skip this bi metal insert and just go with the gulf robotics all-metal hot end?

I would honestly go with the Gulf Coast all metal. The install is nearly the same (probably easier for the full hot end) and the price is about the same.

Hey Michael ! Thank you so much for watching and for commenting, you're the best!!! 👍👍😎😎

Thank you so much! I always appreciate your comment and your take on it!

@@PrintsLeo3D I needed this 8 months ago 😆 but no worries, just solidifies what I've learned. You have a great way of explaining things for people who are clueless, don't stop!

I wish I was wise to this long ago too lol I have replaced so many hot ends with all metal hot ends, I wish I knew lol thanks for spreading the word, hoping to pass the message along.

Don't worry I got you! You can find them on my website under models: www.printsleo3d.com/models I appreciate you watching! Take care and if you have any issues with them let me know. They are meant to be upside down (with the flat side on the build plate) and without supports!

Hey thanks for the kind words! This particular Ender 3 Pro is running Klipper through a Raspberry Pi Zero W. I really liked the move to Klipper and have started adding it to my other printers. However I have 2 other Ender 3s that are running a compiled version of the bugfix Marlin branch (2.0.5.3? that's a guess from memory), and those are both running excellent as well. Thanks for asking and thanks for watching!

Hey Colin, great hearing from you again! About the Sprite firmware, I forgot to tell me you about the loading. Because the Sprite is a direct drive it will only load/unload about 30mm of fialement. Not everyone uses that option so I forgot to mention it. For the auto leveling, did you check adjust the x and y offsets for your bl touch? Also, and I probably mentioned to you last time, you should calibrate (if you didn't already) your E-steps and the PID heater settings. On the resin printer, congrats! I had one a while back but didn't really fall in love with it. I keep waiting to give it another shot because the stuff they are capable of is amazing! Let me know how it goes I can't wait to hear! Good luck and message me if you have more firmware questions or if you need me to make specific firmware for you !

Yes exactly! You just need to coat the outside barrel with a healthy amount of thermal paste, then push the heat sink on top and wipe off any excess that squeezes out! Thanks for watching and commenting! I always appreciate your support and I'm truly grateful.

That would be a really great upgrade, is it a direct fit?

Why do people call it a grub screw, it's a set screw. It sets a thing in place so it doesn't move

I've been calling it a grub screw because it reminds me of a really small insect lol but you're right I should start using 'set screw'

@@PrintsLeo3D you're not the only one who calls it that, which is why I asked. I wasn't trying to be snarky about it or anything, I was genuinely curious as I've never heard it called a "grub screw" until recently. I honestly wondered if it was because they're so freaking tiny or metric or what.

No snark at all, I get it. You'd laugh if you saw my episode notes because I have the word set screw crossed out and grub screw written next to it lol I don't even remember doing that .

Yea ABS can be a fickle beast. When I am using glass with ABS I always use a glue stick, when using PEI I don't although it's possible I should because sometimes it can over-adhere. The enclosure is the biggest advantage when printing ABS because it loves to peel up. I would recommend printing with a nice thick Brim to try and counter act the warping. I just uploaded Klipper onto my S2 last night and I remembered reading there is a work-around to get the screen working with Klipper. I'll look into it and get back to you!

I've been using both of these heat breaks for a while now and I haven't experienced any issues with PLA. I reduced my retraction to somewhere around 2.0mm I believe. They've both been printing well for me. The allure to these heat breaks is the low cost but they wouldn't be worth it if you can't print the most used filament on the market-PLA. I wonder if they changed something in manufacturing? The only reason clogging would occur is if the internal bore is not smooth, copper itself should have no bearing on it clogging. I also see there's a section that talks about 'new settings for PLA'. I am going to reach out to the company and find out exactly how they feel this can print PLA. Like I said though, my units have all been printing without issue.

That's a great question, and for me it's a time to money scenario. If money wasn't an issue I'd pay for the convenience of replacing the whole hot end. If money is factor than I would take the cheapest option which should be the heartbreak, at any price below a hot end. Practically though, I like the Gulf Coast Robotics hot ends. They're what I have the most experience with , and they are around $35. If I could find a trustworthy company selling a heat break for $15 or less than I'd probably go that route. So less than $15 I go heatbreal, otherwise I'd spring for the GFC hot end.

Javier, you have a few options. First, you're watching the high temp printing video, so I assume you know about the safety precautions you want to take before printing high temps. As for the options, depending on your mainboard chip, I have some high temperature for eares available on my website (PrintsLeo3d.com), and Voxelab has some high temp firmware on their website that is aimed for the S2. While you may not have an S2, the firmware should be compatible (as long as the chip is correct). The S2 firmware is high temp(300c) and the only factor that would not work for you is the length of the load and unload options may be unusable for you, so you'd have to load and unload filament by hand.

I didn't want to add too much to this video, but I was considering making a seperate video of just calibrations that Info through whenever I have a change of nozzle/Hotend/Filament. Good to know it could be useful. Thanks for the comment !

@@PrintsLeo3D Good idea. Calibration and fine tuning are good subjects!

Yes both of the linked heat breaks will work for the Aquila. After you change the heat break it's a good idea to run a new PID tune, and that should solve any heating issues. PID tuning calibrates your hot end to properly maintain a given temperature in your environment. If you have the newest version of Alex's firmware you can run a PID tune through the menus. If not you can use free software called Pronterface to interface with your printer and run the commands through the terminal line. I have a seperate video that goes over the PID calibration. Let me know if this helps or if you need more assistance.

@@PrintsLeo3D So before installing a new heartbreak I already had upgraded to Alex's firmware in around November of last year(Even got the rick and morty theme). Where in the menus do I go to run a new PID tune, and which video goes over the PID calibration?

If you have Alex's firmware you probably don't need to watch the video (unless you want to understand what it actually is and does). I believe through the menus you go through Advanced>Temperature>PID tune. You'll need to select a temperature to tune around, and you'll want to select whatever your normal printing temperature is (for instance if you are printing PLA at 205c all the time, then tune at 205c). Then you'll run the test for around 5-8 cycles. After it's finished make sure to Save Settings under the advanced tab Here's the PID video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vCQWx4MBjjY.html

Hey thanks for watching and congrats on getting the first bi metal heat break installed properly. You can find my bi metal profile under the cura profile section of my website. (www.printsleo3d.com/firmware). Right now the profiles are pretty bare as I have been spending a lot more time dialing in the settings for my printers that are running Klipper. Also the only real change I had to make when changing over to the bi meal heat break was shortening the retraction distance. After the install you also want to make sure you PID tune your printer and run all the normal calibrations like flow. If you are still having troubles dialing in those settings you can ask some more questions on here or through my email: printsleo3d@gmail.com Thanks for watching! Also I don't want to link my Ender 3 Pro profiles because it's one of the machines running Klipper, and the movement speeds are probably to high for a stock Marlin based machine, but if you want to see the profile to get a general sense of it let me know and I can link it for you!

@@PrintsLeo3D On my Ender 3 Pro, its the newer chip model so I have someone’s compiled firmware to make it able to run my CR touch, I have a Satsana duct, upgraded silent hotend cooling fan, the bimetal heatbreak, metal extruder, capricorn tubing with a raspberry pi installed under the screen for octoprint. I’m about to install the bigtreetech skr mini e3 v3 and tft3.5 screen and smart filament sensor and really have the mod world as my oyster, would you suggest i install klipper? my aquila is mostly stock other than upgraded silent fans but i have plans to have it follow the enders steps. but my main concern at the moment is choppiness in the hull of benchys in PLA in consistent spots no matter what temp I changed it to! I’ve changed retraction and am running a benchy currently to see if it goes well but no matter what I’ve changed it’s consistent and overhangs are much much worse than stock setup benchys

I’ll definitely email you if this is too much to handle here or discord/twitter whatever is most convenient!

Probably better off emailing me because sometimes I have found RU-vid will think some comments are spam and I don't get a notification and it seems like I ghost you, which I don't want to do. That's a lot of mods on an Ender! I love it! Those printers are really so amazing. Do you have a link to the satsana you used for the Ender 3? I found one a while ago but haven't had time to print it out and try it, have been using the stock shroud for awhile and want an upgrade(if only aesthetically). As for the hulk issues, that seems like cooling to me, which is weird because you've swapped the fans. I had similar problems printing TPU, along the hull. There's also the possibility your filament needs to get dried out a bit (although I doubt that's the main issue). Maybe try orienting the benchy differently and see if those artifacts are happening in the same areas. Or you can print two benches side by side and see if the additional time for cooling has any effect on it. As for Klipper, I love it! It's hard to recommend it though because to me it's based on your printer setup. When I transitioned to Klipper it took a little while to really calibrate and dial my prints in like I had it with Marlin (as a matter of fact I am still making adjustments). I would say day 1 with Klipper my prints were amazing, but I also sell prints on Etsy, and if there's even the smallest artifact on my prints I don't sell those. So even though my prints were amazing it took me a while to feel comfortable enough to start shipping prints from my Klipper printers because I wanted to make sure they were perfect. I'm not sure if that explanation was confusing. That being said I am slowly changing all my printers over to Klipper. You have Octoprint, so you know how amazing the virtual interface can be, just being able to slice and print directly from your computer is awesome. Also I have my pi zero W powered from my mainboard so the setup for Klipper has a barely non existent foot print.

Hey Colin! The only way to increase the max temp with Alex's firmware is to actually edit the base firmware and then compile it yourself. Luckily I do have some pre-compiled firmwares that should fit the bill! If you go to my website under the 'Firmware' section you can find 'Voxelab Aquila Sprite Extruder' under the Marlin options. That page should have the firmware you desire. It's specifically set up for the sprite extruder (I explain on the page the alterations that have been made) but all those changes can be adjusted on the front facing side of the printer (meaning through the screen or gcode adjustments) and are only meant for convivence of someone who has the Sprite. The main change is the high temp, up to 300c, which is what you need. If you need help with it or have more questions let me know!

@@PrintsLeo3D Thanks Leo I check it out now and if needed I ask you again? Thanks

Hi Leo Okay I have the BL 4X4 Profile download do I just put it on the SD card like the updates normally are and flash it on the Printer?

Anytime you need I'm here

@@PrintsLeo3D Cool. 😃

Brain thanks for commenting and giving me an educated and experienced take. All ever I want is to try and help people, especially newer people navigate the intricacies of 3D printing. I certainly agree I need to be more specific in this video, but I don't agree on the same conclusions. Bowden style all metal hot ends, for me, have always needed no more than 3mm of retraction. There are times I can lower it, maybe to 2mm, but I've never had to go lower than that and it's never caused me any clogging issues. Often the issue is with the heat breaks themselves not being 'polished' and smooth on the inside causing issues with PLA. The units I used in this video both have never clogged on me and were able to print a range of materials. That being said other people's experience may vary and you never know when/if a company will begin to neglect quality. Direct Drive all metal hot ends I've used have never needed more than 1mm retraction. In general Direct Drive(extruder) is going to have a much lower retraction than a Bowden setup because the filament path is greatly reduced. One of the main issues this video looked at was the stock hot end and it's setup of having the bowden tube pressed against the nozzle. That pairing along with high temperatures can lead to health risks due to the PTFE. Some people disagree on the danger temp(or if a risk exists at all), but for me that was an important reason to modify the stock setup. If you are printing on the stock setup with stainless steel heatbreak, whether it's direct or bowden, you need to be aware of those temperatures. So even if modifying to direct drive reduced any clogging issues there still could be a risk of reaching danger temperatures. That was one of aspects I was trying to highlight in this video. Thanks again for watching the video and taking time to comment and help out the channel, the viewers, and me!

@@PrintsLeo3D Yessir, while we can disagree on retraction plugging distance, It all depends on the filament and polish, I can't afford Slice though, and you can even rejuvenate old PLA plugged heat brakes by soaking htem in acetone, doesn't work for petg though. Maybe something harsher would work for petg? I also used an airbrush cleaning kit to go at it, and then some pipe cleaners with rubbing compound. Probably overkill but def getting the cleanest petg prints I ever have with an old formerly plugged up heat brake lol. I have a long way to go and I don't doubt you. It's probably something else on my end I haven't figured out yet but just sharing my 2c. Thanks for the reply. Keep up the good content, I don't mean to sound bitter lol it's my own fault for printing PLA with it as a noob.

Those Slice heatbreaks are gorgeous but like you said they can break the bank (and rightfully so). You don't sound bitter at all I understand exactly where you're coming from. You're speaking from experience and that's really the most educated we can all be. I hate it when someone has a bad experience with something I've recommend, it kills me. I feel so bad, I never want to add stress to someone's enjoyment of this hobby. So I truly am sorry you had a bad experience with this. if you need any help or just want to chat in the future jump into the Discord, we'd love to have ya! Thanks for always watching and commenting I appreciate that!

Yea I realized afterwards I didn't mention it during the post printing part of the video. I added a link to my PID video in the upper corner of the video during that portion to try and redeem myself lol. You're right, whenever adjusting anything in your hot end it's wise to PID tune the machine. I have not had any problems printing PLA with either of these heatbreaks so far. I have more time printing PLA on the titanium heatbreak (200+hours), so far no clogging, under extrusion, or temperature deviations to note. I am going to add an update to the description to remember to PID tune after this procedure and credit you! Thanks for the addition.

@@PrintsLeo3D would Alex’s firmware auto PID tube for this?

Yes, Alex's firmware is capable of PID tuning this! It won't automatically do it though, you would need to find the PID tune option and run the calibration yourself. I believe you can find that option from the menu with from Control>Temperature>PID Autotune

@@PrintsLeo3D thanks for the reply! I’m working on upgrading my stock Aquila with a few minor things to prevent some very frustrating prints. Your channel has helped immensely!

Awesome I'm glad to hear it! I appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment and ask questions, that's what moves the channel forward. Thanks!

Because the Voxelab Aquila is a clone of the Ender 3 V2 (which itself is very similar to the Ender 3) nearly every part made for an Ender 3 will work for the Voxelab Aquila! Parts that are the same: -All fans (24v) -Entire hot end (which includes thermistor and heating cartridge) -Any upgrade hot end that will fit the Ender 3 will fit the Aquila -Bed springs -Bed size is identical so all build surfaces are interchangeable (235x235) -All auto leveling devices BL touch/3D touch -Nozzles (both printers have MK8 hotend and use same nozzles) -Bowden tubing is the same Parts that are different: -Fan shroud (Ender 3 v2 fan shroud is identical to Aquila but the Ender 3 Pro shroud is different) -Firmware(this is specific to the Aquila) -Most screen related items(the plug is the same but everything else is not) There might be a few more differences but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. If there is anything in particular you're looking for?

@@PrintsLeo3D Well, I keep seeing the hot end cooling mods with triple fans and I just saw the kit to enlarge the build area to almost double the size, but there doesnt seem to be much information about build plate replacement either. And then there is the question of the firmware for that obviously. I really would like an auto leveler because leveling it constantly is a pain, and I don't have a problem with spending to upgrade the hot end/nozzle to expland my filament options. But there are other things that I would like to upgrade for reliability, not sure what are good mods for that. Perhaps anything that helps smoother feeding of the filament? I dont really need the neon slot covers though. I have the Aquila C2 with the budget screen so no fancy GUI. Functionally it is the same though. Are there any wire harnesses with longer wires? Do the cable chains work for the Aquila C2? Some of this stuff can be printed. I've been primarily using this to print PC case parts and mods. So far so good. I just printed a CPU backplate for a LGA 771 socket that I want to turn into a mining rig and it turned out perfect. Next I am working on a fan bracket for the passive heatsink.

Adding more cooling fans to this printer, in my experience, has not been necessary, although I can see the allure. With the dual cooling fan/single hot end fan setups they all should be able to get ported to the Aquila you should just find one that says it fits the Ender 3 V2. There’s also printable fan shrouds that allow the addition of multiple fans like the Hero Me series (www.thingiverse.com/thing:3182917). For a bigger build size I have not myself tried any of the extender kits, but I know 3DprintSOS has, and he has a video on it (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ktMMgBriDE4.html). I haven’t watched it yet but it’s worth taking a look if you’re interested in enlarging the bed. You're correct, the firmware would have to be updated. If you need help with that I have experience compiling firmware, and could help expand the bed bounds to match a new setup. Adding an auto bed leveler is a great option, you’ll still need to manual level your bed but you don’t have to do it nearly as often. I have a (long)video on the installation of the probe and the firmware that accompanies it. (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ARAhqgkfBMo.html) For better extrusion I highly recommend upgrading the stock extruder (cold end) with a BMG style encased dual gear extruder. Gets a better grip on the filament and will allow you to print flexibles(TPU) easier. Also the stock extruder has a tendency to fail early in its lifetime. I have a video on this as well, and links to the extruders I used. I don’t recommend the all metal dual geared extruder from this video. (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tfgnEnv3FTk.html) I have the printed slot covers to mainly prevent errant filament from falling between the channels of the aluminum extrusion. I don’t have the cable chains but from what I have seen the printed chains do work for this printer. If you’re printing ‘functional’ parts that aren’t going to require a lot of small details, perhaps upgrading to a larger nozzle size (stock is 0.4mm, larger would be 0.6-0.8mm) would be beneficial. Larger nozzles extrude more material which allows faster printing times and better adhesion between layers. They are also less likely to clog because of the larger opening they are extruding from.

@@PrintsLeo3D I took a look at the Ender Extender kits for the Aquila and the one thing that bothers me about them is the firmware required to make them work right. This is also one of the issues I have with using a BMG style extruder. I would probably go with the drop in style made of aluminum. If I put a larger nozzle on it would that lose some precision for parts that need precise fitment? Also what is better, solid spacers under the print bed or springs? The cooling fans would be for a reason, in case I want to print a wider variety of filament. I also plan on making my own Heat retention cage for the printer out of an "old people's" jumbo shopping cart frame and some plexiglass.The wheels are broken but the frame is still in great shape. That is just in case I decide to get into filaments that require a box around the printer.

When installing the BMG style extruder there’s no firmware changes necessary. The only ‘technical’ change would be to the e-step number. The e-steps required for the BMG extruder are close to 400, and with the stock firmware you can only set your e-steps to around 180 from the screen. All this requires is connecting to your printer with a computer and sending it a few lines of gcode. You could also create a plain text file and save it to your SD card and send the same code without having to use a computer to connect. With larger nozzles you can lose some fine details, and you’d have to adjust all your tolerances for the new nozze. So it depends on how small your parts are going to be. Lines will be larger and layer heights can be larger as well but if tuned properly the tolerances should be as good as a smaller nozzle. If the fit pieces/gaps are too small for the nozzle to print then it wouldn’t work. It would probably be a little trial and error. I’ve talked to people who use the solid (silicone?) spacers under their beds and like them. I have never used them though so I can’t say. I upgrade all my stock springs to the stiffer (usually yellow) springs for a little more sturdiness. If you make any upgrades I always recommend performing them one at a time so you can properly assess any problems that might arise with each upgrade.

Trust me I understand your sentiment and I apologize for not showcasing it during the installation. I recorded a version of me performing this all on the Aquila, even had two camera angles, but for some reason the files were all corrupt and completely unusable. Took me a long time on setup and recording too lol I was so demoralized. I was hesitant about using the Ender 3, but because they are clones, I figured this would be the better option. In the future you will be seeing an Aquila I promise!