Troubleshooting issues with the hot end

There are a lot of hot end designs out there, but they all operate with one underlying principle: a filament is melted in a chamber and extruded through a tiny hole. Temperatures up to 240 degrees Celsius are typical, with some hot ends capable of 300 degrees Celsius or more.

The hot end is the work dog of the 3D printer. When it stops working, the printing process fails. This is probably one of the most frustrating problems that's encountered, and it can be a painful issue to resolve.

We'll look at some of the problems that can occur with the hot end in this recipe.

Getting ready

For this recipe, a basic toolkit is required. A soldering iron or crimpers may be necessary for making connection repairs. To test the wire leads and the heating element, a multimeter is necessary. There are more specialized tools mentioned throughout the recipe.

How to do it...

We will proceed as follows:

1. First, it's a good idea to determine whether the hot end...