CR-6 SE Upgrade Project

Just finished the first step in my first set of more serious upgrades to the 3D Printer. I upgraded the extrusion mechanism to an all metal one, and I upgrade the hot end to an all metal E3D V6.

And, after this, I can say that my opinion of the base printer has gone up. Though, it has left me with some questions as well.

What has improved my opinion is how this printer seems to compatible with a lot of upgrades on the market. But, the questions ALSO arise from one strange incompatibility.

Starting with the compatibility. I bought 24v E3D since that is what the CR-6 uses and I figured if I did it this way I'd have the best odds of not needing to replace all of the parts if some were incompatible, as well as yielding some potential spares.

And, it turns out everything fits. The heater, the fan and the thermistor. They all fit just fine in the E3D heater block. The extruder was a Creality one already and I'd seen people saying they had done the upgrade, so I was less surprised there. But, happy nonetheless.

Why bother upgrading if I'm not using all of the hardware? Well, part of that comes down to WHY I upgraded. Which, perhaps paradoxically given the above, is primarily incompatibility. Specifically, my sock was getting ugly and I knew it wouldn't last forever. And no one sells them. I'd also read, though it now seems false, that the nozzles are a special.

I don't really want to print ABS or any other exotic or high temp filaments. And, I wanted a quality solution. But, all of the quality solutions were all metal. And everything I read indicated that clones are hit or miss, whereas E3D, Slice and other well known brands have no issues with PLA or lower temps (though you may need to print hotter). The E3D V6 was the cheapest of the bunch, and I had found a mount for a clone (it didn't fit, but I didn't know that at the time).

Another reason for not using the parts? Incidentally, the stock heater was better. 24v 40W vs 30W. I may swap in the fan from the E3D in the future, and if I have any issues with the thermistor (though that will require a firmware flash). Again, I may need to print a little hotter than I would have on the stock hot end, but I don't plan to take this thing any place crazy on the temps. Which leads to the final reason on this topic which is I was able to run this setup without and firmware changes.

I did end up needing to design a mount of my own. But, I had expected this might be a possibility. And I actually ended up settling on my second design, which basically just chopped some plastic off around the top collar of the hot end so that it didn't mess with the strain gauge.

So yeah, Everything on the stock hot end was a drop in replacement for the items in a well respected hot end. Not what I would have expected. Especially given the strange choices made elsewhere like the strain gauge and the heater block.

I also upgraded because Creality supplies were low and many parts sold out everywhere I looked in NA. Which didn't bode well if something went wrong. Now, I have a spare hot end and parts. Which also means I have options if I need parts when something breaks.

I am tempted to upgrade the thermistor as well. The wiring on the stock one is crap. It is just a shame that this is the also one piece which would necessitate a firmware change.