Micro-Swiss hotend too short

It’s the Geeetech Aluminum.

https://www.geeetech.com/geeetech-aluminum-prusa-i3-3d-printer-kit-p-944.html?zenid=rasllv3j8a239bl6cpu4tm9e16

 

It’s a rather cheap printer. The threaded rods are a little bent, so the brass bushings aren’t actually tightened down. The screws are just tight enough to hold them in place. it allows the bushings to wobble a little inside the metal holder.

My prints aren’t perfect, but I don’t have the time/money to perfect the printer. Everything I’ve designed has been useable and that’s all I care about. Honestly, all it really needs are some new straight lead screws. When I first got it, I did a lot of work on it including replacing all the bent soft steel rods with hardened steel ones.

I also replace the cheap controller with the RADDs board. That was probably the most costly upgrade.

The printer has been rock solid since I did that. It’s coming up on a year old and with the exception of the Extruder steepper cable, I’ve only had to replace nozzles and the PTFE tube in the throat. Oh. there was the extruder fan I had to replace, but that’s because I stuck a screw driver in the stock one while it was spinning.

I love that the entire frame is aluminum/steel. There’s zero flex in it and I don’t have to worry about any parts melting in an enclosure. I have a few PLA parts on it for fan guards, thumbscrews, etc… as soon as I get the all-metal hotend working I plan on reprinting all of those parts in PETG. I also plan on printing some filament guides for inside the extruder to try to print with NinjaFlex.