Lost ring - replacement

#1

Hi,
so I managed to loose the ring, that goes over the plastic tube connected to the nozzle.
I hope you understand what I mean.

Anyone knows where to get a replacement?
Or does anyone have a spare?

Thanks

#2

Evangelist,

I assume its the ring that holds the teflon tube? I found some on amazon there called push to connect fittings. I don’t know for sure if these have the right thread on the back end though. If you are feeding from the top you could always take one from the bottom feed mechanism of your printer.

#3

That is not what I meant.
I feared that I was unable to explain it properly.
The brass nozzle has a plastic tube attached to it.
Over this tube a plastic ring is slid.
This ring is very important for sealing, as I understood it.
I have found a picture of it:

#4

Calm down… this plastic ring is not necessary for sealing. I forgot mine several times and ZIM works without it. It is just a piece to keep the defined distance between the aluminium block and the nozzle/heater.
Due you normally adjust the height of the nozzles by turning them in or out the heaterblock, this ring is fastened very tight or pretty loose between the brass nozzle and the extruder block.

You can simply put your ZIM together without it, adjust the nozzle height and that´s all.

BTW: Due I didn´t expect the plastic pieces to live very long in warm conditions like the hotend, I ordered this heaters: http://www.3dprintermods.com/prestashop/index.php
They fit perfectly, you´ll only have to solder the cables of the heatsensor (you can also remove the plastic case of the sensor connector on the PCB and connect the sensor directly to the pins, but let´s be honest… that would be a pretty nonprofessional solution), and: drumroll… - You can use cheap standard nozzles from makerbot etc…

Tonight, I´ll do my first print with the new hotends, and I´m really excited if they work as fine as the ZIM hotends. Right at the hole in the nozzle, there´s a very sharp edge, where the ZIM nozzles have a small even survace (maybe to smooth the extruded material a bit?)

#5

The ring was originally designed to reinforce the central tube with the heat the tube “could” swell so the ring was designed to avoid this.
But it works without it. ^^

#6

Thanks for the info. So it seems I am lucky :smile:

Once I am able to change the damaged cable, I can use the extruder again and test it without the ring.