Prometheus V2 Hot End - Assembly Instructions

Table of Contents

    1. Kit Components
    2. Assembly Instructions

Kit Components

Prometheus V2 Hot End Components

Machined Parts:

  • 1x: 1-Piece Stainless Steel Nozzle (0.4mm)
  • 1x: Aluminium Heater Block
  • 1x: Aluminium Heat Sink - with embedded collet

    Hardware:

    • 5x: Aluminium Hex Nut
    • 1x: Black (1.75mm) Bowden Collet
    • 1x: Black 4mm ID (1.75mm) Rubber Spacer
    • 1x: 100mm length 2mm ID x 4mm OD (1.75mm) PTFE Tubing (for Heat Sink)
    • 2x: Black 3mm ID Rubber Washer (for Cooling Fan)
    • 2x: M3x16mm Button Head Bolt
    • 1x: M3x4mm Button Head Bolt
    • 4x: M3x3mm Set Screw
    • 1x: M3 Fender Washer
    • 1x: M2 Hex Wrench (for M3 Button Head Bolts)
    • 1x: M1.5 Hex Wrench (for M3 Set Screws)
    • 1x: 100mm Black Zip-Tie

      Electronics:

      • 1x: 12V/24V 40W 6mm x 20mm Heater Cartridge
      • 1x: 100KOhm Semitec 104GT2 NTC thermistor
      • 1x: 12V/24V 25x25x10mm Cooling Fan (for Heat Sink)
      • 1x: 80mm length 0.5mm ID 1mm OD High Temp Insulation Tubing (for Thermistor)
      • 1x: 65mm length 2.5mm ID Black 2:1 Heat Shink Tubing (for Thermistor)
      • 4x: 1mm^2 x 12mm Copper Wire Ferrules (Solder-Free Connection)
      • 1x: 1m length Thermistor Wires with 2-pin Dupont Connectors

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      Assembly Instructions

      Please read this entire document and carefully follow EVERY step.
      Assembly Time: < 20 minutes

      **NOTE: Be very careful when opening the packages. There are many small parts that are easily lost if you are not careful.

      Required Tools and Skills 

      • Heat Gun, Soldering Iron, or a Lighter (for Heat Shrink Tubing)
      • Small Pliers
      • Adjustable Spanner
      • Wire Strippers
      • Flush Cutters
      • Utility Knife

      Safety Precautions

      • Please follow ALL instructions in this document! If anything is unclear please contact us before trying something that may damage the product or harm the user.
      • Electricity can be dangerous! Ensure that your power is unplugged when you are hooking up the electronics.
      • Be careful with the 1-Piece Nozzles! While these Nozzles are quite strong, they do have a fairly thin wall of material. They will withstand all the normal stresses of operation, but please be careful when using heavy tools.
      • Be careful with the thermistors! The thermistor leads are very small and delicate and the bead is made of glass. To avoid shearing the thermistor leads or crushing the glass bead please handle this thermistor with care.
      • This “Hot End” gets very hot! Please do not touch the Heater Block or adjacent Hex Nuts while the hot end is in operation.

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      Prometheus V2 Hot End Assembly

      • You will receive two bags containing the kit components. Make sure you have everything:

      • If you received a set screw Heater Block that resembles the one in the image below, then proceed with the following assembly instructions. If you received a newer clamping heater block, then skip ahead and follow the Assembly Instructions for the clamping Heater Block.

      Assembly Instructions for the set screw Heater Block

      • Thread the Nozzle into the Heater Block and then thread a Hex Nut against the Heater Block on the end of the Nozzle closest to the orifice. The Nozzle tip should stick out 2mm from the Hex Nut as shown:

      • While holding the Heater Block, tighten the Hex Nut against the Heater Block using a small spanner. Ensure that it is tight enough so that you cannot unscrew the nut with your finger. 1/8th turn should be enough. This step does not require excessive force!
      • Using the supplied M1.5 Hex Wrench, insert two M3x3 Set Screws into the threaded holes in the Heat Sink so that they are flush with the surface as shown:

      • Thread the Heat Sink onto the assembled Nozzle until the bottom of the Heat Sink is a distance of 2mm from the top of the Heater Block.

       

      • You can also use the supplied M2 Hex Wrench as a spacer to ensure that the gap is 2mm:

      • Tighten the Set Screws just enough so that the nozzle assembly cannot turn in the Heat Sink. Do not over-tighten. 

      • Cut (2) 35mm lengths of the High Temperature Tubing:

      • Cut (2) 30mm lengths of the Black Heat Shrink tubing:

      • Slide the High-Temperature Tubing over the Thermistor leads and push the tubing right up to the head of the Thermistor. Slide the Fiberglass Sleeves over the High-Temperature Tubing so that the end of the Fiberglass Sleeves are about 5mm from the tip of the thermistor. Slide the Wire Ferrules over the High-Temperature Tubing as shown in the image below:

      • Strip 10mm of the insulation off the end of the Thermistor Wires:

       

      • Slide the lengths of Heat Shrink over the Thermistor Wires and bend the ends of the exposed wires into loops:

      • Hook the ends of each wire around each other:

       

      • Slide the Copper Ferrules over the connection and clamp down on them using a set of pliers. Make sure the High-Temperature Tubing extends right up to the Thermistor bead before you clamp the Ferrules!

      • The connection should be strong and should look like this:

      • Slide the Heat Shrink tubing over the Ferrules and apply heat using a Heat Gun, Soldering Iron, or Lighter. Ensure that you maintain the 5mm distance from the end of the Fiberglass Sleeves to the tip of the Thermistor:

      • Bend the Thermistor leads at 90 degrees 5mm from the tip as shown:

      • Carefully insert the bead of the Thermistor into the 5mm deep Thermistor hole beside the M3 threaded hole in the Heater Block and secure it using the M3x4mm Button Head Bolt and an M3 Fender Washer. Ensure that the washer is tightened against the Fiberglass Sleeves which will provide an extra strain relief as shown. Tighten the bolt just enough so that the Thermistor leads cannot become loose and ensure that the washer and sleeving do not block the 6mm hole for the heater cartridge. Do not overtighten! Use the supplied M2 Hex Wrench:

      • Insert the Heater Cartridge into the hole in the Heater Block and tighten with an M3x3mm Set Screw. Tighten the Set Screw just enough so that the Heater Cartridge cannot become loose using the supplied 1.5mm Hex Wrench:

      • Insert the two M3x16mm Button Head Bolts into the two bottom mounting holes on the Cooling Fan so that the sticker on the Cooling Fan will face the Heat Sink. Place the two Rubber Washers onto the bolts as illustrated below:

      • Fasten the Cooling Fan to the Heat Sink using the supplied M2 Hex Wrench:

      • Bend the Heater Cartridge cables and use the Black Zip-Tie to tie the wires of the Heater Cartridge, Cooling Fan, and Thermistor together to provide appropriate strain-relief:

      • Cut the excess length off the Zip-Tie. Your hot end is now fully assembled! 

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      Assembly Instructions for the clamping Heater Block

      • Using the supplied M1.5 Hex Wrench, insert an M3x3mm Set Screw into the threaded hole in the Heater Block so that it is flush with the surface as shown:

      • Place the M3 Washer onto the M3x8mm Button Head Bolt and thread it into the hole in the Heater Block as shown using the supplied M2 Hex Wrench:

      • Thread the Nozzle into the Heater Block and then thread a Hex Nut against the Heater Block on the end of the Nozzle closest to the orifice:

      • While holding the Heater Block, tighten the Hex Nut against the Heater Block using a small spanner. Ensure that it is tight enough so that you cannot unscrew the nut with your finger. 1/8th turn should be enough. This step does not require excessive force!
      • Cut (2) 35mm lengths of the High-Temperature Tubing:

      • Cut (2) 30mm lengths of the Black Heat Shrink tubing:

      • Slide the High-Temperature Tubing over the Thermistor leads and push the tubing right up to the head of the Thermistor. Slide the Fiberglass Sleeves over the High-Temperature Tubing so that the end of the Fiberglass Sleeves are about 5mm from the tip of the thermistor. Slide the Wire Ferrules over the High-Temperature Tubing as shown in the image below:

      • Strip 10mm of the insulation off the end of the Thermistor Wires:

       

      • Slide the lengths of Heat Shrink over the Thermistor Wires and bend the ends of the exposed wires into loops:

      • Hook the ends of each wire around each other:

       

      • Slide the Copper Ferrules over the connection and clamp down on them using a set of pliers. Make sure the High-Temperature Tubing extends right up to the Thermistor bead before you clamp the Ferrules!

      • The connection should be strong and should look like this:

      • Slide the Heat Shrink tubing over the Ferrules and apply heat using a Heat Gun, Soldering Iron, or Lighter. Ensure that you maintain the 5mm distance from the end of the Fiberglass Sleeves to the tip of the Thermistor:

      • Bend the Thermistor leads at 90 degrees 5mm from the tip as shown:

      • Carefully insert the bead of the Thermistor into the 5mm deep Thermistor hole in the Heater Block and secure it using the M3x4mm Button Head Bolt and an M3 Fender Washer. Do not insert the thermistor into the other hole that passes all the way through the Heater Block.
      • Ensure that the washer is tightened against the Fiberglass Sleeves which will provide an extra strain relief as shown. Tighten the bolt just enough so that the Thermistor leads cannot become loose and ensure that the washer and sleeving do not block the 6mm hole for the heater cartridge. Do not over-tighten. 

      • Insert the Heater Cartridge into the hole in the Heater Block. Tighten the M3x8mm Button Head Bolt using the supplied 2mm Hex Wrench so that the Heater Cartridge is held firmly in the Heater Block:

      • Apply a very thin layer of the Thermal Paste to the Nozzle as shown in the image below. The Thermal Paste should cover an 8mm section of the Nozzle about 4mm from the top of the Heater Block:

      • Using the supplied M1.5 Hex Wrench, insert two M3x3mm Set Screws into the threaded holes in the Heat Sink so that they are flush with the surface as shown:

      • Thread the Heat Sink onto the assembled Nozzle until the bottom of the Heat Sink is a distance of 2mm from the top of the Heater Block. Tighten the Set Screws just enough so that the nozzle assembly cannot turn in the Heat Sink. Do not over-tighten. 
      • NOTE: It is very important to clean the Thermal Paste the builds up at the bottom of the Heat Sink as you thread it onto the Nozzle to ensure that the 2mm of exposed threads are completely clean. If the Thermal Paste builds up on the 2mm of exposed threads, it will conduct too much heat from the Heater Block to the Heat Sink.

       

      • You can also use the supplied M2 Hex Wrench as a spacer to ensure that the gap is 2mm:

      • Insert the two M3x16mm Button Head Bolts into the two bottom mounting holes on the Cooling Fan so that the sticker on the Cooling Fan will face the Heat Sink. Place the two Rubber Washers onto the bolts as illustrated below:

      • Fasten the Cooling Fan to the Heat Sink using the supplied M2 Hex Wrench:

      • Bend the Heater Cartridge cables and use the Black Zip-Tie to tie the wires of the Heater Cartridge, Cooling Fan, and Thermistor together to provide appropriate strain-relief:

      • Cut the excess length off the Zip-Tie. Your hot end is now fully assembled! 
      • You are now ready to hook your Prometheus V2 up to your electronics and configure your firmware. Proceed to the Electronics/Firmware Configuration steps below. Please DO NOT skip these steps!
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        Electronics/Firmware Configuration:

        • Wire the Cooling Fan directly to your power supply, red wire = (+), black wire = (-). This will ensure that the Cooling Fan runs continuously at full speed to provide optimal Heat Sink cooling. DO NOT connect the Cooling Fan to your controller board "Fan" output as this output is used to control fans for cooling the printed part, NOT hot end Heat Sink fans which must always be running. Please ensure that this Cooling Fan is always on!
        • Wire the Cartridge Heater and Thermistor to your controller board. This Heater MUST run on the rated voltage!
        • Reconfigure your firmware for the Semitec 104-GT2 Thermistor: 
          • In Marlin this means using thermistor definition number 5: #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5
          • In Repetier Firmware use thermistor definition number 8: #define EXT0_TEMPSENSOR_TYPE 8
          • In Smoothieware use thermistor definition “Semitec”: temperature_control.hotend.thermistor Semitec
          • For RepRapFirmware use the Beta value 4267K.
        • Upload the new firmware to your electronics board.
        • Connect to your printer and run M303 PID Autotune. If your firmware does not support this feature, calibrate your PID manually.
        • Set the hot end to 280C. Use your adjustable spanner to check that each hex nut is tight. Also, ensure that the Nozzle is not loose in the Heat Sink. If anything is loose carefully tighten it now.
        • Please note that you should not attempt to remove the thermistor after heating the hot end above 280C. If you need to reassemble the hot end just unscrew the heat sink to avoid removing the thermistor or heater cartridge.
        • Mount Prometheus V2 to your printer and start printing!
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