I’ve always fancied upgrading one of my machines to a volcano hot end. Both of my deltas currently run genuine E3D v6 but as I slowly tweak them and increase the print speeds, my limiting factor will be how quickly I can heat up the plastic to squirt it out.

Hence the reason why E3D created the volcano (and super volcano – but why?? Just look at one).

Being a bit stingy, taking an interest in titanium heat breaks and also in non aluminium heated block (think brass or copper) I started to look around for alternatives.

That’s when I stumbled on TCMUK-3D and their titanium heat break and volcano upgrade kit. The kit is available directly from them here or through amazon here.

In the kit you get the following items.

• Either a 40w or 60w heater cartridge in either 12v or 24v with extension cable (I went for a 60w 24v one).
• A thermistor with extension cable (more on this later).
• A titanium heat break
• 3 x Stainless Steel Nozzles (0.6mm, 0.8mm and 1.0mm).
• 3 x Brass Nozzles (0.6mm, 0.8mm and 1.0mm).
• The required fixings.
• An allen key.
• Thermal paste.

Assembly is via the normal E3D assembly instructions.

Now this is the only negative thing I have to say about this kit. The thermistor is, well, rubbish. It doesn’t really conform to any current thermistors in marlin (although they suggest you use number 5 as its closest) and I’ve not had great success in the reprap firmware. They provided me with a copy of the datasheet but that didn’t really help. So my word of warning is use a different thermistor or buy a PT1000.

I am waiting on a new thermistor to come but in the mean time I have battled on with getting it to print as it is, althought not being 100% sure of the temperature I’m printing with. Below are a couple of examples I have printed.

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Would I buy this again? Yes, definitely. Its good value for money. I would just use another thermistor.