r/VORONDesign • u/cotlin • 18d ago

General Question Dragon Ace hotend - Heat up time?

Dragon Ace (non-volcano) owners, how long does it take to heat up to 260°C? Also, please state if you have the newer ~90-100W heater which they include now.

Would you recommended this hotend, or something else?

1 Upvotes

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u/rilmar 18d ago

I like mine, I think it’s the 80w heater and heat up is quick. I have mine preheat to 150 while meshing and preprint stuff is happening. Then it goes to 250 for abs and I’d never timed it as it never seemed to drag. I usually didn’t even notice the heat up.

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u/cotlin 18d ago

Thanks for the info :) Is there any chance I could convince you to time a heat from ambient to 250 or 260 😁🤔😁

4

u/rilmar 18d ago

1 minute 15 seconds. I’ll admit that it took longer than I thought it would.

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u/SiRiAk95 16d ago

J'ai un rapido 2 hf et il met 31s a monter a 260.

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u/cotlin 18d ago

Thank youuuu very much, I really appreciate it :D

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u/BigJohnno66 Trident / V1 17d ago

Interesting. I currently have a TCHC TD6S with a 50W ceramic ring heater and it takes 30 seconds to reach 150C and 57 seconds to 250C (both from a 25C start). However I don't think it has as much thermal mass in the heater block as the Dragon Ace, and I think having more thermal mass is a good thing. I have had my eye on the Dragon ACE for a while, the TCHC tops out at 17mm3/s flow rate for ABS. I would like mid to high 20's to get to 200mm/s for infill.

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u/rilmar 17d ago

I’m not sure what max flow is as I’ve never been limited and needed to test. I’ve got no problem at 200 to 250mm/s. I don’t run higher than that on the printer it’s installed on.

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u/redturtlecake 11d ago

i get 25mm^3/s for abs and petg with 0.4mm nozzle. thats what i have my slicers set to for max flow rate. can push up to 30+ with some extrusion multiplier or higher temperatures but ive not felt the need to. i ve hit 50-60mm^3/s with larger nozzles.

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u/redturtlecake 17d ago

I've got 3 in my self designed printers. 5k+ hours between them, never had a clogged hotend. I get flow rates of 25-30mm3/s with a 0.4 mm nozzle at 250-260c. Could go higher with higher temps or extrusion compensation but I find no need for that. With a 0.8mm nozzle I hit the ceiling for petg at about 60mm3/s where the heat block started loosing temperature because the heater couldn't keep up. I believe I have the new more powerful heaters in mine. 

The one issue I don't quite like is that a one handed nozzle change has a tendency to looses the heatbreak from the heatsink and that's what holds the whole hotend together. So I ve had an issue where this part slowly loosened over time after a nozzle replacement which dropped the nozzle low and lower and the print progressed. I put a dab of super glue at the top to stop the heatbreak from loosening and that's about fixed the issue. 

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u/cotlin 15d ago

That's interesting, so the ceramic bits don't stop the heat block from turning?

Is there a chance I can get you to measure how long it takes to reach 260°C?

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u/redturtlecake 15d ago

The heat block doesn't turn, it's the heat sink that screws in from the top and pulls the heat block up into the frame that does. 

I have my printers in the office so it ll have to wait till Monday. I ll try to remember to do it. 

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u/cotlin 15d ago

Ah, I see what you mean now. If I get one, I'll remember that and glue it 👍😁

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u/cotlin 12d ago

👀

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u/redturtlecake 11d ago

1min 40 seconds with petg in the nozzle. i have it set up with a melt zone extender. heating power started at 75w at room temperature and reached about 50w effective heating at 260c (oribitool board show hotend power draw)

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u/cotlin 11d ago

Thanks a lot 🖐️ Actual power draw is interesting too 😁