Reddit reviews 12V 40W 1/4-in (6.35mm) Ceramic Cartridge Heater for 3D Printer MK10 Extruder/Hotend

I recently went through exactly this same situation. I was ready to upgrade to a microswiss all-metal hotend and the catastrophic failure of the print leaving gunk all over my heater block forced the issue. In my case, I opted to replace everything I could including the thermistor and heating element. They are both very inexpensive and you should have a spare laying around anyway in case you need one in a hurry. So...how to clean your heating block...

Fire. Seriously. I used a combination of blowtorch and solvent to remove all the gunk (and mine was a LOT worse than yours...it basically encapsulated one entire end of my heater block, entombing the thermistor, heater and associated wiring).

I used your typical propane torch, holding my heater block in a vise or vise grips. I'd heat it up then quickly wipe away the melted PLA with a clean cloth. Heat, repeat. Then I'd soak the whole thing in some solvent (acetone, MEK, etc). Repeat until clean. Pay careful attention to the tiny setscrew that holds the heater in place...work it free with a hex wrench while it is hot...chances are you got some PLA stuck on there, too. Obviously be super careful when you do this. Ventilation, fire-extinguisher handy, your mom on speed-dial.

When you replace the thermistor and heating element you'll need to do some soldering. This is pretty unavoidable. Those elements come with very long wires attached to them and the Wanhao/MP print heat doesn't need that length. Clip it short, make good solders and use heatshrink over your joints. For the thermistor I simply cut out the center section of the wire and spliced the connector back to the component at the length i needed.

Now, when you put it all back together you will have the option of re-wrapping the heater block with cotton and Kapton tape. People seem split on if this is necessary, but since I'd battled heat creep before I didn't want to introduce any more heat up the block...so I opted to do it. It's a bit tricky if you get the non-punched cotton strips like I did. Luckily I had hole punches handy to make the provision for the hotend and nozzle to get thru the insulation. If you don't have these tools (or don't quite know how to do it), i'd shop around for pre-punched sets.

good luck. Let me know if you need any more help.

here are the parts i used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071K8Z9KF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4KY6TR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076NW3GNH/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E1HANLS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had a hard time finding one. Ended up ordering the one off Amazon. It is 1/4" (6.35mm) and a PITA to find...

12V 40W 1/4-in (6.35mm) Ceramic Cartridge Heater for 3D Printer MK10 Extruder/Hotend https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071K8Z9KF

Edit: I ordered this prime and it said no ship date know... Came in a few days. I'm still waiting on the ones I ordered from AliExpress... It's been a month.

This is the one I ordered. I'll double check on the meter when I get back home for sure https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071K8Z9KF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6Nu6CbVNX2YES

I believe the need the 6.35mm Diameter or 1/4in heater cartridge if yours is the same as the v2.1 MK10 which is more rare as most generics you find on sale are the standard 6mm (5.9mm) ones.

This one will work perfect in the v2.1, if that is what you have just splice it to your original wire/connector end going to your PCB as the wire length on this is 100mm (1 meter) with bare wire leads pre-stripped.

Wanahoo Duplicator I3 v2.1 / Monoprice Maker Select v2.1 6.35mm Heater Cartridge

Diameter: 6.35mm

Length: 20mm

Volts: 12v

Watts: 40w

Im thinking of getting these, will they be compatible?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KB1QJGJ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A39S0U3UP1U7UG&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E1HANLS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A36KNDPALTN82Y&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/6-35mm-Ceramic-Cartridge-Printer-Extruder/dp/B071K8Z9KF/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1549548097&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=wanhao+i3+heater+cartridge&psc=1

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I used these ones on Amazon on both my printers, and other then having to extend the wires on one of them the worked perfect. I think it was the duplicator that needed a bit more than 1 meter of wire which comes with this one, but I just spliced it into the old connectors wire and it was good to go. I used this 12v 1/4in heater cartridge in my Duplicator I3 and the 24v 1/4-in Heater Cartridge in my CTC Bizer Dual with MK10.

If you bought one of thos $10 clones I think it would be better just buying the cables to your regular direct drive extruder that came with the printer, I bought one these thermistors and I also bought this heater cartridge. There is also this one that comes with 5 thermistors and 5 12v heater cartridges for $12.

It's possible that you forgot to switch the jumper back from USB to VREG. That would explain why the printer is only turning on the lcd and thermistor when plugin in the usb cable.

Well that's annoying, I wasn't aware that variances of .3mm in the heating cartridge were even a thing (this thing is in standard? That's odd when the entire rest of the printer is metric). Although it doesn't seem TOO hard to source, as KevMag above mentioned, and wasn't too hard to find on Amazon either:

https://www.amazon.com/6-35mm-Ceramic-Cartridge-Printer-Extruder/dp/B071K8Z9KF/

Although, now I am faced with a choice of it I just get a new MK10 block and a 6.35mm cartridge, or if I use that Uncle Chuck universal one.... but I would have no idea how to install or if it will work with the M3 threaded thermistors designed as a drop-in solution for existing MK10 heaterblocks since it only mentions M4 and M5 thermistors for the Universal one.