E3D Adapter for Velleman K8200 with K8203 Direct Drive by DrVegetable

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

The Velleman K8203 Direct Drive Extruder kit is a decent mechanism and good upgrade to my printer. Everything worked great with PLA, but the hot end jammed easily when running ABS.
So I upgraded the hot end to the E3D V6. This adapter, plus two #4x3/8 sheet metal screws is all you need to mount the E3D hot end onto the K8203 Direct Drive extruder. Although the top of the E3D should not get very hot, I recommend printing this adapter in ABS to avoid any deformation/melting during use.
I had to enlarge the passthrough hole on the K8203 aluminum mounting bracket with a ~ 1/2" drill. This provides enough clearance to set the black ferule that holds the PTFE tube in place.
I left a few mm of PTFE above the hot end to guide the filament. Careful alignment of the hot end with the extruder gear is critical. It may help to insert a short length of filament between the drive and the hot end during installation, to help judge good alignment of the top of the PTFE tube.