Mutant Mounts for Mk8/ Microswiss/ V6 & Volcano hotends by Hangtight

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

Hopefully you're here because you've heard about Mutant, an exciting new product to enhance your 3D printer.
If you have Mutant then you'll need ways of attaching your favourite hardware to the multiple mobile plates, so here are a selection of mounts that cover the most popular hotend options, namely the stock Creality Mk8 hotend and the Microswiss alternative to the Mk8, the E3D V6 (and clones) and finally the E3D Volcano.
All three mounts share a common architecture based on an efficient, cross flow hotend cooling approach. This removes the potentially negative effect of the hotend fan exhaust cooling parts of the print which can induce unwanted warping.
Any of the hotend mounts and cooling shrouds can be fitted with either a part cooling solution based around the stock Creality 4010 parts cooling blower, or one that uses the far more powerful 5015 type blower. The part cooling duct is common across all three different mounts keeping things as simple as is practical.
The part cooling airflow has been optimised using CFD analysis and then real world tests to offer effective part cooling, making efficient use of the characteristics of the blowers. The result is a focused flow with a clean exhaust that remains as consistent as possible regardless of the surface under the nozzle.
All the mounts are carefully designed to allow full access to the hotend without having to disassemble the rest of the parts. Remove four easily accessible screws and the entire shroud and part cooling assembly can be lifted away for maintenance and replaced without any alteration to duct height.
The mounts have scope for adjustment in the Z axis to allow you to get the Z offset identical between all your hotend options. Swap from a Microswiss to a high flow Volcano and know that the nozzle with be in the same place in all three axes!
The parts use M3 threaded inserts of the type https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001511975610.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.49976c9aMA7RBU&algo_pvid=null&algo_expid=null&btsid=2100bdca16100473052573554ef3c2&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
These will hopefully be available through the Wham Bam online store. https://whambam3d.com/
Each mount consists of three parts in the case of the Mk8/Microswiss, and four parts for the V6 and the Volcano.
The file names are self explanatory. Decide which type you require and then print one of each piece with the filename that references the correct hotend. Parts should be printed in the orientation downloaded.
Supports 'Everywhere' should be enabled, BUT it is wise to add support blockers for any horizontal holes for the threaded inserts. These will print fine without support and you'll avoid having to fish odd bits of support out from blind holes. Setting a support overhang angle of around 55° should get the job done.
Choose the appropriate cooling duct depending on the blower you wish to use.
Both the part cooling ducts should also be printed in the orientation downloaded but require no support whatsoever.
If you an ABL probe user then there is also a BLTouch assembly (12mm & 18mm bodied sensors are coming soon!). This consists of two parts, one of which contains a 4mm dia x 7mm long neodymium magnet and is permanently secured to the ABL probe. The other is a quick print that is easy to produce which is secured to your mobile plates, This has a M4x20mm screw that the magnet snaps too, and also gives you the micro-adjustability required to set the Z offset for each of your mobile plates.
Just slide the sensor off the plate, change plates and replace the sensor knowing that you've got the Z offset spot on.
Hardware lists are in the files. The V6 and Volcano mounts have an identical hardware list so I haven't duplicated it. If you're printing for the Volcano just refer to the V6 list.
This will remain a maintained document. If you have any suggestions on ways it could be improved then please let me know.
Take a look at https://www.thingiverse.com/hangtight/designs for some of my other mounts and upgrades for Ender/ Creality machines.