Join the User Testing Program for the New Hot Ends

Snapmaker J1/J1s
1

Update: 2023-10-24
We want to express our gratitude to all 30 users who enthusiastically signed up for our user testing program (incl. from both Facebook owners group and forum). Based on the planned five sets of test samples and the objectives of this user testing, we have carefully selected five users to participate in this program. Additionally, we have a few highly active community members who expressed interest in the testing project but were not selected/not able to join us. I will reach out to them (such as @SnapSnap @Mechanikus @macdylan ) individually to invite their valuable input and insights for this user testing and online discussions soon.

Here are the five users selected for the testing program: @3DPrintMunich @i3sven Rob Marshall Jeffrey Edgett Masta Bean. We have sent private messages to each of you. Please confirm your shipping address and contact information for the parts that we will be sending for user testing.

The selection of these users was based on the following principles:

  1. User Group Diversity: The selected user group includes both professional users (who have contributed significantly to the ā€œhot end findings and solutionsā€ topic on the forum) and users who have provided feedback on nozzle clogging issues in the community.
  2. Material Variety: The selected users cover a range of commonly used printing materials, including regular PLA, silk PLA, high-temperature materials, and PVA.
  3. Slicer Software Variation: We have included users who prefer different slicer software such as Luban, Cura, PrusaSlicer, and OrcaSlicer.
  4. Frequency of Machine Usage: The selected users are those who use their Snapmaker J1 almost every day.
  5. Testing and Feedback Period: We will be actively seeking feedback from the selected users during the first half of November.

Note: We apologize for the premature recruitment earlier and a delay in the sample preparation. As a result, the originally planned October testing will now be shifted to shipping in October, with the main testing period taking place in the first half of November. We understand that this change might affect the availability of some selected users. Therefore, if we find that any of the selected users are unable to support the revised testing period, we will promptly select additional users from the existing pool of applicants.

We look forward to receiving valuable insights and feedback from our selected users. Thank you for your participation and support in making the Snapmaker J1/J1s even better!

Best, Jade

Original post:

Hello J1/J1s owners!

Today, we have an exciting update to share with you regarding the new hot ends for your Snapmaker J1/J1s IDEX 3D Printer. We are pleased to announce our User Testing Program for the new hot ends. We are looking for J1/J1s owners who are willing to dedicate their time and expertise to thoroughly test the new hot ends and provide us with valuable feedback. By participating in this program, you will play a crucial role in ensuring that it meets the needs and expectations of the community.

Here are the details of the program:

  1. Requirements: You must be a J1/J1s owner and be available to fully dedicate yourself to the testing process in October.

  2. We are looking for five users who can perform extensive testing with various types of filaments, including those that are prone to clogging, such as silk PLA, and high-temperature materials like PA-CF. Your experience with different materials will help us identify any potential issues and optimize the hot endā€™s performance.

  3. Communication and Feedback: We will create an instant chat group specifically for this user testing program, allowing you to communicate directly with our team.

  4. Open to J1/J1s owners active in either Facebook group or Snapmaker Forum.

To apply for the User Testing Program, please leave a comment below expressing your interest or recommending another J1/J1s user for this program. For example, Iā€™m thinking of recommending Mechanikus, Masta Bean, or i3sven, who have extensive experience in this type of testing. Alternatively, we could gather users from different backgrounds.

In your application, kindly provide the following information to help us better understand your background and select suitable participants:

  1. Your country and city of residence.

  2. Your level of 3D printing skills and experience, including the number and brand of 3D printers you currently own.

  3. Your current experience with using the J1/J1s and your frequency of use.

  4. Your experience with using Luban, Cura, PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, or any other slicing software.

  5. Your availability to fully dedicate yourself to the testing process in October.

  6. Your professional background and skill set.

  7. Any other information you would like to share with us.

Notes:

  • You will keep the hot ends after the testing.

  • You will not be responsible for any shipping fees or taxes. However, you will be responsible for the material costs, depending on how you test out the hot ends.

The application submission deadline for this User Test program is September 24, 2023 at 9PM, EST.

We appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to be part of this program. Thank you!

Jade and Snapmaker Team

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Dear Jade,

  1. I live in Rotterdam, Netherlands
  2. I am an experienced user. The J1 is my third machine. My previous machines were both from Flashforge. The last one a Creator 3
  3. I use the J1 regularly, Several times a week. I had issues with clogging and solved most of it by adding cool paste to the heat sink and adding a washer to the transport wheel system to create more grip. Mostly Iā€™m fine now with the machine, could be better.
  4. I mostly use Cura now. I found Luban to restrictive. From time to time, I use Simplify3d. I like the user interface. With Flashforge, I used their factory software.
  5. I am semi-retired and am available most time to do tests and work on the printer
  6. I am 71 years old, have an MA in history of art, worked for 20 years as a software developer but now work as a rabbi and pastoral care person. 3D is a hobby that fits my technical and artistic background.
  7. I basically like the machine, but it still is a bit of a prototype. Would be great to help make it better.

Yours,

Albert Ringer

+31682380761

2 Likes
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Hi Jade, thanks a lot for the update and the offer!

I fear I cannot help much at the moment though: one x motor of my J1 recently died without warning and currently I am waiting for Snapmaker support to ship a replacement - those motors you built into the J1 are difficult to find and information about them is even more scarce, therefore I prefer to use an official replacement for now instead of simply searching for a similar motor.

Anyway, since the printer is unusable for the next weeks anyway, I thought I could use the time and began with what I had in my mind from day one: replace the Snapmaker controller with a Duet 3 6HC. The board is inside the printer now and moves the working motors, the calibration routines are rewritten for RepRapFirmware and work with simulated data at least, and I am currently at the two evil things your team did which are incompatible with a Duet, namely rewiring the part fans (controlled via a VCC PWM with common ground instead of a GND PWM with common supply voltage) and the replacing the servo potentiometer in the filament sensors with a hall switch.

All this means my J1 will be somewhat special from the moment it runs again (unless I fail miserably and have to change everything back, which seems unlikely at the moment), and it will probably not be a suitable comparison for tests any more :innocent:

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Hi Jade,

  1. Munich, Germany
  2. Professional, 2xPrusa, 1xQIDI, 1xJ1m, 1x Elegoo Mars
  3. Daily, Already Printed PA-CF, ASA and all common materials.
  4. Only PrusaSlicer in use and regarding the J1with PVA Cura (PruasSlicer is not working good with PVA)
  5. Possible to run the Hot Ends in daily business and report issues
  6. Engineer
  7. Printing since four years (www.3dprint-munich.de)
    Already did my own rebuild of the current hotend (Findings and solution for the Snapmaker J1 clogging problem - #133 by StephenM)
1 Like
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Hi Jade,
Iā€™ll have some free time in October to help with testing your new hotend.

  1. Germany near Mannheim
  2. Iā€™m doing 3D prints since 2017.
    Current Printers:
    CR10 - heavily modified
    Prusa MK3S with MMS
    Bambulab X1C with 2 AMS
    Snapmaker J1 with J1S Upgrade
  3. With modified hotends it is useable. Before it was not. Still quality of prints is not top notch in compare to my other printers. I hope it improves with the new hotends.
    Bought it especially for dual material prints. As my other printers work more reliable, the majority of single material prints are done on those.
  4. Used all slicers with the J1 but settled on Prusa for now.
  5. Can run tests and if they provide good results shift some regular jobs from my other printers to the J1.
  6. Scientist (retired)
  7. Iā€™ve made my own clogging torture test model, that produces clogging 100% reproducible on my stock hotends with all brands of PLA and PETG except the PLA that came with the printer. On a modified hotend with a custom all metal heatbreak the same filaments work without clogging 99%.
    I also have a lot of different filament on stock to test.
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@3DPrintMunich @SnapSnap Perfect! I hope you two will be included in the test :+1:

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Hi @Jade !

Is there any news regarding the new hot ends?

Will the nozzle used still be mk8 or not?

I am considering the purchase of some (expensive) nozzles for abrasive materials for my Snapmaker j1 and wanted to be sure about the compatibility with the new hot endsā€¦

Thanks!

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  1. Location: Norfolk, Virginia. United States.
  2. I own a Snapmaker J1 and an ender 3 thats been modified to print nonplanar. I run a small side gig of printing prototypes for a few small companies in mountain biking
  3. I am running my J1 almost all the time. constant prototypes and fun requests from friends and engineering students in my dorm
  4. i have used all the major slicers. Cura, prusa, superslicer, orcaslicer, ideamaker.
  5. i will easily be able to dedicate time in testing these hotends with everything from regular PLA speed printing to CF-Nylon blends that run at the peak temps of the J1
  6. I have been a design engineer for a few years and i am always running a print or fixing printers for others when im not at work.
  7. i have been wanting to see an improved hotend for the J1. if snapmaker is making some, that would save a lot of steps on my part and i will buy new hotends. i already have a few sets of hotends that i use for different plastics because different materials print better on brass
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Hello Jade,

I just read about your offer for tests, I would like to take it on.
I can accommodate it well at the moment.

Blockquote
The application submission deadline for this User Test program is September 24, 2023 at 9PM, EST.

Too bad itā€™s too late

10

Did anyone get a feedback!?

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bummed i was too late. Iā€™ve been saving up some money to upgrade the hotends. if these are really good, i wont be doing custom haha

12

Nope.

On October 12 Jade mentioned on Facebook that the beta testing had been delayed and the 5 chosen testers will be contacted end of this week.

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@3DPrintMunich @Miles @SnapSnap Iā€™m really sorry that I didnā€™t share an update on this original post in time. Itā€™s not too late to show your interest in joining the user testing program.

We had held an internal important review meeting for this project last week. The developers are doing more tests based on the meeting discussion and notes. Weā€™ve prepared the five pair of hot end samples (incl. a few other parts for this testing) today. So itā€™s time for us to move to the next step. The testing feedback will be very important for this project.

I didnā€™t finish the testers choosing on the original expected date. Iā€™m sorry for the delay. However, itā€™s also great to know that one of the early active and pro users in this topic @i3sven would be able to join this testing with us. I will share the list of testers on top of this topic later today.

14

Hello Jade, here is my missing information.

  1. Germany, Nienburg/Lower Saxony
  2. 4 years in 3D printing, various printer experience
  3. As already known, I was the first to do the hotend conversion and share my experiences.
  4. I currently use 50% luban, 25% Cura and 25% Prusa slicer.
  5. I can run tests at any time
  6. Mechanics, electronics engineers, welders-lasers,
  7. I own almost all common filaments, including silk and nylon
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15

Please see the update on top of this topic. :slight_smile:

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16

Hello, is there any news regarding the new hot ends?

17

Hi, this is on-going. However, we cannot share any information about the testing of the new hotend now. Once the project moves to the next step, Iā€™ll share it with the community.

1 Like
18

So the current J1S is shipped with old style hot ends?

19

Yes, no change as of yet.