Hotend fan swapping path changers

The hot end travels with its own heat break fan. The extruder and part cooling stay behind; the extruder gears open for filament path changes.

Pros

• Small, cheap tools.
• Prevents heat creep compared to systems that do not carry a hotend fan, more flexibility for preheating.

Cons

• Gears have to open and re-engage filament path every time.
• More challenging for flexible materials than conventional toolchangers.
• More wiring than similar systems that don't carry a hotend fan on the tool.
• Extruder places variable load on kinematic coupling.

Systems