This is my prototype Holistic Heaterbarrel.
Update 15/01/09: I got the Metal Heater Barrel today from Shapeways, and although it is beautiful and lovely to hold, the Barrel Bore is filled in about 2/3 cms in, and there is no sign of an aperature at the end. As this means it would have to be drilled out carefully by the end user, I'm afraid this means a buy-and-plug-in replacement for the Makerbot extruder isn't yet possible.
The idea behind this was to improve the reliability of the Makerbot heating/extruding assembly by having the heater barrel as a single enclosed unit. No more ABS plugs forming at the insulator junction, no more leaking plastic from the nozzle or insulators, and no more shattered insulator retainers.
The assumption is that the radiator fins will help to dissipate heat before it can climb the barrel and damage the Acrylic of the motor mount. Hopefully this will also help to keep the heat gradient between the nozzle and the upper barrel fairly steep, which may help reduce plastic expansion, melting and increased friction within the barrel.
While this was originally licensed *CC-BY-NC-SA*, I since became more enlightened, so it's also *GNU GPL*, now. I can't revoke the *CC-BY-NC-SA* license, so you're still welcome to use that, but it's less free than *GPL*, so I don't see why you would!
cathalgarvey
