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I'm returning to 3d printing and there's all sorts of new things going on. One of which is a silicone sock. I suspect it's part of the engineering where you want to keep certain parts hot, and certain parts cold, and it assists with that, but I'm not sure. Internet searches have been degrading, and have degraded a lot in the past year or so, so I can't find anything on the subject on how and why, just products.

When do you need a silicone sock? What problem does it solve?

My Ender 3v2 came with one, but apparently previous generations did not. My other printers do not have an option for them.

YetAnotherRandomUser
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1 Answers1

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A silicone sock helps keep the heat from the hot end from radiating down onto the freshly-printed parts, which have a blower fan cooling them.

The sock also helps keep the hot end hot and away from that stream of room-temperature cooling air blowing at the part.

As such, the sock is a thermal isolator, helping to keep the hot bits hot and the cooler bits cool.

Additionally, silicone rubber is pretty good at not sticking to hot filament. If your print goes bad and produces "spaghetti" then the sock will mitigate how much plastic gets stuck to the hot end.

agarza
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Criggie
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