Trianglelab CHC or Rapido?
Rapido is one of the best high flow hot-ends, but it comes with a premium price tag. Trianglelab recently announced CHC series hot-ends that feature a similar ceramic heater (and similar performance?) at 1/3 of the price. I will compare both hot-ends and tell you how they stack up.
Trianglelab CHC and CHC Pro are essentially upgrades to V6 and Volcano hot-ends, respectively. The heatsink, the heatbreak, and the nozzle are compatible. It only replaces the old V6 heater block with a Ceramic Heating Core (CHC). The new heater core is similar to the one on Rapido or E3D Revo. However, it’s fully compatible with V6/Volcano ecosystem. You can even purchase an upgrade kit (just the heater) if you already have a V6 or Volcano. The upgrade option makes it even more cost-effective. Here’s the pricing comparison:
- Rapido goes for $99 or $109 if you get it with Volcano adapter for ultra high flow configuration
- Trianglelab CHC V6 is $26 (or $18 for an upgrade kit)
- Trianglelab CHC Pro Volcano is $32 (or $23 for an upgrade kit)
Rapido and CHC Pro heaters are virtually the same. The key difference is that the Rapido heater comes with an integrated heatbreak, making it more expensive (the replacement heater for Rapido costs $39). The other difference is that the CHC Pro heater fits Volcano while Rapido only accepts V6. Instead, Rapido comes with a plated copper adapter to extend the melt zone to fit Volcano nozzles.
| Rapido (UHF) | CHC V6 | CHC Pro Volcano | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 38g (47g) | 37g | 41g |
| Height | 54mm (62mm) | 62mm | 70mm |
| Heater Weight | 16g | 10g | 14g |
| Heater height | 17mm | 8mm | 17mm |
The specs suggest that both Rapido and CHC Pro should perform very similarly. I’m doubtful about the performance of the ultra high flow adapter that comes with Rapido: it increases the distance from the nozzle tip to the heater and depends on good heat transfer. CHC Pro heater wraps the whole length of a Volcano nozzle but has a slightly shorter melt zone. I will test the flow rate on both and post the results here soon.
Which one to get?
CHC Pro is a great upgrade option if you already have a V6/Volcano/Dragonfly or other compatible hotend. However, the complete hotend kit is very basic: you get a standard V6 heatsink and a generic heatbreak. To avoid clogging when printing PLA, you will likely want to upgrade to titanium or bi-metal heatbreak.
Rapido is an excellent hotend out of the box. It comes with bi-metal heatbreak and plated copper nozzle. There’s nothing you would need to upgrade on it. Also, since it doesn’t try to be compatible with V6, it features a rigid mounted heater, making nozzle changes easier.
Disclaimer: Trianglelab provided Rapido, CHC, and CHC Pro hotends free of charge but did not have any influence on this post.