Mosquito is a very high quality hotend developed and manufactured in the United States by The company Slice Engineering. It is one of the fastest hotends on the market in terms of material flow.

It is a very light 1.75 mm filament hotend designed to work in direct mode,especially in conjunction with Bondtech's BMG-M extruder.

Image 1: BMG-M + Mosquito Magnum. Source: Sliceengineering.com

Although its maximum performance is achieved in direct mode, it also supports mounting on "bowden" systems, adding the optional Groove Mount Adapter.

It can reach a maximum temperature of 350 oC in printers without heated chamber and up to 450 oC in heated camera printers,allowing you to work with virtually any FDM material, including technical polymers such as PEKK or PEI.

The "hotend" Mosquito has been designed with the printing of technical grade materials in mind at high speed,maintaining quality and accuracy. To do this it has been developed from scratch, carefully selecting all materials in order to obtain the best thermal performance.

Image 2: Mosquito thermography in operation. Source: Sliceengineering.com

A high-performance heating block

Mosquito includes a heating block made entirely of high quality copper,the metal with the highest thermal conductivity along with silver. The choice of copper has several advantages over aluminum, the material most used in the manufacture of heating blocks. First, its coefficient of thermal conductivity is twice that of aluminum,which ensures a higher heating and cooling speed,as well as greater temperature stability and accuracy in the melting zone. The second advantage is that copper withstands higher temperatures without degrading,which allows to print with temperatures up to 450 oC. In addition, the heating block has been coated with a nickel layer that protects it from oxidation while preventing the debris from molten plastic from sticking to its surface, as well as reducing heat loss from irradiation.

Imagen 3: Bloque calefactor del Mosquito. Fuente: Sliceengineering.com

The most advanced heat break on the market

This high performance heating block is combined with a bimetal Heat Break designed to minimize the thermal transition zone, separating and better defining the cold zone from the hot or melting zone.

 Image 4: Mosquito bimetal heat break. Source: Sliceengineering.com

The Heat Break is made of surgical steel, a metal with a low heat transmission coefficient, coated with two copper alloy elements that improve heat dissipation from the cold zone and help maintain a more defined melting zone.

 Picture 5: Structure of Slice Engineering's bimetal heat break. Source: Sliceengineering.com

This bimetallic design reduces the thermal conductivity between the hot and cold zones by 85 % compared to traditional Heat Breaks and is the key technology for the thermal performance of the Mosquito "hotend". This is largely achieved by the low wall thickness of the surgical steel tube of only 0.35 mm.

 Picture 6: Comparison of Copperhead and Mosquito Heat Break thickness against others on the market. Source:Sliceengineering.com

 A structure of high rigidity and innovative design

The heating block and the heatbreak are integrated into a structure that acts both as a heat sink and as a structural support for the hotend. This structure is made of aeronautical grade aluminium and allows the mounting of a 25 mm fan. It also has 5 different patterns of holes that facilitate its assembly in many 3D printer models.

 Video 1: Mosquito mounting on a Prusa i3 printer Source: Sliceengineering.com

This highly rigid structure directly supports the heating block, freeing the Heat Break from mechanical loads. This makes it possible to use such a low wall thickness without risk of breakage, something that would be impossible with traditional hotend designs.

In addition, because the structure directly holds the heating block and prevents it from rotating, it is possible to change the nozzle with one hand, which is very important for advanced users who need to change the nozzle frequently.

Slice Engineering has developed vanadium nozzles that are compatible with the Hotend Slice Mosquito and the Hotend Slice Copperhead. These nozzles have an M6 x 1 thread and an overall length of 12.5mm, making them fully compatible with E3D's V6 system components and most RepRap-type components.

Magnum version

In addition to the original Mosquito version, the Mosquito Magnum version is available, a version focused on the most demanding tasks and materials. Mosquito Magnum includes a thermal insulator between the cold and melting zones made of a composite with a heat transmission coefficient of only 3 W/m*K. This insulator creates a third transition zone, which improves the printing of materials with high melting temperatures at high speeds. Mosquito Magnum is not suitable for materials with low softening temperatures such as PLA. If you are interested in the Mosquito Magnum version, please contact us for availability.

Image 7: Mosquito Magnum. Source: Sliceengineering.com

Mosquito and Mosquito Magnum are Slice Engineering's most advanced "hotends", perfect for working at high speeds with all types of materials, without sacrificing quality or precision.

* Nozzle, thermistor and heating cartridge are not included.