The Apex Vulcan is at its core a very compact and efficient heatsink design, crucial for controlling temperatures during high-flow printing but at the same time keeping it small and lightweight. This heatsink weighs in at only 10.7g it features a total volume of 3836.22mm³, a diameter of 22mm, and a height of 19mm. Constructed from aluminum with a total fin area of 3487.84mm², it effectively balances size and thermal performance paired with a recommended Bi-Metal heat break, it manages to maintain a 10 to 20 degree Celsius internal throat temp above ambient, enabling high heat dissipation in a small footprint, it is also machined locally in Cape Town.
Why the Apex Vulcan Heatsink Excels
Key factors behind the Vulcan heatsink’s efficiency include:
Optimized Surface Area and Fin Design: The Vulcan’s fin area maximizes surface exposure, allowing for greater airflow contact and more efficient cooling. The fins are carefully spaced to balance effective cooling without adding bulk.
Compact Volume and Thermal Mass: With a volume of 3836.22mm³, the heatsink is compact yet offers substantial heat dissipation. This feature makes it ideal for lightweight toolheads on fast-moving CoreXY and Delta printers, where every gram matters.
Airflow Management: Efficient airflow over the fins helps prevent overheating and allows longer, uninterrupted printing sessions by keeping the heatsink’s temperature under control.
These design elements create a heatsink that prevents heat creep, maintains filament path stability, and performs exceptionally well, even in high-demand printing environments.
A Modular Design for Versatile Compatibility
The Apex Vulcan goes beyond just effective cooling; it is a modular platform that supports various heaters compatible with the E3D V6 standard, thanks to its M7 threaded heatsink and M6 heater threads when paired with a Bi-Metal E3D V6 heat break. This versatility enables users to choose from a range of hotend heaters, including E3D V6, E3D Volcano, E3D Supervolcano, Trianglelab CHC and CHC Pro, Creality MK8, and Creality K1 models and more expanding customization options for different print requirements.
The Full Vulcan Hotend
In its full configuration, the Vulcan pairs with the Trianglelab CHC Pro heater, delivering 115W of power with a melt zone equivalent to the E3D Volcano but with increased thermal conductivity being made from copper and doubling the power output in some volcano configurations all while still being a lighter package, this coupled with the Bi-Metal heat break and CHT style volcano nozzle provides outstanding flow rates with numbers of up to 70mm³/s not being unheard of in a real printing scenario, allowing users to tackle challenging prints with ease all while having a total weight of under 40g.
It has a 16mm PCD M3 hole layout allowing it to be mounted to most toolheads that is compatible with the Phaetus Dragon hotend. Our github also includes a printable adapter that adapts the hole layout to a groove mount for E3D V6 style mounting options.
The Apex Vulcan is engineered for makers who need performance, flexibility, and compact design.
Links.
The GitHub for the Vulcan STEP(CAD) file can be found HERE
Vulcan Heatsink
CHC PRO (Official Vulcan Heater)
Bi-Metal Heatbreak
Volcano Brass Heater
Volcano Aluminium Heater
V6 Heater
Volcano CHT nozzles
V6 CHT Nozzles
Apex Vulcan Full hotend configuration.
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VULCAN Heatsink |
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Bi-Metal Copper/Titanium Alloy heat break |
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Trianglelab CHC Pro 115w Heater |
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Volcano CHT style nozzle |
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Alternative Configuration Examples
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