Far end, or distal extruder

I have just discovered far end, or distal extruders, where the extruder motor is remotely located and the filament is fed through a flexible tube to the extruder.
I like that system (on paper) but wonder how well it works compared to having the extruder feed motor directly incorporated into the extruder assembly.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2014 11:50AM by Easy.

Hi, do you mean 'Bowden' extruders, or maybe more like 'Flexidrive'?

Bowden has the drawback that it needs more retract since the tube makes the filament more 'flexible' as the tube always has to be slightly bigger than the filament there is a little space around it that causes this.

However I'm guessing you are talking about Flexidrive kind of solutions, of which I don't know anything! But here is the central topic for that: [forums.reprap.org]

Good luck!

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Sounds like you're talking about a Bowden extruder. They do work, allowing Delta setups to reach the high speeds they're capable of. They do have drawbacks, though, and tend to produce blobs and strings.