Swinging Extruder for Diamond Hotend

I've read a lot about the flying extruder, but wasn't sure if it would work well for three steppers to drive my Diamond hotend.
I already had the direct drive extruders printed. So I made up my own version of it, which has the advantage of rotating steppers. That way the moved mass and inertia is lower (hopefully)
The extruder platform is stabilized by an arm to keep it from twisting.

For now, I could reduce the tube length by 40cm, but I'm sure there's more improvement possible.

Short video

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2016 03:16PM by o_lampe.

Very cool idea, thanks for sharing!
One question though: what will happen with it when the printer is homed? I guess the extruders will be pushed upwards by the bowden tubes? Perhaps you have a video available?

In the next step I will add some more rubber band and connect it from center to the carriers. Right now the extruders are "weightless". While homing ( or printing tall objects ) the carriers will also raise the extruderplatform with little effort.
I'm also thinking about adding a pulldown rope between hotend and extruder. As you can see, the steppers are vertical when the nozzle is on the bed. But with a little pull, the steppers would swing around and the tubes could be shorter.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2016 03:41PM by o_lampe.

As mentioned, I added carrier brackets to connect the extruder platform.
It works pretty well, the center stays put while the effector moves sideways, but raises when z-height changes.

Swinging extruder moves

Swinging extruder homing

Next I'll create a fan guard that connects the hotend with the extruder platform to pull it down further. Then we'll see how much shorter the PTFE tube can be.

Looks cool, very satisfying the way the extruders pivot. However you could get the bowden tubes much shorter with the extruders rotated 90 degrees anticlockwise. Also though not a cheap solution 3x titan extruders and 20mm nema 17s would save you 600g on your extruder platform.

No experience with diamond hot ends yet but very light flying extruders are definitely my thing.

---

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Very cool. What controller & firmware are you using to run that?

As I wrote, the starting point were the three extruders I'd already printed.
I'm not sure if the steppers would swing that nicely with the tubes pointing almost straight down. How much tilt would I get from 10cm Bowden tubes? Almost nothing?
Also the position of the steppers wouldn't work then.
The whole assembly would have to move up/down much more to avoid collisions and that would require more force from the tower-steppers.

@DjDemonD
I've seen your flying extruder, but it is installed on a CoreXY, *sigh* If only I had started to build one instead of a delta...

@FrankVdH
I'm gonna use a RADDS with 6 RAPS128 drivers. Has done a good job with other hotends and configuration is so easy, I wouldn't want to try anything else but RRF_Radds-branch. ( Well maybe a DuetWiFi, if Santa is in the mood )

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2016 05:13AM by o_lampe.

Made a fan guard today and pulled down the extruder platform ( by a shoe lace )
Shortened the Bowden tube another 12cm and made some real test with steppers on.
During the last seconds of the clip, the steppers ran at 15000mm/min= 250mm/s.
Not sure where the rattling came from...but definitely to fast for this effector weight.

First moves

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2016 02:39PM by o_lampe.

When I say point the extruders straight down the idea is the elastic holding the flying platform takes the strain as the effector moves. To be honest shortening the tubes probably will make only a slight difference it looks so wild like that to change it would be a shame.

My flying extruders are both on deltas, I haven't figured out a good way to do it on a corexy so I've got a flex3drive for that.

Might have to have a go with a diamond hot end looks like a challenge.

---

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Hmm, must have confused your printer setup with someone else's. I had a picture in mind from a CoreXY with a diamond.
Titan extruders with shorter steppers would work in my config too. I just want to keep the extruder platform as steady as possible, hence the rotating steppers.

So, did you finalize the design? Can we hope to see the files in Thingiverse?

I've been printing a while now with this setup and it didn't show any weaknesses. Maybe the rubberband has gotten a bit longer, but that's easily adjustable.
The use case is so specific, I don't think anyone else can use it. It all started with the direct drive extruders I'd already printed.
But the idea of steppers rotating around their COG is easy to copy for your extruder model.

Right now the diamond hotend is clogged and I started to use my Prusa again. WOW, this crappy old printer is soo much easier to handle and prints wonderful with the IGUS bearings.
Maybe I design a diamond swinging setup for that one, too

I am working on a 3 filament extruder using the standard components of the Nimble, in case you are interested.
But I really like the idea how these extruders are mounted. Clever.

Lykle

Quote
Lykle
I am working on a 3 filament extruder using the standard components of the Nimble, in case you are interested.
But I really like the idea how these extruders are mounted. Clever.

Lykle

If I had any money to play with, I'd publish a more standard design for eg: E3D Titan extruders or the Nimble. Feel free to copy my idea, it really takes away all the stress on the Bowden tube ( or remote drive shaft )
It also eliminated almost all resonance issues, when the effector goes zig-zag