Introducing the Zesty Nimble Extruder, coming soon to kickstarter

Hi All

As existing delta owners, and while designing our own printer, we wanted to do away with pushing filament through a long bowden tube and also be able to print using flexible filaments.

Here is the result of our work, after iterating on it for close to 1/2 a year, without further ado we announce the Zesty Nimble, hopefully it sparks some excitement for many of you.


Some prototypes from the Nimble Evolution

So, what is it?

- An extruder (duh!)
- Lightweight (below 35g)
- Easy to use (clear filament path)
- Ambidextrous (can be mounted upside down to gain optimal use of space)
- Tiny (26mm x 32mm x 28mm high. It is so small, 2 fit on a Chimera)
- Injection moulded (high quality and tight tolerances)

The Zesty Nimble is a very lightweight extruder that allows direct drive across a plethora of printers and hot-ends, including Chimera and Diamond hotends. It will fit on most delta printers as well as the cartesian models.

Please checkout our website http://zesty.tech for a video of it in action and to sign up for notification when the campaign launches -- Coming Soon to Kickstarter!.

Cheers
Brian and Lykle

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2016 05:36PM by zestytechnology.

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Developer of the Zesty Nimble Extruder
[zesty.tech]

The story so far

We wanted an extruder that can do it all, be lightweight, easy to use and flexible. The lightweight aspect meant we had to ditch the stepper. We made a few designs, figured out the problems and started doing our research. After finding Werner Berry’s Video on youtube [www.youtube.com] we started looking for alternatives for driving the extruders. We also found mutley3d’s flex3drive and initially contacted him about potentially using it on our printer design, but he didn’t have anything that worked with a Chimera which Brian wanted to test with at the time. So, we decided to develop our own.

We started an intense development process and build many a prototype. The main focus was on lightness. We managed to get below 35 grammes. Goal 1 reached.
We wanted to make it easy to use. No more poking into a dark hole and trying to thread a filament past the hobbed wheel into a hot end. So we created the completely removable breech loading mechanism. It opens up the filament pathway from the top all the way to the hot end opening. It is so easy now to insert the filament directly into the hot end and lock it in. Design goal 2 reached.
All we needed to do is make it symmetrical so it could be used left and right handed. We tried 3 different configurations and settled on the two halves one as being most stable. Goal 3 achieved.

All this was made even more tricky, because we wanted it to be injection molded plastic. This gives us better quality, very high tolerances and a great surface finish. But the rules for making it moldable are quite strict and it was a challenge.

After about half a year of development on the extruder we were ready to announce.

As we felt it was the right thing to do, we approached mutley3d to offer a licence fee. We struck up an agreement, signed a contract and here we are ready to tackle the world.

Lykle and Brian
[zesty.tech]
Updated regularly. We are creating more videos.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2016 07:45AM by Lykle.

Very nice! I look forward to seeing more on this

What sort of price are we looking at for one of these?
Is there any backlash in the driver cable?
What are the benefits of this over the worm gear design of the flex3drive?

Hi, Thanks!

You will be seeing more of this soon.

Price? We are working on that, not final yet.
Backlash? Any backlash that is there is minimised by the worm gear drive.
Benefits? First of all, it uses the same kind of technology, so flexible cable and a worm gear. The benefits are in the main 3 design goals:
Light, easy to use and ambidextrous. This thing is small! If you put two next to each other, the filament centers would be 12mm apart. A Chimera uses 18mm.

One thing that is important here is the fact that all parts are injection molded. This gives a smooth housing with very high tolerances, so everything fits perfectly and it can be made strong, so it can be made smaller that our first designs. Compared to our first design, we reduced the overall size by more than a factor 2.

Lykle

Any estimates on what the costs will be when in production?

Not to question the will of the mods, but why has this been moved to the sales section? Its not for sale yet, and many other posts of the same nature are not moved here. Also, if all posts like this went here, we'd probably never even know they existed...

-- moved topic --

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2016 05:36PM by zestytechnology.

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Developer of the Zesty Nimble Extruder
[zesty.tech]

I'd be afraid to spend $$$³ for molds and then watch the chinese clone mafia flooding the marked with it...

Hi o_lampe,

Yes that is a worry, but part of preventing it is selecting the right partners in China, part of it is finding the right combination of materials that make it a little bit harder.
But there is no way to stop it all together. Just a fact of life.

Looking at E3D they have the same problem, yet they survive as people do recognise quality is worth it.

We will see.

Lykle

Funny these guys talking about china cloning when they just ripped the Flex3drive design and then asking community to pay for their tooling - this post should be moved to crowdfunding announcement section this is not a RepRap item they have made no real contribution just a bit slick on their marketing to mislead people they even claim to have invented it which is a joke

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Check my rubbish blog for my prusa i3

up and running
[3dimetech.blogspot.co.uk]

Hi Chris33,

We never have or never will claim we invented this thing,
The Nimble is our own design, using existing technology and building further on innovations of others. This is the normal way for innovation. [thenextweb.com]

Ripped Flex3drive? No we didn't. We have a license agreement, as we stated before. We approached Jason with a license offer, as it was the right thing to do.

We do not mislead people, we are only trying to make a better product and improve 3d printing. I am a firm believer in the personal factory concept and want to help make it a reality. If that means standing on the shoulders of giants and contributing my little piece, I am happy with that.

Lykle

I have to say this I got into RepRap/3d printing, not because of the easy way to take advantage of the open source community and sell other people's work, ie printing Prusa i3 parts and selling them on eBay for example, as personally, I think it's morally wrong but if people are ok with that then do what you must, back to the point I got into the RepRap and open source to find a way to get everyone inventing, get away with having to rely on big corporate companies to invent our technology, when if we all as open source and knowledge sharing and desktop manufacturing, we can invent our own technology.
Now back to the point of invention

In this Link in-cyprus 6th word out ?

no mention of brian you invented it and as I have read up that it was Brian that needed it for the hotend chimera

I don't appreciate bringing up other people business in post this has nothing to do with any other parties, this is my grievance nobody else

Innovation in a open source community is you innovate the product and show the product you're innovating not totally invent something that's inventing.

Anyway I hope I have shown my point across without being aggressive or rude thank you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2016 07:12AM by chris33.

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Check my rubbish blog for my prusa i3

up and running
[3dimetech.blogspot.co.uk]

Hi Chris

Brian here.. invent is actually a perfectly acceptable term to use.. and not misleading at all. Also journalists are known for taking artistic license anyway.

The Nimble, which did not exist before, is an invention by both of us. That doesn't at all mean that it's the first direct drive cable driven extruder ever.

Search invent on Google, the following meaning comes up.

Quote

invent
ɪnˈvɛnt/
verb
verb: invent; 3rd person present: invents; past tense: invented; past participle: invented; gerund or present participle: inventing

create or design (something that has not existed before); be the originator of.
"he invented an improved form of the steam engine"

I'm mentioned as a collaborator in the second sentence, and my name is mentioned later in that article, not that I'd actually care either way.

Cheers
Brian

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Developer of the Zesty Nimble Extruder
[zesty.tech]

Hi everybody and Chris in particular,

Allow me to restate my previous statement, I have never claimed I invented the flexible drive system, I created and developed, together with Brian, the Nimble.
I could have corrected the journalist, but did not. I didn't get much credit for my other inventions, so it was nice to see it in print.

Now, as to your main point. I find this a fascinating discussion.
I have started a new post to discuss this further, because I too feel that RepRap and the open source/hardware movement is important. [forums.reprap.org]

As to the rest, enough said about it and I also like a free and frank discussion. I don't think rudeness has a place here and hope my posts were not seen as such. I know yours weren't.

Lykle

ok so you invented a case to surround a existing technology and changing the ratio of 1:30 from the existing technology out there so you have innovated an existing product which I understand fully, but what about the 1st printers who the community which I talk about like the ultimakers, deltas, the prusa i3s' the 1st people to adopt the existing technology designed their own plastic part to accommodate the gearing why have they not gone and marketed theirs as a Kickstarter and made theirs into moulding and so on you have designed a new outer shell that anybody could do and then basically, I have to be critical as I don't understand innovation and inventing, I always thought designing a new shell to accommodate an existing technology is innovation or designing it to suit one's needs I know what I'll do to prove my point.
How many 12v 360w or PSU with similar design and shape? I know the 12v 300w is,
How many designs freely I can download off the T`interweb?
I designed this 12v PSU cover and ill go and kickstart it even better I will download someone else use a different connector and kickstart it

so designing a case to surround existing device technology which all you have done simple layman's terms which I'm not faulting you at but dropping gear ratio is not inventing a device you've innovated the case probably had to drop the ratio to make it fit in small case you have innovated for a particular hotend

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2016 02:19PM by chris33.

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Check my rubbish blog for my prusa i3

up and running
[3dimetech.blogspot.co.uk]

I am sorry that the journalist used the word invent.
I don't want this kind of discussion as it is just word bashing.
Nothing in this whole story is truly invented, the Flex3drive isn't, the Nimble isn't, it is a moot point.

Yes we developed a different housing, but we added functionality and features to it that were not there to begin with, like the breech loading, ambidextrous positioning and made it very light. That is innovation. We spent a hell of a lot of time and money on this. I am proud of the result, because it is a good product.

Im not going to reply no more because I'm not a keyboard warrior just sticking my morals in what open source is about

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Check my rubbish blog for my prusa i3

up and running
[3dimetech.blogspot.co.uk]

This sounds like one of mutley's flex3drive systems....and you asking the community to pay for your injection molds?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2016 07:27PM by reifsnyderb.

@reifsnyderb

If it sounds like that, it's because there are common elements between both designs, something that we've been quite open about. This is why we have licensed that prior work by mutley, as we believed it was the right thing to do. I agree that just creating a commercial product without giving something back would be totally wrong.

We're only asking those interested in getting hold of the Nimble to back us, if you are not interested then by all means don't support us.

Cheers
Brian

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Co-creator of the Zesty Nimble, worlds lightest direct drive extruder.
[zesty.tech]

Please put me in the first group of waiting line!

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Genie - designer of bitfab::Hexagon Heatedbed in purple. PM me if you wish to get original one of the best quality.

Lol Genie!

Subscribe and you will be. :-)
Sometimes life is simple.

Lykle

Okay, sign up done!

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Genie - designer of bitfab::Hexagon Heatedbed in purple. PM me if you wish to get original one of the best quality.

Hey there. I must say your product looks very intriguing but I have a questions if you may:

The prints I see in your videos and pictures are ones which do not need a lot of retraction. I ask because inexpensive flex-shafts are normally unidirectional and flex when rotated in the opposite direction of intended use. Bidirectional shafts are more expensive but are better suited for this. I for example didn't find any bidirectional ones on Aliexpress when I wanted to build something like this myself.

So the question may be: What's your retraction/flex shaft story?

thanks,
SBK

@SteinbeisserKarl

Hi

I'm just waiting on some parts to arrive for a newer prototype and then you will see many more videos coming from us, I have quite a few different types of flexible filaments to record with, so hopefully will be able to provide you with what you are seeking in regard to videos.

By all means suggest some models you'd like to see me testing with as well.

Cheers
Brian

In fact it would be great if you could point out some models.. I'm having trouble finding good ones that require retraction on thingiverse

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2016 07:40PM by briangilbert.

We've just uploaded another video, showing how easy it is to load filament with the Nimble [youtu.be]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2016 12:52AM by briangilbert.

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Co-creator of the Zesty Nimble, worlds lightest direct drive extruder.
[zesty.tech]

Quote

showing how easy

NA, easy like the titan" having an hinge on it so I haven't got two loose pieces, any risk of moving the effector while reloading filament mid print

@jinx

We've already changed the design so the bottom part is held captive now, making loading even easier.

We've not experienced any issue with the effector moving so far.

Try something like the Eiffel tower. For some idea look at "Retract Hell".

Hello All,

The Kickstarter campaign for the Zesty Nimble is live!
It took a lot of hard work and delays (one of us fell off a roof and needed to go to hospital) but we finally did it.

If you are interested, here is the link: [www.kickstarter.com]

Have a look and see if you like the product.

Thank you.

Brian and Lykle