DD-MK7 - Prusa i3 Direct Drive Extruder

thingiverse

I've spent countless hours searching for ways to upgrade my old extruder to a direct drive one. I've scoured this website for inspiration and found numerous designs that sparked my interest. However, I wanted to create my own design with specific goals in mind. Firstly, I aimed to use only parts from my spare collection to minimize waste and save resources. Secondly, the design had to fit Prusa i3 Rework style X-Carriages, which feature a 23x23mm M4 mounting pattern. Thirdly, an idler with adjustable spring tension was essential for optimal performance. I also sought to create a compact design that could be printed quickly while still maintaining its strength. Furthermore, I wanted the filament path to be as short as possible, ideally just a few millimeters from the drive gear, to enable printing with flexible materials like TPU. The new extruder had to be compatible with various hotends, specifically tested with an E3DV6 using a custom spacer. However, I envisioned it could also work seamlessly with other hotends featuring similar groove mounts. After investing over 150 hours of design and testing, I'm thrilled with the final result, which has proven itself in countless prints without any issues whatsoever. The materials I've tested include ABS, PLA, PETG, and TPU, all of which have performed flawlessly. If you plan to use a different hotend than the E3DV6, you'll need to create a custom spacer to accommodate its specific dimensions: 16mm diameter x 6mm (top groove) / 12mm diameter x 5mm (middle groove).