Igor Soares' lightweight extruder

thingiverse

My very own lightweight extruder design. Tried to reduce weight as much as I could. Tried to put the hobbed bolt as close to the hotend as possible (to the extreme limit). I hope this will reduce hysteresis and retraction settings. Development repository with scads: https://github.com/igorsrs/igor-soares-extruder, under "low_profile_extruder" directory. The source files are quite hacky, they were supposed to be just an experiment and they carried a lot of "legacy" stuff from other (creepy) experiments. I will clean them up as soon as possible. warning This extruder is under DEVELOPMENT. I am running it on a daily basis to test it. Instructions Warning This is rather inaccurate, the whole thing is yet under development. BOM printed parts thin NEMA17 motor (like this http://www.pololu.com/product/2298). 2x 625 bearings; 1x 683 bearing, (8 diam, 3 bore, 4 width) MoonCactus hobbed bolt (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:68480), but use a M5 x 50mm long screw instead; mount plate and extruder; screws, nuts and washers (M3 and 1/8"); Intructions Print the parts; Break the support walls in the bearing housings, the bridges for screw housings and the idler support walls; use 2x 1/8" diam. 1" long screws to fasten the idler support over the extruder; use another 1/8" diam. 1" long screw in the wall opposing the idler support. That screw is a "steel reinforcement" to that wall. Fasten it a little tight (not too much or it wil bend or break); mount the 683 bearing on the idler with a m3 screw and a nut; use 1/8" diam. 2" long screw and a spring to push the idler bearing against the filament; use two 625 bearings in the extruder bearing housings, and 1/8" screws, washers and nuts to hold them in place; pass the hobbed bolt inside the bearings and use 2 opposing nuts to hold it to the input gear. the opposing nuts should be as tight as possible (and now, really tight). use a 3mm headless screw and nut to the motor gear; assemble the motor.