MK8 Bowden extruder with pivot and quick release idler

thingiverse

Hi everyone, I've finally added a pivot to the extruder that better aligns it with the filament. The old setup had the extruder at a fixed angle, causing stress on the filament and producing a squeaky sound (which can be fixed by drilling the bottom hole) or even breaking the brittle PLA in some cases. Now, the extruder attaches using an M4 screw to the support on the bracing M10 rod. For those who don't want to disassemble the bracing M10 rod supporting the printer, I've added a simple adapter to connect to the old mounting method. I also added a little tab at the top of the idler and adjacent to the fitting to allow for quick release of the filament by pinching it. As it stands now, the one I printed was made from colorfabb nGen, which is much softer than PLA and flexes a bit more. This, combined with a very strong spring, makes the top pinching method not work for me, but it should in PLA, so feel free to comment and let me know. The extruder should be printed with support touching the build plate just to hold the new little tab. You can find the PC4-01 fitting on eBay at http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.A0.H0.XPC4-01.TRS5&_nkw=PC4-01&_sacat=0, about $5 shipped from the US. Alternatively, you can also find it on AliExpress at https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3D-Printer-Pneumatic-Connectors-PC4-01-1-75mm-PTFE-Tube-quick-coupler-j-head-Fittings-Reprap/32361630920.html for $0.50 from China. I ordered it on August 5, and it arrived in LA today, so delivery was not too bad.