Prusa i3 "Tweety" Parametric Compact Extruder

thingiverse

Tweety Extruder is a vertical direct drive extruder designed for Prusa i3 3D printers. The project was born after the creator wasn't satisfied with his previous Compact Extraptor design, which required long screws and had bulkiness issues. Tweety Extruder offers a more compact and centered design around the filament pinch point, allowing for shorter M3 screws. The optional nozzle stabilizer helps to limit downward movement of the hot-end in case of collision with an object, improving reliability during Y bed movements. The design is set up for a 2engineers 50:1 geared stepper motor, MK7 filament drive gear, and 3mm filament, but it's highly parametric, making it easy to adapt for specific motor and dimensional preferences. Assembly involves inserting locknuts into the extruder body, assembling the idler with a 608 bearing, attaching the idler to the body with an M3x20mm bolt or filament, adding tensioner shoulder bolts, connecting the motor, inserting the hot-end, and attaching fan and hot-end clamp. The extruder is then attached to the x-carriage using short M3 bolts. The SCAD file contains numerous tunable parameters for customization, including filament width, motor size, idler axle offset, mounting height, etc. Just remember that any parts touching the hot-end must be printed in heat-tolerant materials like ABS.