We just launched our Kickstarter campaign for the Zesty Nimble.
A very light and neat little extruder that weighs less than 35 grams.
If you are interested, please have a look.
The Zesty Nimble
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lykle/super-light-and-easy-to-use-extruder-for-your-3d-p
Do you have any print samples to show?
Hi Thomas,
The core principles are the same.
The differences are:
Easier to use, with the breech system, you open up the whole filament path and can see exactly where the filament enters the hot end.
Lighter, because we use injection molding, we can optimise for wall thickness and get the weight down. More on this weight loss later.
More flexibility. Because it is ambidextrous. https://youtu.be/EVk5cfnrU6Y This allows you to position the Nimble in the optimal position, or fit 3 Nimbles on a Diamond nozzle. Also, because the unit itself is so small, we use adapters to fit the Nimble to all sorts of mounting methods and hot ends.
For instance, if somebody upgrades to a Chimera or Cyclops, all they have to do is buy 1 extra Nimble, instead of having to buy a double extruder.
Quality. Because we are injection molding all the parts (besides the steel) we ensure the optimal quality for each part. As you know, designing for injection molding is a whole different story than when you design for a product to be printed.
So, to wrap it up. Lighter, easier to use and more flexible.
Lykle
@Topias_Korpi Yes we are working on a nice gallery of images. Sorry, it is taking longer than we expected. One of us fell off a roof.
@Lykle_Schepers
Looks like a great invention. I watched the video and read the campaign, and didn’t really get much sense of what was so great. Your discussion here and my familiarity with the Flex3drive product really helped complete the picture.
More diagrams please! The flex drive part and how the whole extruder path works with your invention seems like an important omission…
how do you cope with the backlash in the flexible drive? I have been looking into different designs for delta printers to print flexible filaments to adopt for my printer SpatialOne
There is little backlash, but it doesn’t matter because we have the gear system. The 30:1 gear reduction reduces the backlash to tiny proportions.
For my Delta I use 1.2 mm retraction.
The cable itself is pretty flexible, we cover it in a nylon sleeve that provides a bit of stiffness and forms a nice arch over the hot end. It feels similar to a bowden tube.
imo flex3drive is better. and more robust looking. also this deisng looks flimsy and too many parts to tension.
i can see the drive sheath coming off. and thats instant death to the drive cable.
sorry i would buy a flex3drive over the abomination this is. original idea? BAH…more like thievery.
get the legit! https://flex3drive.com/flex3drive/
get it now!
That’s not an extruder. It extrudes nothing. It’s a feeder.
Nope, I’m not. It might feel like that. But it is annoying as hell to provide support on bowden type machines if people call everything “the extruder”. We have a feeder, and a hotend, and combined that makes an extruder.
Well then…good news! This isn’t a bowden setup…the tube you see protects the drive cable from kinking!
HI Daid, yes I agree. I liked the older terms Cold-end and Hot-end. Together forming the extruder. But it has become customary to call it an extruder. Not the first time language flaunted technical reality.
And Jim, indeed it is the sleeve that holds the drive cable. It gives the cable a nice arch to the hot-end and handles all the torque reactions.
Doesn’t change the fact that it’s using the wrong terminology, creating all round confusion for everyone.
In the last couple years reading about 3D printing, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term “feeder”. I’m not ready to argue it’s inappropriate, but it doesn’t match the cultural jargon.