Modified printers
At the beginning of our development work in 2016, our filaments were still very brittle, which is why we kept them in rod form and processed them with a filament diameter of 2.85 - 3.0 mm. Most printers use smaller standard diameters of 1.75 mm, which is why the extruder has to be replaced.
As an example of the initial construction of the X350 pro from GermanReprap (Feldkirchen, Germany), the picture on the left shows schematic drawings of the components and the finished implementation with a titanium extruder from E3D (Oxfordshire, UK). All non-commercial components were designed in-house and then printed from plastic.
The top left image shows improved filament cooling. Highly filled (≈ 60 vol%) metal filaments are very good conductors of heat, causing the melting zone to move too far away from the heating block and clog the feed.
In the middle illustration, a new holding plate was designed to offset the extruder with the stepper motor. This was necessary due to the structural conditions of the printer, which obstructed the filament feed in conjunction with the replacement extruder. In addition, a component cooling system was installed to enable the printing of small components.
Before commissioning the extruder, the end stops for the "home position" should be moved, otherwise the new parts could collide with the printer housing or the printing platform. Depending on the original printer, it may be necessary to reverse the polarity of the motor so that it firstly moves at all and secondly rotates in the intended direction. Furthermore, the E-steps of the extruder motor must be adjusted for optimum filament feed. This is done either in the printer menu itself, in the firmware or by means of a G-code.
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German Reprap GmbH X350 pro
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Creality Ender 3
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Sovol SV04
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E3D Toolchanger
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