EZStruder for Rostock MAX

[msdevstep]

Has anyone looked into this new extruder? I've been considering switching up the extruder and hot-end for my Rostock MAX.

It looks to be pretty decent, and they even designed a cold-end hanger for the Rostock MAX. I'm just wondering if using a direct-drive cold-end for a bowden setup will work?

http://shop.seemecnc.com/EZStruder-Cold ... -70780.htm

[ApacheXMD]

http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1840

I think mhackney has some info about the ezstruder in his build thread

[Polygonhell]

I have one on order, it won't arrive until Wed and I won't be able to look at it in detail until next week.
Like most of the direct drive extruders it's pretty similar to the Mk7, my one concern would be the how much pressure the spring can put on the filament and how good the tooth profile on the drive gear is.
I'm currently running an Airtripper direct drive extruder and I like it a lot, but with the drive gear I'm using you really need a lot of pressure, or with significant back pressure, the gear slips and eats the filament.
You need a decent stepper with direct drive extruders, despite the claim it can work with 1.75 or 3mm filament, there won't be enough drive force from a Nema 17 to push 3mm filament reliably (it requires about 3x the force of 1.75mm), it's a pity AFAICS from the pictures that it doesn't have a bolt pattern for geared steppers which would solve that issue.

[cambo3d]

Its seems like a really nice extruder, and its super quiet compared to the original. as far as functionality that still remains to be seen. still pretty new.
but mine seems to be working good so far.

[foshon]

I have one on order, it won't arrive until Wed and I won't be able to look at it in detail until next week.
Like most of the direct drive extruders it's pretty similar to the Mk7, my one concern would be the how much pressure the spring can put on the filament and how good the tooth profile on the drive gear is.
I'm currently running an Airtripper direct drive extruder and I like it a lot, but with the drive gear I'm using you really need a lot of pressure, or with significant back pressure, the gear slips and eats the filament.
You need a decent stepper with direct drive extruders, despite the claim it can work with 1.75 or 3mm filament, there won't be enough drive force from a Nema 17 to push 3mm filament reliably (it requires about 3x the force of 1.75mm), it's a pity AFAICS from the pictures that it doesn't have a bolt pattern for geared steppers which would solve that issue.

I can vouch for the fact the EZstruder has no issue tearing the hell out of filament (or shoving it into places I did not think it could possibly go), if the proper path is somehow blocked. That being said, I have not had one problem that I could blame on the extruder without a doubt. This is the first bowden setup that I have run that I actually enjoy tinkering with.

[bvandiepenbos]

hmmm, I am not getting very good results with EZStruder.
Mine is slipping, not filament but the motor losing steps.
I was running it at 1 amp, changed to 2 amps and it is better but still not great.
Do you guys have any ideas about what I am doing wrong?

[cambo3d]

hmmm, I am not getting very good results with EZStruder.
Mine is slipping, not filament but the motor losing steps.
I was running it at 1 amp, changed to 2 amps and it is better but still not great.
Do you guys have any ideas about what I am doing wrong?

Brian something to check here, does your stepper shaft have a flat?
If not try to ground a flat into it, retighten the filament gear so that the set screw is tightened against the flat of the shaft, then try it again.

[JohnStack]

I ordered the Ezstruder. Now, I'm wondering who is going to be first to do a hot end / Ezstruder combo.

Won't be me but I'm very interested in seeing how it will integrate/work. The geometry looks ok. My principle question would be about the weight of the combo head versus the belt / servo / gear combination.

[geneb]

It's too heavy to be practical. Mounting a heavy extruder to the hot end platform on a delta defeats the entire purpose of the configuration. (speed)

g.

[bplemmons]

I never understood that logic, my Replicator has two direct drive extruders on the nozzles and it runs parts perfectly at 80mm a sec.
My Rostock only runs about half that before I start having print problems.( with the Bowden set up.)

[Flateric]

Something is wrong then, I print at far far above 80mm at times. FAR above.

Added weight on the carriage would make any kind of advantages of the delta design to be lost.

Speed, accuracy would all be sacrificed.

[lazerusrm]

I dont understand the EZstruder for the rostock max...

the geared version is great, just needs a little tweaking.

3mm filament fixes the downfalls with the original one. i never touch it now. it just WORKS

[Broose]

Got my EZStruder yesterday. It works great so far with ABS. I think that Steve's extruder is probably a better extruder for 3.0 filament, and EZStruder great for 1.75. With Ezstruder, they've designed the tube entry right above the drive gear, making it much less likely for the 1.75 filament to kink. With the direct drive, it has no trouble with faster, quieter retractions and so far, I haven't seen torque to be a problem for the stepper motor that I swapped out from my Steve's Extruder.

[WarMachine]

I had some issues with the adapter plate for the cold end being off a bit, but otherwise the install was super easy. Unfortunately that is were my good luck ended. Not saying it's the unit, but perhaps more operator error...but I can't seem to push 1.75 abs worth a darn with it. Calibrations performed, tests run, but as soon as I started to push abs into the hot end for a flow test...it all went south, nozzles clogging, inconsistant feed, you name it.

Still workin' on it...

[Broose]

I had some issues with the adapter plate for the cold end being off a bit, but otherwise the install was super easy. Unfortunately that is were my good luck ended. Not saying it's the unit, but perhaps more operator error...but I can't seem to push 1.75 abs worth a darn with it. Calibrations performed, tests run, but as soon as I started to push abs into the hot end for a flow test...it all went south, nozzles clogging, inconsistant feed, you name it.

Still workin' on it...

A couple of thoughts which you may have already tried. Make sure that the knurled teeth on the drive gear are in alignment with the feed tube (the gear is at the right position on the motor shaft). Also, You can push the release button on the bottom and try slowly pushing filament up with the other hand and make sure some comes out of the nozzle when its at temp. The other thing to check is the torque setting in configuration.h
#define MOTOR_CURRENT {175,175,175,175,175} // Values 0-255 (RAMBO 135 = ~0.75A, 185 = ~1A)
The 4th number is for the extruder and can be boosted more if you are using the Wantai SeemeCNC stepper motor ( I was using 222 for current with Steve's Extruder). Just check to make sure to motor doesn't get too hot. The temperature protection circuitry on the RAMBO motor driver chip should shut it off before any damage on the board.

[Polygonhell]

Extruders are really simple, if you're getting inconsistent speed, either the plastic is slipping, or the stepper is skipping, or on the SeeMeCNC stepper the set screw is loose and the drive gear is slipping. Just watch it.

The stepper motor will likely get HOT, but they are rated for relatively high continuous temperatures.

[Broose]

The stepper motor will likely get HOT, but they are rated for relatively high continuous temperatures.

You're right. The rated motor current for the Wantai 42BYGHWB11 is 2.5A and it is relatively well ventilated so it would never get hot enough to cause a problem with the motor.

[Polygonhell]

FWIW I mounted mine on my machine this morning, I'm still running my first print, and I just guessed at the Esteps value, but so far I am pretty impressed.
I turned up the current to the stepper driver by quite a lot, I'm running at 200 on a 1.0 Rambo board.
The thing I like most about the design is they minimized the space between the exit from the drive roller and the entrance to the Bowden tube, this prevents the issue I was having on my air tripper extruder with ABS where very aggressive retracts (>100mm/s) would buckle the filament.
Currently printing ABS with perimeters at 60mm/s and infill at 120mm/s, no issues yet...

[foshon]

How fast are your retracts with the ez?

[Polygonhell]

I have it set at a max of 100mm/s in the firmware and the same in the slicer, but practically it won't reach that speed over the 5mm I'm retracting because of the Jerk and Acceleration settings which are 40mm/s and 4500mm/s/s respectively.
I find there is little difference once you exceed the Jerk speed, and with some extruders where slower retracts actually work better.

[foshon]

Edit: NM misread what u said. I'm at work and this tiny phone screen is hard to read.

[ApacheXMD]

For what it's worth, my ezstruder actually shipped with the hobbed roller missing the hobbing. It had the groove, just that it was completely smooth. So check it out if youre having issues, make sure the hobbing is present. Johnoly personally swapped it out for me at the makerfaire today so i should be good to go.