mod ezstruder to print ninjaflex at high speeds

[guanu]

Ok, so I finally got around to taking pics last night so I'll finally write up what I did to mod the ezstruder to print ninjaflex at 50mm/sec

Sorry if this is pic heavy for such a simple mod, but that the way I write how-to's because its easier to see whats being done than describing it...

yup, real detailed...

Step 1: disconnect the ptfe tube from the extruder.. depress the grey (or blue if you still have one of the older style) ring nice and hard, and give the tube a yank..

Step 2: remove the lower section of the ezstruder by removing the 2 long lower screws that attach the ez struder to the bracket, and the middle 2 screws that attach the black section of the ez struder to the motor so you have this piece seperate:

IMG_0373.JPG (44.5 KiB) Viewed 20709 times

Step 3: seperate the black piece and remove the aluminum adapter

Step 4: I found some random small screws to attach the two halfs together while they are off the motor, place a couple screws in the middle holes to clamp the two pieces together..

Step 5: using increasing sizes of drill bits, drill out the channel where the filament runs (the 1.75mm channel)... this could be done on the 3mm side as well if you want to be able to revert back to standard if you want, I didnt bother, but thinking about it, that would work just fine... this pic is after 2 drills (one small then one step larger) take your time and run the drill through it while squeezing the halfs together being very careful to keep your fingers away from the drill bits!

Step 6: Increase the drill bit size until you have just enough room to put some PTFE liner in the hole.. the last drill bit size I used was 11/64 (used what I had, no metric bits around my bedroom)

IMG_0378.JPG (68.69 KiB) Viewed 20709 times

Step 7: remove the middle screw that holds the clear cover on the part of the ez struder and remove the cover... (no need to remove the 2 screws that actually go into the motor on the corners)

Step 8: using a razor knife or something similarly shap, shape the tip of the ptfe liner to a V leaving one side lower than the other... the reason for this is the idler on the ezstruder is a smaller diameter and sits slightly higher than the drive gear, you want the V of this cut to basically go along each roller without leaving a gap

IMG_0381.JPG (76.32 KiB) Viewed 20709 times

Step 9: with the V of the ptfe about 1/4 inch sticking out, line the top holes of the black piece up with the holes for the motor, this pushes the ptfe tube sticking out back in to the correct distance for when its bolted on..

Continued on next post....

Guanu

[guanu]

After alignment:

IMG_0386.JPG (64.41 KiB) Viewed 20708 times

Step 10: Without moving the V side use a razor knife to trim the PTFE tube flush with where the aluminum adapter sits.

IMG_0388.JPG (74.43 KiB) Viewed 20708 times

Step 11: remove the temporary middle screws, open the halves and replace the aluminum adapter, then screw the assembly with ptfe tube to the motor and check alignment with the drive gear and idler.. here I opened the idler to show the ptfe sticking out.

Step 12: replce the clear cover of the EZ struder, and feed in some filament, you will notice its slightly more difficult to get it in the ptfe liner, this is because of tighter tolerances, and if you have a gear or knob for the extruder, it makes life a LOT easier as you only need it to bite and you can use the knob to feed the filament.. heres me testing the feed..

thats it! put your ptfe back in the push fit connector and you are good to go.. this mod eliminates the gap that when printing filament like ninjaflex that it can bind up and jam into...

before this mod I couldnt go faster than about 18mm/sec with ninjaflex before it jammed up in the extruder... after I brought it up to 50mm/sec with no problems, could prolly go faster but I dont print fast to begin with, so that was plenty fast for a verification that it works..

hope this helps anyone who wants to print with crazy elastic materials

Guanu

[mhackney]

Similar to my fix BUT, I am using the E3D and Kraken hot ends and they come with a "pass through" PTC so I can pass the PFTE Bowden tub through it right down to the cogged gear in a single piece. It really makes a difference. I think your mod would be beneficial to any filament too.

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

Guanu, thank you for such a fine tutorial. All the pictures do make it easy to understand.

[guanu]

it will work as the way you describe, but for that you would have to drill out the aluminum adapter as well then, because its drilled for the filament hole on the other side...

Guanu

[mhackney]

Yes, I actually fabricated new adapters since the thread on the E3D is a UK thread. While I was at it, I just bored on through.

[MikeD]

These detailed instructions are great. Thank you for spending the time and sharing. I finished my v2 a couple weeks ago and have been printing along great with excellent quality with both ABS ad PLA. My Ninjaflex order arrived a couple days ago and after several attempts I have not been able to get it to extrude. The filament was immediately bending at the cold end right after the roller. I was starting to think about what to do when I saw this post. Will work on the mods tonight. Thanks again.

Mike

[singh336]

I've tried this mod it didn't work well for me so i changed the tip of the tubing so that it had a point (double cut / angle) and fit as close as possible up to the idler and hobbed gear.

but still no luck, its fine at crawling speeds but retraction etc will easily jam up

[img]http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2014/ ... 6775_n.jpg[/img]
[img]http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2014/ ... 2797_n.jpg[/img]
[img]http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2014/ ... 7615_n.jpg[/img]
[img]http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2014/ ... 7245_n.jpg[/img]

the other (ghetto yes but temporary and for testing) mods I did were increased the spring rate and also i used some pieces of abs filament to stop the ninjaflex filament from jumping behind the idler either to the front or back which was my original issue.. i also added tubing above where the filament comes through the top of the ezstruder.


why it work for you and not me ? are you using 3mm or 1.75 ?

I think maybe 3mm is the way to go perhaps ?

[singh336]

just to update, i just wound up modeling my own extruder base plate that has support for the filament right up to the gears on the entrance and exits. this finally worked but no more than 30mms , i really would love to know how you are printing 50mms with the above mod only :S

[Holy1]

just to update, i just wound up modeling my own extruder base plate that has support for the filament right up to the gears on the entrance and exits. this finally worked but no more than 30mms , i really would love to know how you are printing 50mms with the above mod only :S

Would you mind sharing the .stl of the base you made ?

[singh336]

yea sure, i want to make a tweak to it before i upload it but its pretty much ready to go.

[singh336]

here it is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:488678

[Holy1]

here it is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:488678

Thanks, I have some ninjaflex coming tomorrow.

[JackFoz]

here it is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:488678

Just about to print this. I'll share results when I get the chance to give it a try!

[singh336]

thanks. i just realized that I had to dremel a little material off for the hobbed gear to fit well , so keep that in mind, i only took JUST enough off for the gear to spin freely and no more.

[dunginhawk]

problem im having here is that the bottom screw that connects it to the bracket (in step 1) is right behind the tower and i cant get to it. ive stripped the screw a lot trying..

[dunginhawk]

finally just turned the nylock nut off instead of the screw... did the mod,, still jammed for me... seems really hit or miss. works great for some, not for others

[predawnsky]

heres a remix version of your extruder singh336 from wcarver1
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:667301

[EL Cuajinais]

Ninjaflex is the only "advance material" that I REALLY want to try. It's funny, I tried printing the extruder linked here two or three times and was always unsuccessful. I use S3D and though it thinks there is not issue with the model, it skips a layer or two in some areas and messes up the print. And truthfully, the STL does have some funky stuff going on with some solids inside of solids. I started "fixing" this but never got around to finishing it. Now the funny thing is I had seen the remixed version a million times but never bothered downloading it because I thought it was for dual extruders. That picture threw me off. I just realized that this is just what I was trying to do on my own! I will be printing it tomorrow for sure. Is there anyone that can compare Guanu's mod vs this printed extruder? Which do you think is better? I REALLY want to print me some Ninjaflex!

[EL Cuajinais]

Crap I spoke too soon. I can't use the "remixed" files. The scale is completely messed up and they show up as gigantic models. This happens both in S3d and Mattercontrol. Sigh...

Any suggestions?

[ramai]

And truthfully, the STL does have some funky stuff going on with some solids inside of solids. I started "fixing" this but never got around to finishing it.

I don't know if it will help, but messed up models are usually fixed up pretty with netfab. They were bought out by microsoft, but the online software still fixes models better than most slicers.

[predawnsky]

your trick worked for me

[RichardMI]

EZStruder Fix for Flexible Filament

Printing flexible filament seemed impossible with the EZStruder on my Rostock MAX V2. Here is one fix which involves no printing, gluing cutting, or drilling of the stock parts, and cost less than $13. It is all reversible if needed, no harm done.

I flipped the EZStruder filament guide block 180 deg. (Item 2 in Fig.10-1 of the Max V2 Assembly Guide), installed a 1/8 inch dia. aluminum tube to tame the filament, and added a small fan to keep the assembly cool. The photo shows the final arrangement.
The flipped guide block has “USA” on the left and “SEEMECNC” on the right, which is upside down from how it was originally, or supposed to be, installed. The aluminum tubing is 1/8 x .014 in. from a hardware store, and is approximately 27mm long. The upper end is angled to a point in order to fit as close to the wheels as possible. I suspect you could make it just touch the wheels on both sides and the soft aluminum would quickly wear into the right clearance. The tube extends down through the guide block to the top of the large cylindrical aluminum fitting, and is wrapped with a layer of electrical tape to keep it tightly sandwiched in the guide block. The guide block on that side has a pathway slightly larger than the diameter of the tube.

The fan, a $10 4 inch desk fan, cools the potentially hot stepper motor, so it doesn’t heat the filament and make it even more flexible. Not sure it this is a necessity or a precaution, but cooler is usually better.

I removed the clear plastic cover so the pinch point, or potential jamming site, is easy to see and check on. The same is true for the nylon manual turning wheel. I’ll pop that on later if needed.

The extruder is set to 230 C. I started the print speed at 10mm/s and have increased to 30mm/s over the course of several tests without any jamming. The source of flexible filament is unknown since it was a gift from a frustrated printer and has no brand name on the spool. Nevertheless, it made a nice cell phone case for a test. Maybe Ninja-Flex is next!