Zesty Nimble Direct Drive extruder launched on KS
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Deckingman,
One thing thing to consider is adding an insulation blanket between the hot end nozzle interface and the cooling fins and also down a bit to cover the nozzle but exposing the tip area. There are ceramic fiber sheets you can order on Ebay that you cut to shape and you can use high-temp kapton tape to attach to the surfaces. I wrap my hot end block with the insulation and it helps maintain the heat where I need it and not radiate to surrounding areas where I don't want it. It helps improve the temperature stability.
Yes, I've been using a Diamond for quite a while now. Insulation between the nozzle and hot end is absolutely essential. The "stock" RepRap.Me hot end is supplied with 3 layers of "fire blanket". They work well but have a tendency to fray at the edges. When I assemble them, I put the 3 layers of insulation together then stick Kapton tape around the edges. It works but isn't a very elegant solution. There is a user on the RepRap forums who cut some from silicone sheet (as used for cooking trays) and kindly supplied me with some extra samples. I did some back to back tests to compare the two by fitting a thermocouple inside the heat sink in the area of the thread (the heat break). The results aren't conclusive because it is very difficult to position a thermocouple inside the heat break and know that you have exactly the same contact when you do it a second time. Also, there were other differences apart from the insulation as they were two different assemblies. So although the parts were the same specification, there were not the exact same parts, so it is possible that one fan may have bee slightly more efficient than the other. Anyway, for tests I did with the standard "fire blanket" insulation, the temperature I measured at the heat break with the hot end at 200 deg C was 46.5 deg C and was stable after 180 seconds (I carried on for another 120 seconds just to make sure there was no "creep". With the silicone sheet insulation, the temperature was 51.7 deg C and stable after the same time period. However, for reasons given above, I would not like to say that the silicone is definitely worse (and in any case 51.7 deg C is probably acceptable).
As for wrapping the nozzle in insulation, I understand that some people like to do this. I prefer to use the minimum required print cooling. For me, using cooling only if the layer time is less than 30 seconds, and then not all for the first 5 layers works well. I'm also careful not to have the print cooling directed at the nozzle.
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It sounds like your hot end should be using a blower fan instead of an axial fan if you need high air flow with higher pressure.
It doesn't need to be high pressure - just a minimum of 18 c.f.m. I'm using a "normal" 50mm square 24v fan which gives around 22 c.f.m. (can't remember the exact figure). You'd have to be careful how you position a high pressure fan so as to have the airflow coming out through the heat sink fins and not blowing directly on to the brass nozzle.
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the image in the tweet was a quick blocking up to prove it will work, we're refining the design of the diamond mount before we release it
Good to hear. You'd probably need a range of mounting options to suit different machines (mine isn't a delta).
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Can you provide some info on your printer, how do you have the diamond mounted currently?
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Some short videos showing some of the unique selling points of the Nimble..
Pulling force of Nimble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLDT1MgwAKg
Ambidextrous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVk5cfnrU6Y
Unobstructed filament changing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok1W635JVfA
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As I mentioned on a Reprap post, the area of the smallest opening of the designed shroud is slightly bigger than the opening of the standard shroud used by the Diamond Nozzle.
I am in the process of tweaking it further and would love to have some more detail on how people intend to use it.
The fan I am using currently is 60x60x25. I used this fan as it is nice and quiet. If I can find a smaller fan with 18cfm I will use that. That would make my life easier. And as you know, Zesty Technology is all about easy!
The difficulty I am currently having is to make the shape such that it can be printed on a normal printer, instead of sending it off to Shapeways. Getting there, but it is a hassle.
Lykle -
Can you provide some info on your printer, how do you have the diamond mounted currently?
Hi Brian,
Info on my printer here https://www.duet3d.com/forum/thread.php?id=89
To see how the Diamond is mounted, follow the link to the pics. The X carriage folder will probably show you what you want. Because the Diamond is such an ungainly beast, I decided to mount it slung between 2 parallel rails, rather than have cantilevered and hanging off one side. That cost me a lot of movement in X and Y so I had to make the printer wider and deeper than I originally intended (600mm x 600mm). That meant that if I had mounted the extruders on the frame, the Bowden tubes would have been around 700mm long. So, I came up with the kind of flying extruder arrangement that you'll see, with the extruders suspended centrally above the bed and 300mm long Bowden tubes( bed is 400mm square). It kind or works but….
I'm not sure the dual rail idea was such a good one and may end up changing it. (Come to that, I'm not entirely convinced that CoreXY is the way to go and may end up changing it to a simple Cartesian).
HTH
Ian
P.S. What's needed is variant of the diamond hot end that has integral heat sinks that don't stick out at all angles. You've got the drive, now all you need is a path for the filament to go down to a single nozzle and get heated along the way - simple really. While your at it, a mixing chamber for the filament before it goes to the nozzle tip would be a good idea too. The diamond doesn't have one (well it kind of does but when you look at the drawing, it's only 0.4mm dia and 2mm long).
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OMG.. that carriage is huge, do you have model of that available? Have PM'd you my email.
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OMG.. that carriage is huge, do you have model of that available? Have PM'd you my email.
Yes it is a tad on the large side. That's me trying to sling it between 2 rails. You need at least 60mm between the rails to clear the heat sinks, then the rails are 20mm wide making it 100mm, then you need to put some wheels somewhere to run on the rails. Smooth rods or linear guides would make it smaller but I wanted to make it all out of Open Builds Vslot.
I'll check my emails. I have the open scad files of it all and happy to share.
Ian
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Wow.. this is the first time I looked into Open Scad. WOW… What a boondoggle of a program. I would never be able to design efficiently with that program as compared to other CAD software. Its almost like a programming software for geeks that is done with CAD.
Well not exactly for geeks. I'm a 63 year old carpenter and had never used any sort of CAD software in my life, but I had written a bit of code as a hobbyist. I managed to teach myself OpenScad last year, at least enough to design my new printer. The code might not be pretty or as efficient as it could be, but I get the job done. I wouldn't know where to start with more conventional CAD software.
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Yeah I've only ever really got to grips with Tinkercad, but the more I use it, the more I find I'm entering parameters rather than using the mouse and I suppose that's how open scad works.
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Try Autocad Fusion 360. It is light years better since its graphical. I use CAD software everyday and OpenScad is not user friendly. There are lots of training videos online. If you can figure out OpenSCAD, the other tools would be a breeze. It is a lot more intuitive. Personally, I prefer Creo since I use it at work, but most general users can't afford the license for that software.
You basically add extrusions, holes, cuts, revolves, etc. Very easy tool to learn once you get the basics down. I think it would be good for you longer term to use it since it would make you a lot faster and more productive.
I haven't tried it, but Onshape looks like another good alternative.
https://www.onshape.com/ -
I Do the majority of my Cad stuff with FreeCad but going to have a go with Fusion 360 mainly cos of the included CAM Module so that it works for my CNC as well.
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Funnily enough my first ever model was with OpenSCAD, but I admit I personally gravitate to Tinkercad for most quick things, the beta version is a lot nicer with it's ability to enter parameters for measurements at least (I wist there was a way to convert older projects to use the beta version).
I have used OnShape and it's awesome to use collaboratively, currently trying to get up to speed with Fusion 360.
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Funnily enough my first ever model was with OpenSCAD, but I admit I personally gravitate to Tinkercad for most quick things, the beta version is a lot nicer with it's ability to enter parameters for measurements at least (I wist there was a way to convert older projects to use the beta version).
I have used OnShape and it's awesome to use collaboratively, currently trying to get up to speed with Fusion 360.
2X on the OnShape software. It is very powerful for design.
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Fusion 360 will be standard for product design in a few years!
They have FEA simulation of the following: static stress, resonant frequency, thermal (how things heat up), and thermal stress (how things warp when hot). They will soon have fluid flow simulation as well (and possibly others).
They will soon have sheet metal design tools, and even generative design tools which will test a part and reduce it to its minimum required shape/thickness.
They have built-in HSMexpress (CAM), built-in raytracing (photo-realistic rendering), etc etc.
If anyone hasn't tried Fusion 360 yet, I would highly recommend it.
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I also vote for fusion, i use it evryday on my work for product design and 3d printing. It generate good mesh without error.
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Back to the Nimble, just to let you know we posted an update.
One that is very relevant to this forum. Here is a snippet:We feel a need to celebrate the fact that we've now hit 100 backers.
We have been developing and testing several further improvement to the Nimble since before the campaign started, We are trying to figure out which of these to share with now. Should it be about weight, the breach system update or something else. Hard to choose.Let's pick something else. We are developing add on's for the Nimble. The first one to come is probably a filament sensor which is under development together with David Crocker. You will be able to clip it onto the Nimble and it will tell you when the filament stops moving, either because of a break, jam or you simply ran out of filament. This is NOT a stretch goal as it will not be ready in time, but we are trying to get there as fast as we can. We think it is a nice addition to the Nimble, and hope you agree.
Nice, yes?
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Hi the filament sensor will it be a simple run-out sensor or a means of measuring filament fed?
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Hi the filament sensor will it be a simple run-out sensor or a means of measuring filament fed?
We're expecting to implement both
