:) I still have an X2 unopened, bought as a spare to keep 'stock' while I mod the first one I bought. Had to swap a hotend after ruining the thread for the print nozzle, after swapping to hardened steel to print PA-CF. Outside of that and the fun and games of firmware upgrades, it's been crazy reliable. Pro-Tip, use a Dial Indicator Gauge to set the height of the bed, and check it once a month or so, and the prints will always start properly for PLA, PLA-LW and PETG.
When I bought a used Aquila X2 the seller told me about your channel. I'm a 3D printing newbie and have not been disappointed. The seller had done some upgrades already and the printer and had been cared for very well. The printer came with the "Satsana Extruder Mod for Voxelab Aquila - Fixed" by chubbyzook which was in the way of the front bottom of the OOTBDD adapter. I used your "extra tab" version. After marking where to cut with a pencil a quick pass through my small model building band saw removed the interference. I did order spare parts to restore to the original condition should things not work out well but they weren't needed. For the stepper motor I ordered "Box3D 3D printer direct drive stepper motor extension cable for Ender 3 Ender 3 Pro Ender 3 V2 Ender 5 plus pvoxelab Aquila 3 pcs x 05m " from Amazon which was a good length at 20 inches/0.5m. Soldering would have been easy enough but sometimes it's nice to just buy something and plug it in. I had some 1/4" expandable wire loom sleeving on hand which expanded enough to go over the 6 pin stepper motor connectors and used that to cover the extension. For now I just stuck a short piece of PLA in the filament sensor. If I ever do very long prints I'll consider moving the sensor and extending the cable. An increase of 10°-15° makes for much better prints with the direct drive with the Ender PLA I'm using. I reduced the retraction to 1mm and set the nozzle to lift 1mm when changing layers. Those two changed eliminated the blobs and zits I had been getting with the Bowden tube. The PLA is laying down looking like wet paint and I'm having no adhesion problems. Initial layer is printed at 215° with a bed temp of 70°; backing off the bed temp to 60° after the first layer using Ender PLA. At 200°-205° the first layer was not smooth against the bed and as the print built it became thin, unattached and started falling apart. It got much better at 210° and very nearly perfect at 215°. Thanks for the education! You've taught me a lot in just 2 weeks.
Fedor you're awesome! I have been following you for a few years since I got my Aquila and you've been so helpful thank you!! My direct drive mod works great
Had made a past direct drive modification to my X2 Aquila, but with a lower left side custom filament spool mount, I couldn't decide on the best cable routing for the filament sensor that I have on top of the extruder. Splitting the X motor and stop sensor cable from the others, as your video demonstrated, allowed a much improved cable routing that avoids interference with the filament spool and allows plenty of slack for operation. I also agreed with the choice of extruder position, as a physicist, not wanting to have the heaviest part of the integrated hotend hanging out the farthest from the mounting wheels. Moved the spool off the top, where the filament path would be optimum, to the back left side to avoid putting all that mass at the top of the Z-frame, and avoiding the possible resonant vibrations that might enhance. This was a very useful video for me.
Great tutorial on a great DIY mod. Awesome tip on using the wheel and bolt to press in that spacer, I can just see someone taking that to the edge of their desk with a hammer and breaking the part. Great job brother!
Got mine working with a couple of minor modifications. I left some feedback on Printables. I've got 10 or 12 hours of PLA and TPU printing in so far and am very happy!
Soo I successfully printed your .Gcode mount from thingiverse, the spacer fits beautifully but there is a slight movement back and forth of the mount, only when hand pressure is applied even after tightening. Will this be an issue..??
As long as it doesn’t move when printing or is so loose that it vibrates, it should be ok. Sounds like your filament/esteps combo might be printing just a tad under.
@@3DPrintSOS Much better after a recal, stiff enough it shouldn't move while printing at least. I forgot to mention I have a Satsana mount on my voxelab but a quick sand of the outer corner of the mount and bingo! Fits with Satsana perfectly. Looks great! Thank you again Fedor.! 💯♥️
@@3DPrintSOS Okay so my extruder motor is getting extremely hot!? I've already lowered voltages months ago when you released that initial video. Should I check them again or could this be a binding issue...? Thx Fedor
last night as i was trying to print dual color filament and having so much issues with the colors not coming out right I saw your video. It took me 30 min to get everyitng set up. OMG I wish i would of done this a long time ago. Thanks so much.
Finally fixed my Aquila today after it sat for over a year (broke the hot end and was having shitty prints, so brought a Ender 3 S1) was such an easy swap out of the hot end for a cheap online replacement and thought how I'm loving direct drive, would love to convert. Well guess what I'm printing and doing tomorrow haha. Thanks so much for this!!!!
I'm sure this took lots of work to engineer. Thank you for sharing it. This is why I love the 3d printed world. Would like a X2 fil sensor version but this will do just fine. Good job and look forward to more. 6 months later..... Finally did this direct drive and man does it print good. Not sure if it's from less retraction or what. Just need to figure out cable management which is no big deal. Well worth the time.
I have got everything working out and printed the best every benchy. I only changed the retraction setting, left every thing as is, and the first print came out great. Thank you for another great mode.
If I had not already converted my aquila over to a sprite extruder pro, I definitely would have been interested in trying this. Keep it up for these great videos :)
I agree with your comment about filament runout sensor on the X2. I unplugged mine as it would intermittently stop a print several times falsely saying the filament had run out.
You are by far the best and my personal favorite TH-camr. All of your videos comprise an invaluable archive for the up and coming 3D printing enthusiast. I sincerely appreciate your channel and all the work you put into it. I wish you every good thing!
Direct drive is a success! It is brilliant and so much easier to manage. The printed part is fantastic! Very neat and very easy to use. Thank you. No more phaffing with all the boden tube!
Excellent! My OOTBDD is printing now. I rarely subscribe In your case your presentation style is awesome - Super clear voice, Not too fast nor boreingly slow. I am a newbe to 3d printing @ 77 yes old. What I would like is a video on the set up. I look at some of the things in my slicer (VoxelMaker - Cura won't run on my OLD Win7) and I have no idea what they do. I just cross my fingers and hope the default will work.
got a C2 for Christmas this year, great to see some mods for it now appearing! i will be printing this and likely change it once i need to change the Bowden tube. also, i would love to see a runout sensor mod, as being a newbie, i have run out of filament mid print while not paying attention! keep up the great work!
@@3DPrintSOS It went really well. 28:38 was the only issue I had (user error). I think I tightened the lever too tight and it made the filament roller a bit too offset to catch the filament. But once I loosened it it worked like a charm. Definitely had to do some bed leveling afterwards like you mentioned, but after that I printed a Benchy no issues (CHEPs 2.0 Cura profile, with retraction distance set to 1). Posted it to Thingiverse.
Thank you.. printed it and thinking about how to(if at all) I'll extend the steppenmotor cable. But definitely gonna do this! As I see it my bltouch is left untouched (😊)so I can keep using it. Loving your vids❤ greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱 Update: done.. used the original cable but motor powerconnection on the other side.. working perfectly. 🍀
I was just thinking of direct drive mods for my x2 so this came out at a perfect time! definitely going to do this sometime, though as someone new to the hobby I like having the runout sensor there as a safety and definitely wouldn't mind seeing a version of this that allows that to still be in use
I am also relatively new to 3D printing but I do have a tip: If Cura tells you that your print will use 100g and the markings on your roll says that you've got 50g left, don't start the print, you will run out of filament. No run-out sensor required. You're Welcome
@@FreshCityVentures it's already come in handy because there are reasons to have the sensor. for a recent story, a friend of mine backed stagetop on kickstarter, a printed tabletop game station that takes a TON of filament. the main frames of the thing can be printed about 9ish to a roll of filament, but he wanted 24 of them all in the same material, I am not going to weigh the roll when it gets close to being done just so I don't use it, instead I let the sensor tell me when the roll was out and changed the roll mid print. did that add some time because it relied on me checking? sure, but it also made it so I used the majority of the material provided to me for the project on hand. so while you can make snark there ARE legitimate uses for the sensor. edit: friend doesn't have a printer, for clarification, I printed it for him
@@FreshCityVentures those markings are nowhere near as reliable as a scale, they are good for rough judgement but not anything more. I always weigh my rolls after each print and keep a note taped to the roll with the exact weight of what remains, down to the tenth of a gram. I prefer to actually know how much I have than guestimate
Great video. Thanks so much. I was at the point of buying an ender DD carriage to mount on my aquila, that's not necessary anymore. Gonna print it this weekend 😁
Thank you. I printed this, used it and it worked great, downside was I did a bunch of ABS and the heat from that and the motor warped it enough that it affected the extruder functionality. I may print another one in ABS to see if it holds up better.
Had to dig out my old lever to make everything OTB but...I think it was worth it. The only hiccup that I had was with the slot that is supposed to go onto the bracket. I didn't even know it was supposed to slot onto the bracket that holds the wheels, I just thought somehow the dimensions were off because it was BARELY not lining up. Going through a full mesh leveling/e-steps calibration/retraction test just to make sure everything is as good as it can be. Oh how I've missed Direct Drive! Thanks for making it simple. I thought that a Bowden setup was going to make a world of difference...it just made filament easier to load. 🤣
Late to the party, but I just got around to doing this mod. I've had my Aquila for over a year (first FDM after spending 2 years reain printing) and have recently been getting the urge to try running some TPU. I'm running a Satsana shroud so grabbed a remix of this designed to fit better with that shroud. Took about 2.5 hours to print (4 walls, top and bottom, 15% gyroid infill and ran slow for better quality) and about 45 minutes to install (have a BL Touch installed and had to completely remove it to dismount the Satsana shroud). Immediately ran 2 small prints with zero issues. Definitely, DEFINITELY need an extruder extension cable for this model. That stock cable is just not long enough.
Another awesome video as always, love these mods cheap and easy direct drive. Thanks Fedor. I think I’ll open up the bottom and split the wire all the way to the board hopefully a little more slack
@@3DPrintSOSHELP.....I got a problem ,just finished installing the mod and when I get ready to print ,it tells me "system doesn't detect filament .But I auto correct is load it extrudes way more than what it needs to not sure how to stop that either, can someone help me please .
@@3DPrintSOSHELP.....I got a problem ,just finished installing the mod and when I get ready to print ,it tells me "system doesn't detect filament .But I auto correct is load it extrudes way more than what it needs to not sure how to stop that either, can someone help me please .
Just noticed that you used SpaceClaim to design this. Been using DesignSpark Mechanical as my goto for all my designs. Very underrated software, IMO. A shame that it doesn't get more love. :)
Design Spark Mechanical is awesome. For some reason, I can wrap my brain around it 100 times better than anything else I’ve tried. Only thing SpaceClaim has over it is the mirror tool and whats funny is that I havent used it once since I got it. So DSM for FREE is the best. haha
@@3DPrintSOS Completely agree. When I first started, I tried various programs. F360 felt like I needed an engineering degree to learn and Tinkercad was a little too basic. DSM felt just right.
Just printed and installed it. Printing my first part now and it looks great. I didn't really like the way the filament fed into the old extruder. I would always be worried that it would get tangled or broken. Now it feeds straight down which I think is a big plus. Thanks for the video and file!!!
Hi, it was really easy to mount the adapter for the extruder motors on the adapter from the link in the derailleur and surprisingly you don't lose the working space at all in height, I thank you for the idea that it will be easier to insert the filament easier because the printer 3d is in the enclosure
would love to see some more aquila designs from you. you always make some of the best ones. i own an aquila and will definitely be printing this to be used with my all metal extruder setup :D
Nice video. I tried TPU with the bowden tube and it failed miserably. Also, i've printed a direct drive bracket from Thingiverse a while a go and haven't set up. Good to see this video and the results from it. Now TPU is easy peasy.
Hi Fedor @3DPrintSOS hope you are well.Hey im new to the hobby, I got the OOTBDD done and its been great but i manage to damage the hot end cover, do you think this STL file will work with the Aquila X2? Just straight swap? Thank you in advance!
managed to get on to your discord thank you again also i will recive my Voxelab Aquila X2 3D Printer, Upgrade 3D Printer Integrated Structure Design with Carborundum Glass Platform and TMC2208 32-bit Silent Mainboard tomorrow (23rd march ) so i have been watching all your videos on what to do and what not to do so will thank you again
Does the direct drive affect the machine due to the weight of the stepper motor? It defiantly needs the sensor too. What is the setting you were mentioning that needs changing?
I feel like I covered all of these in the video. Essentially, you DO ad a motor to the X-axis, so there is added weight. That said, it hasn't negatively affected the print quality and won't unless you try to print much faster. The setting you are looking for is called retraction.
Just got an Aquila X3 and I've been watching videos and turning my print settings, and looking for any way I can to make sure I'm producing the best prints I can. This is certainly something I'm looking to do. Did you ever do a video with a modification for the run out sensor? I don't know if they changed it on the X3, but so far I haven't had any issues with it (other than it ships disabled and I didn't realize that). This video has earned you another subscriber. I'm looking forward to learning more and seeing what my Aquila can do.
my ABSOLUTE NO. 1 PEICE OF ADVICE for, anyone with a 3d printer is buy a good presision screwdriver set, i got an ifixit one on amazon 2 years ago for 35 euro.(paired with a parkside electric screwdriver) it is amazing, much better than the crappy alan keys you get with the 3 d printers
Great Mod, however I'm having a hard time with printing TPU, what retraction settings should you use for TPU? Also seams like filament is slipping especially with TPU. Thanks
I have seen a bit of a trend of misalignment going on. Mostly on the lever. I have a file called Fedorstruder 2.0. It includes a level that is adjustable. I highly suggest printing it. It will help a bunch plus we will know the alignment is exact.
I’m doing this to my aquila also upgraded to an all metal hot end but the fan shroud doesn’t quite work well with it. This little printer has never let me down it printed some ASA parts for my prusa when the OEM petg parts started to melt . Time to show this neglected nice machine some love 😅
I just got an Aquila Pro for 60 bucks. I've had an OG Aquila for a few years now. I have been wanting to do dual Z on my original for a while now so that I could do direct drive. When I saw the pro at a cheap price I got it, I figured it comes with the dual Z already on it. I plan on doing a direct drive. I might try this diy option before getting something for faster prints. I did a printed extruder on my original one so I could print TPU. It had the same V shape like this. I almost got the aries but I decided against the bulky enclosure. It makes modifications harder.
Printed this and it came out great, was also very easy to fit so thank you for making it! Can you possibly do a version 2.0 that has a second mount for the other wheel. I am finding that I have to wedge something under the stepper motor to prevent it from tilting back and forth on the single mount which is giving extrusion issues on areas of the print that are slightly faster. Thanks again and keep up the channel I am learning a lot from you.
Hmm. I wonder if there are differences in carriages on these machines. I have had a few people say that theirs moves. Mine is super tight on there. Wonder if it’s related to how heavily a printer over or under extrudes when it prints this. I’ll take a closer look when I have a chance.
This works great, but my extruder piece is now warped because it is PLA. How should I remove the press-fit spacer? I intend on re-printing this with PETG then reinstalling. Thanks!
If you reprint, just cut the PLA open with your snips and get the spacer out. also, I recommend you print the adjustable lever from my “fedorstruder” files. it’ll give you more adjustments and guarantee a good filament path. :)
This shouldn’t have changed the steps of the machine. But I have heard some of the newer Aquilas have a different hole placement in their lever. So the filament path might not align right. There is a printable lever in the “fedorstruder v2.0” that you can print to align the holes perfectly and give you the ability to adjust the tension of the bearing and gear. So first, check the filament path, second check to make sure the wiring is correctly plugged in.
I just put on my aluminum creality one a few months ago lol. Now you got me wanting to do this on my X2! I wonder how it will work with my Satsana shroud. I'll print one and update!
@Maximilian Pircher You have to modify the satsana or find a modified satsana to print. I ended up removing the direct drive mod and went back to stock.
Been wondering about buying a direct drive, now just to print one! Thanks for sharing this and making the how to video. :) Is the retraction setting the only change required? I'm looking to print some TPU and TPE and was concerned the Aquila's bowden setup might not suit.
Hey Fedor, do you think this would work with your improved reinforced lever you designed? Thank you for this awesome design, definitely going to print and install!
@@3DPrintSOS that’s awesome! I figured you did. I know the point of the video was to show the possibility of making the printer direct drive right out of the box, but I really like the increased reliability of your improved lever! Thank you for all you do!
I’ve heard this a few times! Sounds like some of the levers, especially on newer machines, are slightly different. To fix this, you need to print my lever from the Fedorstruder 2.0. That lever will have perfect alignment and give you spring tension options.
@@greghfpv8415 Not off the top of my head. I dont think it will be too difficult to adapt. Especially if there are any carriage files out there online.
I havent had a successful print with this mod yet and i think its the retractions , you mentioned turning the retraction setting down , can you please tell me which settings , is it the retraction speed ,or retraction distance in cura???
As an update, i have adjusted my restractions to 1 and had a successful print, however with some underextrusion occurring thorough my print. then i realised i had changed the gear on my extruder because it was worn, this through my e- steps out considerably. Old value to get 100 mm of filament to extrude was 93.9 e steps after another e step calibration i have had to adjust this to 105 e-steps to get 100mm of filament to extrude. hope the next print is perfect .@@3DPrintSOS
where can I get an extension cable if I don't want to cut the sheath? Are the connectors on the stepper PH2.0-XH2.54? BTW, I'd love to see the modification to use the filament sensor that comes with the Aquila X2, since that's the printer I've got ;)
Thanks for the great idea! Im having trouble with the retraction settings. What settings did you put in and on what slicer. I use Voxel Maker for my aquila x2
Hi Fedor. thanks for this video. I have been wanting to do this mod for some time. I will certainly give it a go. My one question is what about the filament change process? Now that the bowden tube is dramatically shorter, won't we need to modify the code for the distance the filament travels into the hot end?
@@bradleyehler1477I just did the mod and tried to do the first print and the Machine said it is not detecting filament I auto loaded it and it extruded way more than it should have you know what my problem is
Fedor, another great video. I have one question because I'm not sure how to do this. I've been using your PLA profile in cura since I got my Aquila and haven't had any real problems. The only settings I have ever changed are the infill and support settings depending on what I am printing. You stated in the video to change the retraction settings from 4 or 5 to 1. The only thing I see in the Cura profile under Travel is a check box to turn retraction on and off. I see that I can make a setting called Retraction Distance appear in the profile. It is currently set at 5.0mm. Is this the setting I would change if I decide to go to direct drive. I've already printed the piece just to get good look at it. Printed great. I'm currently using your extruder from your broken extruder video. I'm not sure if I want to give that up yet.
Yep, that’s the setting. Retraction distance. Just swap that over to 1mm and you should be set. Also, if your machine is printing great and you’re enjoying it, don’t change it. ;)
@@3DPrintSOS Thanks for the reply. I learn more from your videos than from any of the facebook groups. The current extruder I'm using now I printed before the original one failed. I think I'll keep this one in reserve incase that fails someday.
@@3DPrintSOS Do you have any recommendations for the settings in regard to TPU, like any change to the retraction and print speed. I've tried some common ones and can't seem to get it to work
@@3DPrintSOS I had already removed the motor to test it but decided to ask before as I was worried about heating. Thanks for taking your time to answer.
Seller sent me a h32 aquila x2... I've heard I'm now limited to basic controls and firmware upgrades and that i cant run klipper for e.g. is this true? This is so unfair that n32 owners can and we can't...
Yep. Just make sure it doesn’t make any contact with anything as you move it around. As I mentioned in the vid, it’s facing forward because it makes for the cleanest wire management. Nothing gets pressed this way.
Finally! More OG aquila mods! I have been wanting to go with direct drive. This may been the nudge I needed to do it.
Enjoy!
i love how the OG aquilla is still kicking it. not fancy or fast. just prints what i ask when i ask. this looks like an excellent mod. thank you.
:) I still have an X2 unopened, bought as a spare to keep 'stock' while I mod the first one I bought. Had to swap a hotend after ruining the thread for the print nozzle, after swapping to hardened steel to print PA-CF. Outside of that and the fun and games of firmware upgrades, it's been crazy reliable. Pro-Tip, use a Dial Indicator Gauge to set the height of the bed, and check it once a month or so, and the prints will always start properly for PLA, PLA-LW and PETG.
When I bought a used Aquila X2 the seller told me about your channel. I'm a 3D printing newbie and have not been disappointed. The seller had done some upgrades already and the printer and had been cared for very well. The printer came with the "Satsana Extruder Mod for Voxelab Aquila - Fixed" by chubbyzook which was in the way of the front bottom of the OOTBDD adapter. I used your "extra tab" version. After marking where to cut with a pencil a quick pass through my small model building band saw removed the interference. I did order spare parts to restore to the original condition should things not work out well but they weren't needed.
For the stepper motor I ordered "Box3D 3D printer direct drive stepper motor extension cable for Ender 3 Ender 3 Pro Ender 3 V2 Ender 5 plus pvoxelab Aquila 3 pcs x 05m " from Amazon which was a good length at 20 inches/0.5m. Soldering would have been easy enough but sometimes it's nice to just buy something and plug it in. I had some 1/4" expandable wire loom sleeving on hand which expanded enough to go over the 6 pin stepper motor connectors and used that to cover the extension. For now I just stuck a short piece of PLA in the filament sensor. If I ever do very long prints I'll consider moving the sensor and extending the cable.
An increase of 10°-15° makes for much better prints with the direct drive with the Ender PLA I'm using. I reduced the retraction to 1mm and set the nozzle to lift 1mm when changing layers. Those two changed eliminated the blobs and zits I had been getting with the Bowden tube. The PLA is laying down looking like wet paint and I'm having no adhesion problems. Initial layer is printed at 215° with a bed temp of 70°; backing off the bed temp to 60° after the first layer using Ender PLA. At 200°-205° the first layer was not smooth against the bed and as the print built it became thin, unattached and started falling apart. It got much better at 210° and very nearly perfect at 215°. Thanks for the education! You've taught me a lot in just 2 weeks.
Awesome to hear that I’ve been able to help. :)
@@3DPrintSOS with the extension I can just plug and play or I will need to swap the cables?
@@nashgkrish5683 Yep. An extension would just be plug and play. :)
@@3DPrintSOS thank you Fedor! I appreciate it
Thanks for the info on the Satsana shroud David !! It's one of my next prints before I print this extruder mod.
Fedor you're awesome! I have been following you for a few years since I got my Aquila and you've been so helpful thank you!! My direct drive mod works great
Had made a past direct drive modification to my X2 Aquila, but with a lower left side custom filament spool mount, I couldn't decide on the best cable routing for the filament sensor that I have on top of the extruder. Splitting the X motor and stop sensor cable from the others, as your video demonstrated, allowed a much improved cable routing that avoids interference with the filament spool and allows plenty of slack for operation. I also agreed with the choice of extruder position, as a physicist, not wanting to have the heaviest part of the integrated hotend hanging out the farthest from the mounting wheels. Moved the spool off the top, where the filament path would be optimum, to the back left side to avoid putting all that mass at the top of the Z-frame, and avoiding the possible resonant vibrations that might enhance. This was a very useful video for me.
have you shared yours by any chance? very interested in having this with the filament sensor
Great tutorial on a great DIY mod. Awesome tip on using the wheel and bolt to press in that spacer, I can just see someone taking that to the edge of their desk with a hammer and breaking the part. Great job brother!
Thanks Brent. Now I kinda wanna see someone hammer this sucker. 😂
А если предварительно нагреть втулку? Разве так не проще?
Another superb video man, keep up the awesome work.
Got mine working with a couple of minor modifications. I left some feedback on Printables. I've got 10 or 12 hours of PLA and TPU printing in so far and am very happy!
The video I've been waiting all my life for. ! Thanks Fedor ♥️👍
Soo I successfully printed your .Gcode mount from thingiverse, the spacer fits beautifully but there is a slight movement back and forth of the mount, only when hand pressure is applied even after tightening. Will this be an issue..??
As long as it doesn’t move when printing or is so loose that it vibrates, it should be ok. Sounds like your filament/esteps combo might be printing just a tad under.
@@3DPrintSOS Much better after a recal, stiff enough it shouldn't move while printing at least. I forgot to mention I have a Satsana mount on my voxelab but a quick sand of the outer corner of the mount and bingo! Fits with Satsana perfectly. Looks great! Thank you again Fedor.! 💯♥️
@@3DPrintSOS Okay so my extruder motor is getting extremely hot!? I've already lowered voltages months ago when you released that initial video. Should I check them again or could this be a binding issue...? Thx Fedor
last night as i was trying to print dual color filament and having so much issues with the colors not coming out right I saw your video. It took me 30 min to get everyitng set up. OMG I wish i would of done this a long time ago. Thanks so much.
Awesome! I scored a cheapo Amazon return, and I was slightly disappointed to learn it was bowden, so I love this!
Finally fixed my Aquila today after it sat for over a year (broke the hot end and was having shitty prints, so brought a Ender 3 S1) was such an easy swap out of the hot end for a cheap online replacement and thought how I'm loving direct drive, would love to convert. Well guess what I'm printing and doing tomorrow haha. Thanks so much for this!!!!
I'm sure this took lots of work to engineer. Thank you for sharing it. This is why I love the 3d printed world. Would like a X2 fil sensor version but this will do just fine. Good job and look forward to more.
6 months later..... Finally did this direct drive and man does it print good. Not sure if it's from less retraction or what. Just need to figure out cable management which is no big deal. Well worth the time.
I have got everything working out and printed the best every benchy. I only changed the retraction setting, left every thing as is, and the first print came out great. Thank you for another great mode.
What retraction settings are you using after this mod?
If I had not already converted my aquila over to a sprite extruder pro, I definitely would have been interested in trying this. Keep it up for these great videos :)
I agree with your comment about filament runout sensor on the X2. I unplugged mine as it would intermittently stop a print several times falsely saying the filament had run out.
I have the opposite problem, it just doesn't work, filament stops and the sensor does nothing :D
Printing super soft tpu With this mod right now .worked first try . thank you so much
Great mod. I also have the X2 model. I would like having the runout sensor to work also.
me too! I like using octoprint and keeping them in their own room, The sensor while essentially useless come in handy at busy times
Funnily enough this was exactly what i was looking for and you just so happened to upload it 2min ago lol
Right place, right time. :)
You are by far the best and my personal favorite TH-camr. All of your videos comprise an invaluable archive for the up and coming 3D printing enthusiast. I sincerely appreciate your channel and all the work you put into it. I wish you every good thing!
Kaleb, you’re too kind my dude. Glad I could help in some way.
Ditto. I can always watch them and easily understand and follow.
Direct drive is a success! It is brilliant and so much easier to manage. The printed part is fantastic! Very neat and very easy to use. Thank you. No more phaffing with all the boden tube!
Some guys like to phaff their bowden tube!
Excellent! My OOTBDD is printing now. I rarely subscribe In your case your presentation style is awesome - Super clear voice, Not too fast nor boreingly slow. I am a newbe to 3d printing @ 77 yes old. What I would like is a video on the set up. I look at some of the things in my slicer (VoxelMaker - Cura won't run on my OLD Win7) and I have no idea what they do. I just cross my fingers and hope the default will work.
got a C2 for Christmas this year, great to see some mods for it now appearing! i will be printing this and likely change it once i need to change the Bowden tube. also, i would love to see a runout sensor mod, as being a newbie, i have run out of filament mid print while not paying attention! keep up the great work!
LOVE this! Printing the piece now and will be spending my day off doing this. Thanks!
Let me know how it goes. :)
@@3DPrintSOS It went really well. 28:38 was the only issue I had (user error). I think I tightened the lever too tight and it made the filament roller a bit too offset to catch the filament. But once I loosened it it worked like a charm. Definitely had to do some bed leveling afterwards like you mentioned, but after that I printed a Benchy no issues (CHEPs 2.0 Cura profile, with retraction distance set to 1). Posted it to Thingiverse.
Saw it. Well done. Enjoy the mod. :)
Thank you.. printed it and thinking about how to(if at all) I'll extend the steppenmotor cable. But definitely gonna do this! As I see it my bltouch is left untouched (😊)so I can keep using it. Loving your vids❤ greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
Update: done.. used the original cable but motor powerconnection on the other side.. working perfectly. 🍀
I was just thinking of direct drive mods for my x2 so this came out at a perfect time! definitely going to do this sometime, though as someone new to the hobby I like having the runout sensor there as a safety and definitely wouldn't mind seeing a version of this that allows that to still be in use
Noted. :)
I am also relatively new to 3D printing but I do have a tip:
If Cura tells you that your print will use 100g and the markings on your roll says that you've got 50g left, don't start the print, you will run out of filament. No run-out sensor required.
You're Welcome
@@FreshCityVentures it's already come in handy because there are reasons to have the sensor. for a recent story, a friend of mine backed stagetop on kickstarter, a printed tabletop game station that takes a TON of filament. the main frames of the thing can be printed about 9ish to a roll of filament, but he wanted 24 of them all in the same material, I am not going to weigh the roll when it gets close to being done just so I don't use it, instead I let the sensor tell me when the roll was out and changed the roll mid print.
did that add some time because it relied on me checking? sure, but it also made it so I used the majority of the material provided to me for the project on hand. so while you can make snark there ARE legitimate uses for the sensor.
edit: friend doesn't have a printer, for clarification, I printed it for him
@@Orion_Alathorn 😂weigh the roll? There’s marking on the side of the roll, fella.
@@FreshCityVentures those markings are nowhere near as reliable as a scale, they are good for rough judgement but not anything more. I always weigh my rolls after each print and keep a note taped to the roll with the exact weight of what remains, down to the tenth of a gram. I prefer to actually know how much I have than guestimate
Great video. Thanks so much. I was at the point of buying an ender DD carriage to mount on my aquila, that's not necessary anymore. Gonna print it this weekend 😁
Thank you. I printed this, used it and it worked great, downside was I did a bunch of ABS and the heat from that and the motor warped it enough that it affected the extruder functionality. I may print another one in ABS to see if it holds up better.
Had to dig out my old lever to make everything OTB but...I think it was worth it. The only hiccup that I had was with the slot that is supposed to go onto the bracket. I didn't even know it was supposed to slot onto the bracket that holds the wheels, I just thought somehow the dimensions were off because it was BARELY not lining up. Going through a full mesh leveling/e-steps calibration/retraction test just to make sure everything is as good as it can be. Oh how I've missed Direct Drive! Thanks for making it simple. I thought that a Bowden setup was going to make a world of difference...it just made filament easier to load. 🤣
Late to the party, but I just got around to doing this mod. I've had my Aquila for over a year (first FDM after spending 2 years reain printing) and have recently been getting the urge to try running some TPU. I'm running a Satsana shroud so grabbed a remix of this designed to fit better with that shroud. Took about 2.5 hours to print (4 walls, top and bottom, 15% gyroid infill and ran slow for better quality) and about 45 minutes to install (have a BL Touch installed and had to completely remove it to dismount the Satsana shroud). Immediately ran 2 small prints with zero issues.
Definitely, DEFINITELY need an extruder extension cable for this model. That stock cable is just not long enough.
Another awesome video as always, love these mods cheap and easy direct drive. Thanks Fedor. I think I’ll open up the bottom and split the wire all the way to the board hopefully a little more slack
Yep, going all the way helps for sure. In my case, I just splice and extend the wires myself but I know not everyone is going to want to do that. ;)
@@3DPrintSOSHELP.....I got a problem ,just finished installing the mod and when I get ready to print ,it tells me "system doesn't detect filament .But I auto correct is load it extrudes way more than what it needs to not sure how to stop that either, can someone help me please .
@@3DPrintSOSHELP.....I got a problem ,just finished installing the mod and when I get ready to print ,it tells me "system doesn't detect filament .But I auto correct is load it extrudes way more than what it needs to not sure how to stop that either, can someone help me please .
Thanks a lot! Please show the X2 Mod too and keep on modding.
Great little easy addon for my favourite printer... 😊
Just noticed that you used SpaceClaim to design this. Been using DesignSpark Mechanical as my goto for all my designs. Very underrated software, IMO. A shame that it doesn't get more love. :)
Design Spark Mechanical is awesome. For some reason, I can wrap my brain around it 100 times better than anything else I’ve tried. Only thing SpaceClaim has over it is the mirror tool and whats funny is that I havent used it once since I got it. So DSM for FREE is the best. haha
@@3DPrintSOS Completely agree. When I first started, I tried various programs. F360 felt like I needed an engineering degree to learn and Tinkercad was a little too basic. DSM felt just right.
The direct drive print is a fine piece of engineering.
Thank you! I had a lot of fun designing and testing it!
this is amazing, definitely going to try this out
Thanks for the tutorial. It came out great for me and was a fun little project!
Thank you dude! Just got a aquila and wanted to convert to direct
done the upgrade to my printer to day .Love it works great. Thanks
Just did this mod on my C2. Prints TPU great. Might do direct drive for my new X3
That is insanely creative and impressive. Well done sir, you made an already good printer even better. Thanks!
I appreciate that. Glad you enjoyed it.
Just printed and installed it. Printing my first part now and it looks great. I didn't really like the way the filament fed into the old extruder. I would always be worried that it would get tangled or broken. Now it feeds straight down which I think is a big plus. Thanks for the video and file!!!
great video, only been printing a short time but will defiantly try this soon, Thanks!
Really enjoy this type of video. Low cost ways to upgrade our printers.
Glad you enjoyed it Ray. I got a few more of these I’d like to do. ;)
Love it! I've been wanting to do this upgrade but couldn't afford it! Thanks
If you can't afford a $16 kit on Amazon, how do you afford filament?
Clean install and great tutorial! Well done :)
Your videos are excellent. I would like to see a video on how to install a dual hotend to print with two colors on the aquila X2 or S2
You know it's funny I just installed a ender Sprite pro extruder for it to be a direct-drive printer now and I'm just mine blown by this invention
The sprite pro is pretty cool!
great job, I'll be making mine direct drive asap.
Hi, it was really easy to mount the adapter for the extruder motors on the adapter from the link in the derailleur and surprisingly you don't lose the working space at all in height, I thank you for the idea that it will be easier to insert the filament easier because the printer 3d is in the enclosure
Awesome Fedor, thank you!!
Glad you like it!
Great design👍🏻 I’m interested in the diligent runout.
Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? I'd do it today but I have a print on the go at the moment. Thanks Fedor!
would love to see some more aquila designs from you. you always make some of the best ones. i own an aquila and will definitely be printing this to be used with my all metal extruder setup :D
This was great, great design
Glad you like it!
Great stuff!
Great video, would love to see a mod for runout sensor. Thanks for all u do.
Noted. Next time I hop in to design, I’ll make a tweak or two.
Nice video. I tried TPU with the bowden tube and it failed miserably. Also, i've printed a direct drive bracket from Thingiverse a while a go and haven't set up. Good to see this video and the results from it. Now TPU is easy peasy.
Hi Fedor @3DPrintSOS hope you are well.Hey im new to the hobby, I got the OOTBDD done and its been great but i manage to damage the hot end cover, do you think this STL file will work with the Aquila X2? Just straight swap? Thank you in advance!
Itll work the same. Just got to either disable the filament sensor or put some filament in there and leave it
Awesome !! Great video. Thanks
managed to get on to your discord thank you again also i will recive my Voxelab Aquila X2 3D Printer, Upgrade 3D Printer Integrated Structure Design with Carborundum Glass Platform and TMC2208 32-bit Silent Mainboard tomorrow (23rd march ) so i have been watching all your videos on what to do and what not to do so will thank you again
Does the direct drive affect the machine due to the weight of the stepper motor? It defiantly needs the sensor too. What is the setting you were mentioning that needs changing?
I feel like I covered all of these in the video. Essentially, you DO ad a motor to the X-axis, so there is added weight. That said, it hasn't negatively affected the print quality and won't unless you try to print much faster. The setting you are looking for is called retraction.
Just got an Aquila X3 and I've been watching videos and turning my print settings, and looking for any way I can to make sure I'm producing the best prints I can. This is certainly something I'm looking to do. Did you ever do a video with a modification for the run out sensor? I don't know if they changed it on the X3, but so far I haven't had any issues with it (other than it ships disabled and I didn't realize that). This video has earned you another subscriber. I'm looking forward to learning more and seeing what my Aquila can do.
my ABSOLUTE NO. 1 PEICE OF ADVICE for, anyone with a 3d printer is buy a good presision screwdriver set, i got an ifixit one on amazon 2 years ago for 35 euro.(paired with a parkside electric screwdriver) it is amazing, much better than the crappy alan keys you get with the 3 d printers
Where are all the AU links for all us Australians that love and follow you !! feeling neglected !!
Great Mod, however I'm having a hard time with printing TPU, what retraction settings should you use for TPU? Also seams like filament is slipping especially with TPU. Thanks
I have seen a bit of a trend of misalignment going on. Mostly on the lever. I have a file called Fedorstruder 2.0. It includes a level that is adjustable. I highly suggest printing it. It will help a bunch plus we will know the alignment is exact.
@@3DPrintSOS thanks I will give it a try
This is awesome. I went through so much doing my direct drive conversion. 2 months ago.
how do you like it
@@Caleb-C I had plans, but didn't went through with it. I have an all metal unit. But for the ones who have not made the purchase, it is great.
@@sdr_print3d887 that's fine just trying to get feedback because i am thinking about doing the mod
I’m doing this to my aquila also upgraded to an all metal hot end but the fan shroud doesn’t quite work well with it. This little printer has never let me down it printed some ASA parts for my prusa when the OEM petg parts started to melt . Time to show this neglected nice machine some love 😅
I just got an Aquila Pro for 60 bucks. I've had an OG Aquila for a few years now. I have been wanting to do dual Z on my original for a while now so that I could do direct drive. When I saw the pro at a cheap price I got it, I figured it comes with the dual Z already on it. I plan on doing a direct drive. I might try this diy option before getting something for faster prints. I did a printed extruder on my original one so I could print TPU. It had the same V shape like this. I almost got the aries but I decided against the bulky enclosure. It makes modifications harder.
Printed this and it came out great, was also very easy to fit so thank you for making it!
Can you possibly do a version 2.0 that has a second mount for the other wheel. I am finding that I have to wedge something under the stepper motor to prevent it from tilting back and forth on the single mount which is giving extrusion issues on areas of the print that are slightly faster.
Thanks again and keep up the channel I am learning a lot from you.
Hmm. I wonder if there are differences in carriages on these machines. I have had a few people say that theirs moves. Mine is super tight on there. Wonder if it’s related to how heavily a printer over or under extrudes when it prints this. I’ll take a closer look when I have a chance.
This works great, but my extruder piece is now warped because it is PLA. How should I remove the press-fit spacer? I intend on re-printing this with PETG then reinstalling. Thanks!
If you reprint, just cut the PLA open with your snips and get the spacer out. also, I recommend you print the adjustable lever from my “fedorstruder” files. it’ll give you more adjustments and guarantee a good filament path. :)
I did mine on Sunday and it loads just fine but doesn't print anymore. The extruder stepper moves very slowly now. Slower than it used to. Any ideas?
This shouldn’t have changed the steps of the machine. But I have heard some of the newer Aquilas have a different hole placement in their lever. So the filament path might not align right.
There is a printable lever in the “fedorstruder v2.0” that you can print to align the holes perfectly and give you the ability to adjust the tension of the bearing and gear.
So first, check the filament path, second check to make sure the wiring is correctly plugged in.
Will this work with the metal extruder arm upgrade you recommend?
Yep :)
I just put on my aluminum creality one a few months ago lol. Now you got me wanting to do this on my X2! I wonder how it will work with my Satsana shroud. I'll print one and update!
@Maximilian Pircher You have to modify the satsana or find a modified satsana to print. I ended up removing the direct drive mod and went back to stock.
Great video, would this work with other shrouds? Like the Satsana?
I still have a few test filaments still on the shelf I’ll have to make one of these.
Been wondering about buying a direct drive, now just to print one! Thanks for sharing this and making the how to video. :) Is the retraction setting the only change required?
I'm looking to print some TPU and TPE and was concerned the Aquila's bowden setup might not suit.
Hey Fedor, do you think this would work with your improved reinforced lever you designed? Thank you for this awesome design, definitely going to print and install!
Yes, absolutely. In fact I made this with that level in mind
@@3DPrintSOS that’s awesome! I figured you did. I know the point of the video was to show the possibility of making the printer direct drive right out of the box, but I really like the increased reliability of your improved lever! Thank you for all you do!
An awesome build for an awesome printer this is, may try it out in order to have direct extrusion
Just done the direct drive mod but doesn't seem to exsrud filament any idea why. Thanks
I’ve heard this a few times! Sounds like some of the levers, especially on newer machines, are slightly different. To fix this, you need to print my lever from the Fedorstruder 2.0. That lever will have perfect alignment and give you spring tension options.
I recently bought the X3 it seems to be very similar to the other 2 aquila versions, do you think this mod would work for it as well?
not sure. I don’t have one, so I can’t say. :/
On th e X2 version where do you put the run out censor?
@3:50 under 2 hours?? With your settings it took my X2 4 hours to print. How???
Weird, mine printed in 1:58
Is that extruder mount will fit to aquila pro as well?
Nope, the PRO is a bit different in a few ways. This will only fit the standard Aquila machines
Not good any other option for pro to get direct drive?Thank You for replay:)
@@greghfpv8415 Not off the top of my head. I dont think it will be too difficult to adapt. Especially if there are any carriage files out there online.
Now what do we do with the old motor mount? Any mods for replacing the old mount point on the Z axes?
There’s some interesting cable management to can print. Otherwise it’s better left there.
Does this work only with the stock extruder gear or will a dual gear extruder work?
Stock only
I havent had a successful print with this mod yet and i think its the retractions , you mentioned turning the retraction setting down , can you please tell me which settings , is it the retraction speed ,or retraction distance in cura???
Retraction distance should be set to 1mm. Reduced from around 6ish or sometimes more.
Thankyou @@3DPrintSOS
As an update, i have adjusted my restractions to 1 and had a successful print, however with some underextrusion occurring thorough my print. then i realised i had changed the gear on my extruder because it was worn, this through my e- steps out considerably. Old value to get 100 mm of filament to extrude was 93.9 e steps after another e step calibration i have had to adjust this to 105 e-steps to get 100mm of filament to extrude. hope the next print is perfect .@@3DPrintSOS
Will this allow the printer to print TPU as well?
Currentyl have your Fedorstruder v2.0 on the bowden setup, wondering how this would be compatible.
where can I get an extension cable if I don't want to cut the sheath? Are the connectors on the stepper PH2.0-XH2.54? BTW, I'd love to see the modification to use the filament sensor that comes with the Aquila X2, since that's the printer I've got ;)
Thanks for the great idea!
Im having trouble with the retraction settings.
What settings did you put in and on what slicer. I use Voxel Maker for my aquila x2
How about an all metal hotend and/or printing with a hardened steel nozzel with the Aquila?
I have a whole series of printing different materials on the Aquila. In which I use a steel nozzle. ;)
@@3DPrintSOS Thanks! I'll go look for them.
Hi Fedor. thanks for this video. I have been wanting to do this mod for some time. I will certainly give it a go. My one question is what about the filament change process? Now that the bowden tube is dramatically shorter, won't we need to modify the code for the distance the filament travels into the hot end?
Yeah that's a thing. Although I think whenever you do a swap, you are in control of the distance.
Ok... I found my answer in the menu on the printer. Pretty simple. I can't wait to try it out. Thanks for the video and the print file.
@@bradleyehler1477I just did the mod and tried to do the first print and the Machine said it is not detecting filament I auto loaded it and it extruded way more than it should have you know what my problem is
Fedor, another great video. I have one question because I'm not sure how to do this. I've been using your PLA profile in cura since I got my Aquila and haven't had any real problems. The only settings I have ever changed are the infill and support settings depending on what I am printing. You stated in the video to change the retraction settings from 4 or 5 to 1. The only thing I see in the Cura profile under Travel is a check box to turn retraction on and off. I see that I can make a setting called Retraction Distance appear in the profile. It is currently set at 5.0mm. Is this the setting I would change if I decide to go to direct drive. I've already printed the piece just to get good look at it. Printed great. I'm currently using your extruder from your broken extruder video. I'm not sure if I want to give that up yet.
Yep, that’s the setting. Retraction distance. Just swap that over to 1mm and you should be set.
Also, if your machine is printing great and you’re enjoying it, don’t change it. ;)
@@3DPrintSOS Thanks for the reply. I learn more from your videos than from any of the facebook groups. The current extruder I'm using now I printed before the original one failed. I think I'll keep this one in reserve incase that fails someday.
Hy, it's so cool modification, but I want to ask: can it print from tpu or flex?
You can print TPU or Flex WITH it but it cannot be printed in flex. no.
@@3DPrintSOS Do you have any recommendations for the settings in regard to TPU, like any change to the retraction and print speed. I've tried some common ones and can't seem to get it to work
Good video, is it possible to exchange the z-axis motor and the extruder motor to make it lighter? Because the z-axis motor is a little smaller.
Tried. That motor could run a geared extruder but not a single-geared one. It will skip and get very hot.
@@3DPrintSOS I had already removed the motor to test it but decided to ask before as I was worried about heating. Thanks for taking your time to answer.
Seller sent me a h32 aquila x2... I've heard I'm now limited to basic controls and firmware upgrades and that i cant run klipper for e.g. is this true? This is so unfair that n32 owners can and we can't...
Nothing wrong the H32 anymore. You can run Alexs firmware OR Klipper just fine. Lot’s off into out there on both.
Any chance you can do a vid on installing a CR or BL touch on this printer?
I did one when the CR was released. I think it was a part of the “ultimate Aquila” series
Not sure if it is the design, or scaling in my print, but I tried this and the fit was pretty sloppy. Any tips?
just found this video, what did you print so the spring dont go wizzing off?
Hey just did the direct drive how do you fix the “ no filament detected problem “ voxelab Aquila x2 I’m stuck :(
Would I be able to face the motor plug to the back of the printer instead
Yep. Just make sure it doesn’t make any contact with anything as you move it around.
As I mentioned in the vid, it’s facing forward because it makes for the cleanest wire management. Nothing gets pressed this way.