Delta 3D Printer ✈ Flying VZ Extruder Motion Stress Test | Shorts

Using CarbonShrike's whole build plate with my new ultralight flying VZ Hextrudort design... The stress part is me 🤣 There's a lot that could go wrong if I missed something! Sorry about potatovision 😅

[@stefanguiton]

Awesome! That flying extruder looks great

[@jamespray]

Thank you! I'm still tuning the VZ but it's working well overall and the flying rig clearly has the range of motion it needs (I did have to make a couple of tweaks with the cable braces to open up the full build volume again with the CarbonShrike effector, since it's quite a bit wider than the older ones I used -- before, the arms would have collided with the cables, and I discovered this time that they could collide with the belt tensioners, so I had to slide those down almost 8cm).

[@draco_2727]

This version of the flying extruder makes sense, the mass of the motor is not being moved around. VERY neat 😍 I have a delta since 2014 and I'm working on the 3rd iteration now.

[@jamespray]

I've only been printing since 2017 (this is my only printer), so hats off to you! And thank you! (I'm not totally sure how to count iterations, but this is at least number 6 on this machine...)

[@draco_2727]

@@jamespray in my case I'd say iteration in the sense that I've torn it apart completely and redesigned it. Of course there are minor tweaks and changes here and there.
Now I need to figure out how to replicate your flying extruder 😁 although I'm also considering to make this machine dual extrusion 🤔

[@jamespray]

@@draco_2727 The design is all pretty much visible, so replicate away! It's so dependent on printer geometry that I don't see much use in releasing my actual files, but the concept and execution should be straightforward to copy. Mine is based around hollow 3mm CF rods, and the metal tubes are the bodies of Zebra brand pens with the tops cut off with a pipe cutter. There are loose o-rings on the plungers to provide some damping, and micro bearings in the corners of the central triangle for smooth movement. I think dual extrusion should be totally fine if you use lightweight extruders ... when the extruder mass(es) are close to the carriage plane, their mass really doesn't count except for Z-hops!

[@designnoevil247]

your printer is insane. Like not jsut a little crazy but full on leader of the iner sect of the nut house. I love to hyper focuse but you even make hyper focusing scared. Fish want to be you and woman dont know what to do. Love it keep it up

[@jamespray]

LOL thx!

[@mitsubishimakes]

Magical

[@jamessunday6668]

Is there a reason you attached the extruder braces to the carriages and not the underneath of the top plate? Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but it would seem to be less mass for the carriages to have to move around. I was thinking of rebuilding my old delta and you have helped provide quite a few ideas. Thanks for posting these videos.

[@jamespray]

If you look closely, you'll see that this setup is a semi-rigid mounting for the extruder, in that the carriages set the extruder Z height and angle. This maintains a fairly constant distance from the effector and leaves the bowden tube with some slack. This is different from a suspended flying extuder, where the bowden is in tension and moved around by the effector. My version is a bit heavier, yes (with all the carbon, I was able to get it down to 60g + extruder weight), but it avoids pinching the bowden near the fittings with hard bends, and (just as importantly) it prevents the extruder from bouncing around and causing print artifacts. With the extruder set up high like this, it barely moves in XY, and its mass basically doesn't count against the motion system except for Z moves.

[@lubl5631]

are you planning to release designs of this flying extruder mount ?

[@jamespray]

I am not sure. This printer is 230mm buildplate diameter, and the extension pistons' travel really limits how much bigger or (especially) smaller of a printer they would work on. Also, the entire build, with all the carbon fiber elements, is great for performance but a LOT of work to build. I should probably release it sometime anyway, but I would like to test it for longer first.