Simplify3D User Forum

Everyone interested in alternative extruder for your printer should look at this kickstarter campaign https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ly ... escription
I am a backer and cant wait to put this on my corexy!

there has been an alternative for years:
https://flex3drive.com/flex3drive/

Yes I know about flex3drive but the nimble is almost half the weight of that.

perolalars wrote:Yes I know about flex3drive but the nimble is almost half the weight of that.

flex3drive, dual, (I use 2 hexagons), fully equipped, 2 fans, holders etc .. no hotends is 133g (just measured)

flex3drive, single[/i], older version (he upgraded them recently) but printed by me not by Jason (I think Jason prints them with very high infill percentage, maybe even 100%, I printed it just to see how it fits, at 33%) is 30g only and I think it's strong enough even with only 33% infill to function correctly but version from Jason might be bit heavier (dunno I only have dual that came directly from him).

nimble is 28g for single so compared to mine 33% infill it's few grams lighter, not sure how that compares to "half"?

(now that's wrt weight, dunno if nimble is maybe 1000000 times better in other regards but it's not really half the weight and looking at the images and video it looks pretty much just like Jason's flex3drive .. and I think few changes flex3drive has are due to experience they have with this type of drive as they are out in the wild for a while now .. I don't see nowhere what's the gear ratio for the nimble, flex3drive is 1:40 so pretty high..)

Since Jason dont state on his website (dont know why?) what the weight of his extruder is, I searched the interweb and found http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.se/2015/0 ... based.html in the middle of the page its states the weight to 45 grams. What you can print it in weight is not really relevant. To my knowledge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNDoCqavWCU at 4.13 in the video) the gear ratio for the nimble is about 30:1. Zesty Tech has done 18 or 19 iterations.... Watch the video
And I know of these guys since they have the same delta printer as me, we all contributed for another Kickstarter. And they have been working on this extruder for over a year...
Anyway, you like Flex3drive and I like the looks of the Nimble and thats ok by me!

perolalars wrote:page its states the weight to 45 grams.

no clue where additional 15 came from but mine do look a bit different from that one on that web page .. anyhow 28 is still not really close to half .. that's the only issue I had .. as it got me confused ... also comparing nimble and flex I don't see where did they saved on the weight .. the only thing I see is that flex is using quality bearings everywhere (2 for the drive gear, 2 for the gear with hobbed thingy and another one to press on the filament so 5 bearings in total) .. don't see that they differ much in geometry nor size, only if nimble is made from some super light plastic compared to ABS flex is using?

not saying one is better then the other, for my printers the 50g here and there make no difference as I like printing slow, and I havent tried nimble to comment on the quality (should be good, I like the concept of flex and from what I see nimble is same concept)

perolalars wrote: To my knowledge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNDoCqavWCU at 4.13 in the video) the gear ratio for the nimble is about 30:1. Zesty Tech has done 18 or 19 iterations.... Watch the video

watched the few videos missed the ratio ... I personally like 30:1 more then 40:1 flex uses ('cause I use 400 step motors so I really don't need that much ratio, 10-20:1 would be perfect for me)

perolalars wrote:Anyway, you like Flex3drive and I like the looks of the Nimble and thats ok by me!

I like em both! I tried flex3drive, didn't try nimble so can't compare them .. just chimed in about "half the weight" ... as for the concept, I hope number of "remote-direct-drive" extruders start "happening" more the merrier

I supported these guys and from everything i hear they seem pretty legit. The difference between this and the flex3drive is that when that drive you are stuck with what you ordered because the extruder cannot be "swapped" (you cant make a left one a right one and vice versa, where as with the nimble it allows for more flexible setup. The other thing is that the breach comes completely off with the nimble, so you dont have to try to align the filament. You can just take it off, load the filament and then close it back up and your ready to print. That also makes cleaning the gear teeth easier.

I'm hoping that nimble is a success because it has several advantages over the flex3drive, though admittedly it hasnt really be tested the way flex3drive has. It only has 5-6 more days to go ... hopefully it gets funded

I do really like it ... the "super small form factor" .. from what I understand they are using printed threads in there ... that will be (good) changed in the final version, I had very bad experience with threads I printed in nylon on shapeways (what they did too) .. but the whole nylon with glass reinforcement makes sense .. it does need lot of money to make the tools to make it but it makes sense .. not sure how nylon on nylon will be trough time as it looks like no bearings on the gears but we'll see ... the left/right is cool trick .. I got dual from flex as that makes more sense to me and also to "change" I just print the change but anyhow this does make a lot of sense .. I hope they succeed as I'm really a big believer in remote-direct-drive (I have remote driven extruder for almost 10 years now and designs I made had issues with cabling, as I had cables crack constantly, and retraction was a problem as the cabling I used is wound only one way so retraction was killing them, and I didn't use any gearing but used nema23 motors that I have a lot of ... so when I seen flex3drive solution I jumped to it .. works like a charm ... I ordered nimble (97e is not on the cheap side but not expensive neither ) too of course so.. we'll see I too hope they get fully funded