Summary

This is the MK6 version of my "Penguin" geared extruder series for Prusa i3clones.

See below for assembly guide

The advantage to this design over others, to my mind, is that it containsall of the features a printer should have:

• Based around the venerable RPW Ultra hotend, from ReifsnyderPrecision Works ($85 + shipping, comes with several nozzles, sendemail to reifsnyderb@hotmail.com for purchase info). This design alsoworks with the slot-mount-equipped genuine J-head 10 and all oldermodels from MKV through v8.

• Geared extrusion to prevent skipping E steps at higher flow rates.• Optional probe mount for Z end stop and auto bed leveling. The probe

mounts included here put the probe 32 mm to the left and 10 mmbehind the hotend nozzle (center to center); mounts are provided forLJ18A3-8-Z/BX or similar, and BLTouch.

• Quick-release filament drive with adjustable tension.• Integrated fan duct to accept a common 5015 centrifugal blower. The

lower part of the duct outputs to both sides of the nozzle, and isdetachable (so layer cooling is optional).

• Mounts, ducting, and guard for common 40 mm fan for the cold endheat sink (optional for the MK V through 10, required for RPW-Ultra). A

VanessaE

Penguin ExtruderMK6 (geared drive,J-Head/RPW/RPW-Ultra, full-featured)

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updated 27. 10. 2019 | published 24. 10. 2019

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bracket is provided to allow use of a 5015 blower for this purpose, forsituations where a 40 mm fan is insufficient.

• Adjustable motor position to control gear lash and to compensate forwear.

• Off-the-shelf hardware to put it all together.• Uses normal 5-mm-bore hobbed drive gears, so you can buy precision

engineered parts instead of hobbing bolts by hand.• Fits standard Prusa i3 carriages with 30 mm hole spacing. I first

designed my original MK1 extruder as an upgrade over the low-quality ones that a lot of Prusa i3 clones come with, which includedmy own bot. Five revisions later, I guess one can say the design hasevolved somewhat. :-)

Hobbed drive gear details:

To support multiple types of hobbed drive gears, this extruder usesreplaceable gear "cartridges", which are cut both to position the driveassembly so that the hobbed gear's teeth overlap the filament pathproperly (by about 0.1 mm, assuming a straight piece of 1.70-1.75 mmfilament centered in the filament path), and to avoid having too muchclearance around the hobbed gear and pressure bearing.

As each gear is different, each requires a cartridge cut to fit it. I'veincluded cartridges for standard MK7, standard MK8 (should also fit the"HobbGoblin"), plain 11 mm OD ("26 tooth" and "36 tooth"), and plain 12mm OD ("40 tooth") gears. Most other gears should be easy toaccommodate, by starting from the "uncut" cartridge in the .blend workfile (so long as the cartridge can be cut to allow the gear to be insertedfrom the front without requiring excessive clearance around the hobbedportion). There's enough space to fit gears up to roughly 13 mm max ODand 14 mm long, maybe a bit more.

This also means that if you need or want to change to a different gear, youcan simply print and install the proper cartridge instead of re-printing theentire extruder, and perhaps change the idler arm's pressure bearing, ifappropriate.

This design is compatible with Penguin MK3/MK4/MK5 gear cartridges,using two of the cartridge's three holes (the hole pattern has changed acouple of times, and the MK6 only has two mounting holes, but this won'tcause a problem). In fact, this Thing comes with what amounts to MK5cartridges, I just renamed them. :-)

Since the filament path is fully-guarded above and below the hobbed gear,and has been kept as straight as possible all the way into the hotend, thisextruder can print in TPU and other flexibles, as well as the usual PLA,PETG, ABS, nylon, etc.

Other important stuff:

The printed gears have a ratio of 47:9 (5.222:1), but the effective diameterof your hobbed gear will of course affect the final ratio.

This extruder is designed forgenuine RPW-Ultra and genuine J-headhotends, and has not been tested with clones/ripoffs or other hotendbrands.

Notes:

The Blender file contains a LOT more than just the extruder - I had tomodel most of a Prusa i3 MK1 printer to make sure everything would fitand actually work. See the credits section, below. My bot came with 410mm Y rods, which is reflected in the Blender file, but this design shouldwork on older printers with shorter rods (the original i3 had 330-335 mm Yrods).

You can find the MK1 through MK5 models in the files section. Don'texport/print from them - they're just here for reference and study.

The "everything" file is just meant to give you a way to look at thecomplete assembly via "Thingiview", in case you can't use the Blender file.

While I haven't designed for it, it should be trivial to adapt this extruder tofit 3 mm filament.

This extruder got its name from the colors I eventually ended up printingone of the earlier designs with, i.e. mostly black or white, plus orange forone half of the filament release. So, it kinda bore a vague resemblance tothe bird, if you squint at it just right. Plus, I'm also a strong supporter ofopen source software, especially on Linux. Since that OS has Tux thePenguin as its mascot, the name just seems to fit.

3D Printers > 3D Printers - Upgrades

Print Settings/Notes

These parts are designed with a layer height of 0.2 mm in mind. No raftsneeded, and some parts need supports, as described below.

The support object for the idler arm has a 0.2 mm gap between it and thearm (assumes PETG, with Slic3r doing the slicing). You can omit it, anddirect your slicer to use its own, if it can adequately replace it. The twopieces have alignment marks that form a crosshairs when positionedproperly.

For the frame, just use your slicer's automatic supports ("On build plateonly", threshold angle of 5° from horizontal).

The other parts don't need additional supports.

If you print all of the main parts in ABS with 2 mm shell thickness and 25%triangles infill, and the two fan shrouds and fan guard with 1 mm shellsand 5% rectilinear infill, and other tweaks on those to avoid excess fill, thisextruder will end up with a total mass of about 115 grams (counting onlythe printed extruder parts, with the RPW-Ultra fan shroud).

Everyone knows ABS sucks donke... AHEM... to, um... print with, but thetwo fan shrouds need the heat resistance, so you still need to print thosein ABS (or another plastic with a high glass temperature). The cold end fanguard prints easily in ABS anyway because it's so thin. If you then switchto PETG for everything else, as I did, the MK6 will end up at around 136g.

Of course, you can use other plastics like nylon or polycarbonate if youwant, just as long as they can tolerate whatever heat they'll be exposed toin your most extreme printing situations, without risk of warping/deforming. PLA is not recommended, unless that's all you ever print with,and you don't use an enclosure.

Mass will vary with infill amount, shell thickness, the specific filament, andvarious other print settings.

Make sure you use a dwell tower when printing the frame and the fanshrouds, so that the upward-pointing narrow/thin parts don't overheat.

Post Printing

There are single-layer bridges covering some vertical holes (to eliminatethe need for detailed supports). Clear them out using suitable drills and/oryour X-Acto knife.

You should not clear the filament path holes until after you've securelymounted the cartridge to the frame, just to make sure you clear out astraight path.

How I designed this

Six parts Blender, one part frustration, eight parts pizza, three parts sugar-free drink mix, and a dash of GIMP (for the textures used in the fancy-schmancy rendering).

Plus, a few hundred CPU hours, several more pizzas, and a few gallons ofcoffee learning how to use SimScale also. Many thanks go to Anthony and

the rest of the support staff at SimScale for helping me learn the system,without whom I would have burnt through about 10000 CPU hours beforegetting even one basic simulation done. :-)

Vitamins

Screws:

3, M3 x 8 mm 3, M3 x 10 mm [#] 2, M3 x 12-14 mm 1, M3 x 13-14 mm 2,M3 x 16 mm 2, M3 x 18 mm 2, M3 x 20 mm [#] 4, M3 x 20-25 mm [#]

1, M4 x 4-6 mm, cap head, Allen, square, Torx, or anything similar with adeep socket hole. 2, M4 x 20-25 mm

1, M5 x 40-45 mm, hex head

1, 3.5 x 15-20 mm "wood" or "sheet metal" screw, pointed-end, if possible.This can be anything that will get a good grip on a 2.5 mm hole, and notslip over time). It should have a large head, Allen or Philips suggested (forthe idler tension adjustment).

[#] If you'll be using a second 5015 blower to cool your hotend's heat sink,you'll need two more M4 x 25 mm screws and nuts, and two more M3 x 10mm screws instead of 20's.

Nuts:

A bunch of M3 (2 nylock if possible) 2, M4 1, M5 2, M5 nylock

Bearings:

3, 623ZZ (one must be 623VV, about 1 mm deep V-groove, if your hobbedgear has plain, straight teeth with no filament groove of its own, i.e. likecommon 11 and 12 mm gears) 2, 625ZZ

Other:

6 flat washers sized for M3 screws (1 or 2 may or may not be needed). Twoshould be fairly wide outer diameter. 3 "star" type lock washers sized forM3 screws (if possible, or just use more flat washers) 2 flat washers sizedfor M5 screws/bolts, about 1 mm thick a suitable MK7, MK8, 11 mm, or 12mm hobbed gear a suitably-stiff idler tension spring, 8 mm or so diameter,about 20 mm long. kapton tape ceramic wool insulation (such as https://www.ebay.com/itm/113535847883 or similar) aluminum tape

Assembly

1. Remove all supports, and use your hobby knife and suitable drills toclear out the bridging over some of the holes, as needed.

2. Gear up! Build the drive assembly: ◦ Grind or file a flat onto an M5 x 40-45 mm hex-head bolt, about

1.5 mm deep, running from about 15 to 22 mm from the bottomface of the hex head.

◦ Slide the bolt into the large Wade gear, from the front (ofcourse), but don't seat it yet.

◦ Add two M5 washers (assuming they're about 1 mm thick).◦ Add an M5 nut and thread it part-way, but don't tighten it yet.◦ Add a few drops of Krazy Glue under the head of the bolt, seat

the bolt into the large gear, and quickly tighten the nut down.Torque it down decently, to fully seat the bolt and hold it squareto the gear.

◦ Set this partial assembly aside and let the glue cure. We'll finishit later.

3. Get nuts! Populate the various nut traps in the frame. I recommendadding a drop of Krazy Glue to each as you press them in; it may behelpful to use a screw to help work them into place.

◦ Press two M3 nuts into the recesses in bottom of the cartridgeslot and frame front.

◦ Press two M3 nuts into the recesses in back side of the hotendmount.

◦ Press two M3 nuts into the recesses on the front surface of theframe's backplane.

◦ Press two M3 nuts into the recesses on the back side of the coldend fan mounts.

◦ Press one M3 nut (nylock if possible) into the recess on the backside of the motor mount.

◦ If you'll be using a layer fan, press an M3 nut into the recess onthe left side of the blower outlet, and insert two M4 nuts into theblower fan mounts.

4. Drive a 3.5 x 15-20 mm "wood" screw into the hole on the right sideof the frame, just enough to poke through into the drive area. Ifyou're going to use a "reverse bowden" guide tube, now is a goodtime to install the PC4-M6 fitting that you'll need for it, into the loopat the top edge of the motor mount (there's no fitting pictured here,

as I don't use one).

5. Finish the drive assembly. By now, the glue you put under the head of

the bolt has cured. ◦ Remove the M5 nut.◦ Add one 625ZZ bearing to the bolt.◦ Remove the hobbed gear, and wrap a turn of aluminum tape or a

trimming from a soda or beer can partly around the area whereyou made the flat, but don't cover the flat. It'll take about onesquare centimeter of aluminum.

◦ Put the hobbed gear back on, with the working part of the teethoriented toward the large gear. Be careful pushing it on, so as tokeep the aluminum flat and even under it.

◦ Align the hobbed gear's grub screw with the flat on the bolt, andtighten it just enough to keep it aligned.

◦ Use a 2 mm drill to clear-out the gear cartridge's filament path.Be conservative! You want JUST enough clearance to get a pieceof filament in, but we don't care if the filament moves easily yet.

◦ Slide the drive assembly into the cartridge.◦ Add another 625ZZ bearing, and put the M5 nut back on, justfinger-tight (the drive assembly should turn easily, perhaps withsome resistance)

◦ add the aforementioned piece of filament into the path holes inthe cartridge, and align the hob gear with it, as needed.

◦ Make sure the hobbed gear's grub screw is still aligned with theflat, and torque it down.

◦ Remove the M5 nut and return it to your stock, you're done withit.

◦ Remove the filament and drive assembly from the cartridge.◦ Add an M5 nylock nut to the bolt and thread it down so that

when the drive assembly is installed in the cartridge, the nut willbe just far enough in to barely touch the back bearing. This nut'spurpose is to provide a backing for that bearing, so that the end/outer M5 nut that you'll add later won't crush the bearinginward.

◦ Set the drive assembly aside.

6. In your gear cartridge, there are three nut traps. Depending on theage of your cartridge, two of them may face front, or back. In anycase, you want the two on the right side of the cartridge (same sideas the idler pressure bearing cuts). Insert M3 nuts into these two,ignoring the third. I suggest adding a drop of Krazy Glue at least tothe back one, after it's in and seated.

7. Keeping the 625ZZ bearing seated in the back, insert the cartridgeinto the frame and secure it with two M3 x 9-10 mm screws. Note thatif your cartridge had excessive bridging droop on its back side, and/oryour 625ZZ bearing is thicker than "normal", the frame's bearingretainer behind the cartridge may break when the screws aretightened. If it does, don't worry about it. It's just an anti-frustrationfeature and will not affect the extruder's behavior or performance.

8. Use a 2 mm drill to fully clean-up the filament path now. Use a pieceof filament to check your work - it should slide easily through theentire filament path, without excessive side-to-side movement around

where the hobbed gear will be.

9. If you'll be using a Z probe, press two M3 nuts into the recesses in the

probe mount, and secure it to the lower-left corner of the frame with8-10 mm screws. Note that there are alignment bumps on the frame,and that they stick out just slightly "too far" (actually, the gap isexactly 0 in the model). The idea here is to compress them into theirrecesses in the probe mount, so that you don't have to torque thescrews down super-hard to keep the mount from being able to rockback and forth. These screws must be button head, pan head, orsome other low-profile head to fit between the screw recesses andthe front surface of the X carriage.

10. Use a 5 mm drill to clean-up the small Wade gear's axle hole, pressan M3 nut into the trap in the bottom, and slide the gear on yourextruder motor's shaft. Add an M3 x 8 mm screw, and turn the gear toalign it with the flat on the motor's shaft. Tighten the screw only justenough to keep it aligned.

11. Using three M3 x 10 screws, attach your extruder motor. If you haveappropriately-sized "star" style lock washers, it might be a good ideato use them here. Leave the screws loose. Make sure you orient the

motor's connector properly.

12. Using an M3 x 13-14 mm screw and nut (nylock if possible), fasten a

623ZZ bearing (if using a MK7 or MK8 or similar hobbed gear), or ashallow V-groove 623VV bearing (if using a plain, flat-profile gear),and a washer to the end of the idler arm. Put the washer on the backside of the bearing (so that it pushes the bearing toward the frontside of the idler arm). Tighten the screw down snugly, so that the nutgets fully seated into the idler arm, then loosen it just a little, so thatthe bearing is able to spin freely.

13. Press two 623ZZ bearings into the idler arm's shoulder - note that thefront one won't stay in.

14. Add two M3 flat washers to an M3 x 18 mm screw, slide it into thoseshoulder bearings, and secure it to the hole in the lower right cornerof the motor mount (engaging the M3 nylock nut you pressed into theback). Tighten it down securely, then back it off just enough to let theidler arm move freely. If necessary, you can also use an M3 x16 mmscrew without washers.

15. Add a short M4 cap-head screw, Allen, square, or Torx drive (orsimilar), to one end of your idler tension spring, and snap them intoplace between the bump on the idler arm and the recess in the frameopposite it. Retrieve the spring and screw from the pile of dustbunnies under your desk, and try again. ;-)

16. Wrap one or two turns of electrical tape or similar around yourhotend's slot mount. If possible, add some ceramic wool and kaptontape around the hot end (this isn't so much to insulate the hot end for

its own sake, as it is to protect the layer fan shroud from its heat). Ifyou're using a RPW-Ultra, make sure the cold end mount is thestandard slot mount, and that it is threaded all the way down. On thatmodel, there will be a short piece of PTFE tube sticking out of the coldend. Press it all the way in (only a centimeter or so), and hold, whileyou use your hobby knife to trim it flush with the top of the cold end.

17. Place the hotend onto its mount in the frame, and orient the hotendsuch that its heater cartridge is toward the front.

18. Using two M3 x 20-25 mm screws through the front, and two M3 x 16

mm screws through the bottom, secure the hotend via its clamp,making sure to keep the hotend properly oriented. The right-mostscrew going up through the bottom will need to be button-head orpan-head or a similar low-profile head to avoid interference with thecold end fan shroud to be attached a few steps ahead.

19. If you're using one, and haven't mounted it yet, add your probe to themount. For inductive sensors or similar, make sure it's positionedvertically so that it'll read your bed surface before the nozzle touchesit (you can adjust this later; shown here is an LJ18A3-8-Z/BX). ForBLTouch, no adjustment is necessary, just make sure you use the

mount appropriate for your hotend model.

20. If you're using one, insert your 5015 blower into the inlet at the top,

and secure it with two M4 x 20-25 mm screws. Use the fan to trap thewires from your hotend and probe (if any) against the rounded cutoutin the frame just under it.

21. Insert the Wade gear/drive assembly into the cartridge, taking carenot to knock the 625ZZ bearing out of the back. Align it and the smallgear properly, and secure the drive assembly with an M5 nylock nut.

22. Alternate between adjusting the motor's position and that of thesmall Wade gear, until the two Wade gears mesh, are parallel to eachother, and square to the frame, then tighten the motor's screws. It isat this point that you're also minimizing gear lash (that bit of "slop"between turning a gear, before it turns the next one). Make sure thesmall gear's set screw is aligned to the flat on the shaft, and tightenit.

23. If you're using a layer fan, cover all inward-facing surfaces of theblower shroud with aluminum tape to protect them from the hotend(even with the hotend covered in kapton and ceramic wool, theshroud may still warp). Smooth the tape down well. Insert the fanshroud and secure it with an M3 x 18 to 20 mm screw (a flat washerunder the head is recommended).

24. If you'll be using the traditional 40 mm fan and shroud to cool thehotend's heat sink, press M3 nuts into the two traps in the cold endfan shroud, and attach the fan shroud and fan guard to the fan itself

with two M3 x 16 mm screws, then attach the whole assembly to theright side of the frame with two M3 x 20 mm screws.

25. If you're using a 5015 blower for the heat sink, fasten the bracket tothe inlet-side of the fan with two M4 x 25 mm screws and nuts, thenuse two M3 x 10 mm to attach the bracket/fan to the frame.

(photo above shows a different heat sink cooler than I use now)

You can now drive the idler tension screw in a bit to set it where you wantit, and attach the extruder to it with two M3 x 25-30 mm screws. It ishighly advisable to use a pair of wide washers under the heads, if only tospread the screws' force across as much plastic as possible (washersmeant for #6-32 screws are useful for this). It is also a very good idea toput a piece of a latex exam glove, or a thin coating of hot glue, or someother sticky material, between the carriage and the frame so that youdon't have to torque the crap out of the screws to keep the frame frombeing able to rock back and forth.

Changelog/updates

2019-08-25: Added a bracket to allow mounting a 5015 blower pointed atthe hotend's heat sink, for situations where a 40 mm fan isn't enough.

2019-08-18: Created a version of the cold end shroud specifically for theRPW-Ultra, which focuses the airflow just on the hottest part of the heatsink. The old file has been renamed as "MKV-10" since it should still workfine for those.

2019-08-11: Reworked the frame to mount onto standard Prusa i3carriages with 30 mm hole spacing. Reworked the sensor mounts to follow.No more custom X carriages -- yay! :-) Also, I dropped support for andremoved items relating to the J-head 11, since there were only a few madeas prototypes, and they have been superseded by the RPW-Ultra.Important: This change may affect your Z offset, as it moves the wholeassembly up a few millimeters. Later: I also reduced the gap between theframe and its support object by 0.2 mm.

2019-07-20: Minor change to the cold end fan shroud, to use the samequad-based contours, just to make it look nicer (I doubt this change affectsthe airflow).

2019-07-19: Various revisions to the RPW-Ultra fan shroud:

• it's now built from multiple boolean operations to make the internalcontour and outlet shape predictable

• edited it in halves, then copied/mirrored, to ensure that it's perfectlysymmetrical

• better internal contour to improve airflow• better external contour for appearance.• revised outlet vanes to focus the airflow better.• it also sits a few tenths of a millimeter lower than before (not enough

to notice, just an OCD thing :-) ).

The other two blower shrouds are unchanged. I did my best to build thesecontours from quads instead of triangles, which helped A LOT. There's still

a tiny bit of blowback up the center, but nothing excessive, and easilyblocked by the insulation around the heat block. The shroud now has amass of only about 10 grams.

2019-05-25: Added reinforcing ribs to inductive sensor mount, addedBLTouch probe mounts (three files: MKV-10, 11, and 12).

2019-04-11: Many small changes:

To the frame:

• added holes, made some bevels, made some things thinner, all toreduce mass

• the cold end fan mount now uses proper nut traps instead of woodscrews

• made the main support objects easier to remove• thickened the top/front of the blower fan duct, and added a 0.8 mm

bevel on the inside surface, to make sure the bridging layer cansupport 2mm worth of perimeters, to help ensure airtightness

• widened the top side filament inlet, and got rid of that annoyingshoulder

• added an M6 fitting in place of old filter support loop, to allow use of afilament guide tube with a common PC4-M6 fitting (this is commonlycalled "reverse bowden")

• increased the clearance around the idler arm

To the cartridges:

• beveled back nut traps on all sizes• made all nut traps 0.4mm thinner to avoid too many broken internal

lines when printed in non-thin-wall mode

To the sensor mount:

• thinned-down somewhat, to reduce mass

To the fan shrouds and cold end fan guard:

• increased the blower shrouds' top surface thickness by 0.2-0.4 mm(depending on model) to make sure they close airtight.

• re-balanced wall thickness on cold end fan shroud and v11 and RPW-Ultra blower shrouds, to make sure things print consistently with 0.5mm line width, without the walls being excessively thick (helps avoidtriggering slicer bugs).

• reworked the mounting holes on the cold end fan shroud and fanguard

2019-03-06: the "klack" sound is gone with that last update. Meanwhile,I've uploaded a new small Wade gear, wherein I've moved the nut trapinward and increased the outer diameter, greatly increasing the amount ofplastic between the nut and the screw head (a bit than double, I think), toallow for more clamping force without splitting.

2019-02-10: Some people may hear hollow "klack" noises coming fromtheir extruders... I don't know the cause yet, but I think it's a deficiency inthe idler arm design. Adding a washer to the front/screw-head side of thepressure bearing may help. It'll still make noise, just less. These noises donot appear to affect print quality, they're just annoying.

2019-02-05: Reworked them again, a bit. The airflow was perfectly focusedleft-to-right and aimed at the height I wanted it, but the front-to-backfocus was way off -- as in behind the nozzle. These new versions seem tofix that. In the process, I reworked the interior contouring for smootherairflow, and to increase the total volume a bit. Only the shrouds for thev11 and RPW-Ultra have been updated here, the reworked MKV-10 shroudwill be uploaded as soon as it's been tested (I have to have someone elsedo that).

2019-01-24: Reworked the blower shrouds -- Although they have anegligible increase airflow restriction, they have much better airflow focus,so a lot more air hits where it should anyway. Plus, they're morestreamlined, and lower mass (the RPW-Ultra shroud is only 9.9 gramswhen printed in ABS, with 2 perimeters, 3 top/bottom solid layers, and10% rectilinear infill "only where needed"). Aluminum tape is no longermandatory (but recommended anyway).

2019-01-21: Fiddled around a bit with the cold end fan shroud, reworking itfor the most part. Streamlined it to increase the airflow (not that it was aproblem), made the upper holes bigger, added nut traps to the lowerholes. The MKV-10 blower shroud has been tweaked a bit to fit in under it(the other blower shrouds needed no changes).

2019-01-19: Added "mouse ears" to the cold end fan shroud.

2019-01-18.1: Minor change to the frame support object to get rid of a bitthat isn't needed anymore due to the previous change to the frame.

2019-01-18: The blower shrouds were not directing the airflow very well,leading to uneven cooling of the print. I have completely reworked them,they work much better now (well, the one for the 11 does, for sure. :-) ),and no longer require supports. I have also moved the screw mount to theside, using a regular M3 screw and nut, passing through the air channel toclamp the shroud in from both sides. The frame of course has been

modified accordingly. I have also thickened the frame's front cold end fanscrew post, and tweaked the fan shroud accordingly.

2019-01-08: I got bored last night and decided to print the RPW-Ultramodel. :-) Some tweaks were needed to make it print decently, so I'veupdated the .blend and "everything" files accordingly. This does not alterthe extruder in any way.

2019-01-06.1: Increased the gaps between the X carriage and its supportsby 0.1 mm and shortened the little bit that sticks out between the beltclamp blocks (just moved the inner end out a bit, to get it away from theback side of the carriage).

2019-01-06: Added a little "holder loop" to keep the idler arm withdrawn(i.e. when doing a cold pull or something else that needs the idler arm heldoff the filament), and added a notch to the idler arm to hang onto it.

2019-01-05.2: Fixed a missing bit in the frame support object.

2019-01-05.1: Split the X bearing mounts off into a custom X carriage andmodified the frame to mate with it. Like the sensor mount, there arealignment bumps to make sure the frame can't rock side-to-side on thecarriage. Note that this is a custom X carriage - it will NOT fit otherextruders, but it shouldn't be hard to remix it to fit other printers. Thisadds 16 or so grams to the mass of the extruder, but then again, onenormally doesn't count the X carriage as part of the extruder's mass.

2019-01-05: Made the idler arm handle thicker, did the same on theframe's half. Moved the pressure bearing mount down (away from theshoulder) by 0.6 mm to better align it with the hob gear when pressure isapplied.

2019-01-01.2: Rotated the sensor mount to a more sensible orientation.

2019-01-01.1: Updated the RPW-Ultra duct again right away because of amodel error I missed, :-P and added a duct for MKV through v8.

2019-01-01: Added a blower duct explicitly for the RPW-Ultra, renamed theother one to be just for the v11.

Changes since the MK5:

• Totally re-arranged everything again, :-) going back to a more verticalarrangement, and otherwise compacted the design even more, toabout the size of the original MK1, reducing the mass by about 15gover the MK5.

• Went back to using one layer fan, but with a symmetric dual-nozzleoutlet.

• Made the sensor mount optional again.• Integrated the X bearing mounts into the frame, eliminating the need

for a separate X carriage.

Changes from the MK4 design:

• Totally rearranged everything ;-) making the design overall morecompact (though it may not look like it at first).

• Extra-thick frame base, to make the whole thing as rigid as possible.• Blower nozzles are now to the sides of the hotend, making for much

better visibility• The cold end fan is now behind the hotend, blowing directly on it

(intake zone points up to avoid drawing in warm air from near theheated bed).

• The inductive sensor now sits behind the fans and has two mountingoptions. One is farther from the hotend than before, for most models,but one is rather closer to the hotend. If your sensor is short enoughor you have to move the sensor down far enough (e.g. to match anespecially long hotend), you can use the closer mount.

• The sensor mounts are now integrated with the frame.• Re-modeled the gears completely from scratch (though I kept the look

of the larger gear)• Got rid of the wide mount holes; only 24, 30, 31, and 37 mm hole

spacing is supported now (which is about the same in practiceanyway, and should cover 99% of i3 X carriages).

• Far fewer screws and nuts needed to put it all together.• This design keeps the entire 200 x 200 x 200 mm print volume

available, even with longer hotends (most hotends are short enoughto allow about 200 x 200 x 210 mm).

Changes from MK3 to MK4:

• The universal filament path didn't work too well in practice - it beingso wide made it prone to jams. So I've gone back to a normal filamentpath.

• A bit thicker and heavier-duty in places. It ain't MK1-mass anymore. :-P

• MUCH stronger, more reliable grip on the filament.• Should work fine with flexible filaments now (I haven't tried).• The upper filament guide has been enlarged and replaced with a

loop.• The sensor mount is now an optional part that you print and attach to

the frame, rather than having separate versions of the frame withand without it.

• Minor changes here and there to improve the printed quality of theframe.

• Added a support "ear" to the frame's cold end fan mount, I kepthaving problems with it lifting when I was tinkering with this designand the last few revisions of the MK3 design.

• Moved the sensor mount a few millimeters further to the right, toincrease the clearance around the large Wade gear (particularlyimportant if you're using a MK8 or some other hobbed gear with asmall effective diameter).

• Nicer contours on the front of the large gear :-)

Changes from MK2 to MK3:

• Lighter-weight "open-frame" design, with a mass similar to my MK1.• Narrower design, the nozzle now reaches beyond both edges of the

bed easily.• More generous filament path and gear clearance to allow for many

common hobbed gears up to 13 mm diameter and/or 13 mm length.• 5 mm LED mounts instead of 3 mm.• Better placement of inductive sensor - easier to install and adjust• Motor now moves vertically for adjustment.• New, slimmer printed gears.• The idler pressure bearing is now held from both sides, so the mount

area can't bend sideways.• A version of the frame is included that lacks the sensor mount.• Should fit any arbitrary X carriage with hole spacing from 24 to 31

mm

Changes from MK1 to MK2:

• The motor position is now adjustable.• The tension spring has a much larger pressure range - from 0 to

basically "insane".• The idler bearing now exerts force exactly square/perpendicular to

the filament path and the drive shaft, even * at extreme tension.• The airflow from the cold-end fan is now better targeted at the cold

end.• The blower shroud should now have a much lower-resistance air path.• Tie-down loops/holes have been added for securing/bundling up your

wires/cables.• Where appropriate, downward-facing holes are beveled to help

compensate for excessive first-layer squish or elephant's foot.• A little inset "corner" has been added to some of the bearing mounts

to give your slicer a good place to put the perimeter seams (for betterdiameter accuracy)

• An initially unrealized side effect of moving the motor forward is thatthere should no longer be any interference with the printer frame'stop corner braces, so you get slightly more print volume.

Model Files (.stl, .3mf, .obj, .amf) DOWNLOAD ALL FILES

46.6 MBupdated 24. 10. 2019

• The blower shroud has a mount on the inlet as well, to keep the faninserted properly, and to prevent the inlet end sagging if it shouldoverheat.

• Fits X carriages with 24 or 31 mm hole spacing.

Credits

• The RPW-Ultra model file was provided by Reifsnyder Precision Works(with some details added by me).

• The gears' teeth profiles were generated by http://hessmer.org/gears/InvoluteSpurGearBuilder.html and extruded in Blender. The helicaltwist info came from http://www.otvinta.com/instantgear.html .

• I used SimScale to help tune-up the RPW-Ultra blower shroud. Thesimulation project for it can be found here: https://www.simscale.com/projects/VanessaE/fan_shroud_test/

• The Penguin logo was hand-drawn using https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Penguin_(11280288994).jpg asa guide.

• The cogged motor/belt pulleys seen in the Blender workfile camefrom https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2458937 .

• The leadscrew nuts therein came from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1903200 and the leadscrews they're on were derived fromthem.

• The Plexiglas parts of the printer model in the workfile are from https://github.com/josefprusa/Prusa3/tree/master/old_single_plate/src/frame/6mm (The Prusa3WOOD-v4.dxf variant, extruded to 6mm thickin Blender).

• The printed Y and Z corners therein are from https://github.com/josefprusa/Prusa3-vanilla/tree/master/distribution

• The 5-to-8 mm leadscrew couplers therein came from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:602481 .

• The BLTouch model came from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1229934 (retracted model; modified by me to add a marker for theprobe's extended position).

• The two fan models used in the Blender workfile came fromThingiverse, but I don't remember whose models they are.

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_everything_7688.stl

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penguin_extruder_mk6_-_frame_7688.stl

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penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_for_mk7_gear_768.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_for_generic_11_m.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_for_generic_12_m.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_sensor_mount_for_lj18a3-8-.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_sensor_mount_for_bltouch_w.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_sensor_mount_for_bltouch_w.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_front_clamp_7688.stl

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penguin_extruder_mk6_-_idler_arm_7688.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_wade_gear_large_7688.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_wade_gear_small_7688.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_blower_shroud_rpw_ultra_76.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_blower_shroud_mkv-10_7688.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_blower_fan_bracke.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_fan_shroud_rpw_ul.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_fan_shroud_mkv-10.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_fan_guard_7688.stl

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penguin_extruder_mk6_-_mini_endstop_holder_7688.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_8mm_wrench_just_in_case_-_.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_idler_arm_holder_loop_7688.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_idler_arm_holder_loop.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_sensor_mount_for_bltouch_w.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_fan_guard.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_uncut.stl

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penguin_extruder_mk3.blend

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_idler_arm.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_idler_arm_support.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_fan_shroud_mkv-10.stl

penguin_extruder_mk1.blend

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_for_generic_12_m.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_front_clamp.stl

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penguin_extruder_mk6_-_sensor_mount_for_bltouch_w.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_8mm_wrench_just_in_case_-_.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_fan_shroud_rpw_ul.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_for_mk7_gear.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6.blend

penguin_extruder_mk2.blend

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_frame.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_wade_gear_large.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cold_end_blower_fan_bracke.stl

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Find source .stl files on Thingiverse.com

The Author has not uploaded any G-codes.Try to search in User G-codes section or generate and upload yourown.

penguin_extruder_mk5.blend

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_blower_shroud_rpw_ultra.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_sensor_mount_for_lj18a3-8-.stl

penguin_extruder_mk4.blend

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_blower_shroud_mkv-10.stl

penguin_extruder_mk6_-_cartridge_for_mk8_gear.stl

License

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