There is time in the life cycle of your 3d printer when you will want to upgrade its performance and reliability. One of the most important improvements with direct impact on the printing speed and on the number of supported filaments is the extruder upgrade.
For my 3d printer (CR-10) I considered 2 extruders – Titan Aero from e3d and dual drive extruders. I finally chose the dual drive extruder as a more versatile option, that allows both direct and bowden setup.
At the end I bought a high quality dual drive extruder from Trianglelab.
The dual extruder is geared with ratio 3:1. In this way it triples the torque of the stepper and provides great extrusion pressure.
Choice of print head adapters
Upgrading 3d printers often requires to print adapter parts in order to fit and install the new components. Fortunately popular 3d printers like Creality CR-10, CR-10s and Ender have large user communities and you may found that somebody has already designed and shared the part you need.
Thingiverse is the best place to look at. There you will find many mounting accessories for the dual drive extruder – for bowden or direct. I chose “The Tank” for its excellent and balanced design.
The tank was 3d printed from ABS and treated with acetone to smooth the edges. Tests have been run (please check the video above) both in direct extruder and bowden extruder mode. The final setup was with bowden extruder, because the dual drive extruder performed great even in this mode and the x-carriage stays light. If you are looking for STL for the bowden adapter, you can download it bellow.
Trianglelab direct drive extruder for CR-10, CR-10s, CR-10s Pro, Ender
Trianglelab offers similar ready-to-go solution for switching from bowden to direct drive setup. It is similar to the tank and integrates all components into one bundle.
Conclusion
The dual drive extruder is great, buy it from Trianglelab. It gives a real performance boost in bowden setup and an unrivaled flexibility, because you can use it also as direct extruder. The Tank printhead is its best companion and will allow you to switch fast between bowden and direct. It is also a must have if you are a Prusa fanboy. Happy printing.
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