Often the extruder is the silent hero of 3D printing. While manufacturers today spend an inordinate amount of time churning out glossy new machines and releases into the marketplace with hefty price tags and big lists of fancy features, it’s a simple fact that without the power of a quality extruder, users are looking at challenges in fabrication, and—most especially—the results. As the life-force of 3D printing, the extruder is where all the excitement and energy are—and that’s exactly what you’ll find yourself staring at expectantly after you send a file to print, green light on and all systems go, waiting to see the melted plastic come swirling out in all its glory so that you can leave and come back to what you expect to be an amazing 3D model.
Excitement and energy certainly abounds from E3D-Online right now too, centered around the launch of their new Titan extruder which users should find to be a useful addition to their completely modular 3D printer extrusion systems. With the promise that it will ‘grip like a beast,’ we might all just be very curious to see that in action. E3D, maintaining their position at the forefront of selling hotends, is of course a manufacturer that we’ve followed with interest for quite some time from super affordable hotends to extruders to 3D printers. Headquartered in England, the company is definitely a leader in hardware, boasting a stellar reputation, and known for developing industry standards for the hotend itself.
With the Titan, users can again look forward to affordability at £45 (roughly $64 USD) for the new extruder, which offers some unique features that the E3D team sees as game-changing for the world of the extruder. The Titan, with small and ‘perfect formed inner workings,’ can be either direct drive or Bowden, and is constructed with a high quality design both internally and externally, showing off a sturdy and high functioning clear polycarbonate lid, and a long list of other features, to include:
- Custom machined 3:1 gear reduction set
- Highly optimised HobGoblin drive gear tooth profile for maximum grip
- Fast maximum extrusion speeds for Volcano-fast printing
- Fully guided filament path
- Great performance with flexibles
- Pushing power for even the most demanding filaments
- Size and weight of a direct-drive extruder, but with geared extruder performance
- Idler tension adjustment with force indication scale for repeatable tension settings
- User-friendly and easy to maintain
- E3D modularity
- Compatible with all configurations: 1.75mm, 3mm, direct and Bowden extrusion
E3D’s BigBox 3D printer, which we’ve reported on previously, will also be upgrading to the Titan extruder, with the release of a new Dual Head that will allow the volume to increase to an enormous 300 x 200 x 300mm. According to E3D, if you own a BigBox 3D printer, be sure to check out their forum, as file links will be shared with you there. E3D will also be offering upgrade kits for numerous FDM printers, beginning with the Prusa i3 and the ‘Prusa i3 Edition’ new E3D Printhead kit. E3D promises that new extrusion upgrades will be soon to follow as well.
E3D promises power, performance, and push with this new extruder—along with a 10% discount! If you are purchasing one soon online, be sure to type in the Extrude3D code. What do you think of the new Titan? Discuss in the E3D Titan 3D Printing Extruder forum over at 3DPB.com.
