The Nimble extruder comes without the weight penalty you usually get with direct drive printing.
The stepper is mounted away from the extruder, power is transmitted using a drive cable and gear set. An extra benefit of this gear set is higher resolution and more accurate extrusion.
Another benefit of direct drive is the ability to print with flexible filaments. The Nimble really shines here. Even the almost impossible to print X60 can be used.
The Nimble improves on this by making it easier to use and the much increased flexibility in mounting makes it deserve the nickname, the Flex.
The Nimble V3 has become even more flexible. Not only is it still small, you no longer need to choose between a Sidewinder version or a Nimble version. This flexible fiend does it all. One housing allows you to position the drive cable exactly where you want it. Horizontal, vertical, or anything in between. (in 22.5 degree steps)
The Nimble V3 is installable left handed and right handed (yes, it is still ambidextrous).
Our use of printable interchangeable adapters gives you unprecedented mounting flexibility. There are many adapters available. Contact us if you can't find one. We will help you.
Improvements:
Designing for a modular approach, or design for different versions of a product for a whole range of 3D printers. We chose to use the modular approach as it is logical and allows our customers the most amount of freedom.
So here is the design story of how we decided the way to design the Nimble and the reasoning behind these decisions.
Looking back over the last year, overall, we are quite proud of what we achieved. There have been a few hiccups but we think we've managed them relatively well. We still are surprised when we hear some customers have been reluctant to ask for support.