Installing a Nimble

There are multiple reasons why you may want to install a Nimble. It could be weight, banishing bowden, better retraction, flexible filaments, simpler filament changing or simply because you think it's nifty. 

In Ed's case he wanted to reduce the weight of his print head or carriage as much as possible.  

Ed used the standard Basic Nimble Mount. Installation went fairly easy and mounting it all was mainly a matter of proper assembly. At the same time, he changed a lot of other parts of the carriage.

Ed's explaination:

"The Titan extruder is replaced by the Nimble.  The inductive sensor with a piezo sensor.  And the part cooling fan is being replaced with a Berd-Air cooling system." 

So what is the result?

The two carriages side by side, left the old and the new one is on the right, not that you needed to be told that. It is clear that there has been a great reduction in size. And the weight?

Old Carriage: 432g
New Carriage: 160g

As Ed puts it:

"That is a lot of weight saving." 

Indeed it is, almost a third of the weight. That is a lot of weight saving. He will be able to print faster and more accurately now with the added benefit of the carriage being reduced in size, his print volume has increased. 

Here is another view.

The size reduction is clear to see. It is mostly due to the removal of most of the fans and ducting while the main weight reduction has come from removing the stepper. Obviously, this is a much better and more effective carriage. You can actually see what you are printing now!

That is one of the benefits of using a Nimble. The effector or carriage can be re-designed and seriously reduced in size and weight, simply because the Nimble is so flexible in mounting. So now there is an additional reason to install a Nimble.