I’ve been looking to switch the bowden extruder for a direct drive type on my Anycubic Kobra Max. I’ve always hated the blobbing and stringing due to the bowden mechanism. After having received an LDO Orbiter v2.0 today and a bit of tinkering, I now have what I was after :).
The easiest way to install the new extruder was to simply attach it on top of the existing hotend via a small bowden tube and a coupler. I had to design a little adapter flange that attaches to the extruder and accepts a tube coupler. The extruder now dangles in the air. For now this didn’t seem to cause any trouble. In the future I might install it using a fixed bracket though.
While I was at it, I also added some additional insulation to the bed (300x300mm in size, so I had to cut a bit). I’m not sure if it really helps a lot but the bed now heats up from 20° to 60° in 3:40 instead of in 4:00. The printer also seems to consume 100mA less (very inaccurate mental averaging of power meter).
Bonus:
First functional part printed with new setup, rectifying some of the original parts issues.
Up next: Get a second Orbiter and have it feed a mixing hotend. My goal is to make nice Lampshades.
Nice move! I think you have it correctly mounted though, I wouldn’t put it on a bracket. I used a conversion bracket for direct drive on my Max and I kept getting pulsing issues.
I think they were due to the filament pushing down the hotend slightly when starting to extrude because the hotend is mounted on the compliant strain gauge mount. With your method, it stays isolated and doesn’t push down more on the strain gauge mount when the extrusion starts.
Please give me an update if you can if you run into any other problems!