Using an AirTripper extruder on the Makibox A6

 Because of frequent filament stalls on my Makibox A6 HT, I'm currently upgrading to a different hotend that (hopefully) can transfer more force onto the filament. That should allow it to overcome added resistance in the hotend due to heating and thus expanding filament. That in turn would make the printer more reliable.

The extruder I set my eyes on the is the Airtripper V3 BSP. 

 

Problem 1

The stock drive gear is 9.5mm away from where the filament would be with the Aitripper V3.

Solution: Get an MK7 Drive Gear Pulley (for 1.75mm filament).
It came out the best for this purpose in a nice test.
Don't install the MK7 just yet! Read to the end first!

Problem 2 

The BSP Air Tripper has a thinner bowden tube.

Solution: Cut an M4 thread into the end of the tube, place an M4 nut on it.
Now it will be compatible with the Makibox hot-end.

 

Problem 3


The shaft is too short to hold the MK7 drive gear in reverse.
Also the hole in the MK7 is tappered, so you cannot even insert the shaft into the other end and need excessive force to push it on the right way.

Obviously spacers of 4.5mm for the stepper motor are needed.
You need to print this space before installing the MK7 because you can't get it off anymore.
You need an allen key of 1.4mm diameter for the grub screw.
Also the long screws need to be 11mm longer (6mm for the acrylic, 5mm for the spacers).
Thus M3x41mm or M3 threaded rod is needed.

Solution: M3 threaded rod, 4x2 M3 nuts as spacer, 4x M3 nut for mounting

Problem 4

Let's mount everything up!
The Makibox has only 3 mounting holes.
The Airtripper only needs 3 bolts.
...different 3 bolts then the ones we have holes for.

Solution: an M4 nut can mount your extruder on top of the Makibox through one of the air cooling slits.

Problem 5

So let's do a dry-run first!
You can't push the filament through.
The exit-hole and the center of the BSP connector are not aligned and the filament hits the wal of it's hole with no way of manual intervention. Force can't overcome this issue.

The photo shows the abolute maximum how far you can insert the filament.
Solution: none yet. You may get it to push through with excessive force and trying serveral dozen times.

Note 6

The new drive gear is larger.  You need to multiply a factor of 0.57 to the amount of filament to transport in your slicer settings.

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