Herringbone gears make a difference...

Quick Update: Herringbone gears are 'the business'!  I fitted my newly printed herringbone gear set ( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10707) to my existing extruder and I saw an immediate improvement in print quality on a repeat print of the Dual Spiral Lightbulb. It was worth the effort. The basic difference the new gear set made was much improved control of retract/restart, which are frequent on this type of print. There was a quicker restart of flow as the print head moved position and less stringing for the very same gcode file!

The gears were easy to replace. I had no adjustment to make. I didn't even remove the extruder motor. I removed the hobbed bolt and fitted it to the new large gear and transferred the locknut to the small one, assembled and away it went. The new gears printed so cleanly I had no clean-up to do at all. I gave them a little bit of PTFE spary and they meshed perfectly, smooth and quiet.

The 'reprint' test, shown in the short video clip is the exact same gcode file that was used to print the piece shown in the previous post. By running the same gcode it allowed me to do a direct comparison of the difference the new herringbone gears made. This version has a fuller body to the tenderals and less stringing. I'm very pleased with the result of the change. I can now fine-tune my retract settings with more confidence!

Thanks for viewing!

NumberSix