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Orbiter v2.0 showoff v10

  Orbiter v2.0 Summary

Orbiter v2 turning

One of the most expected project of 2021, the Orbiter v2.0

High-precision direct-drive extruder using custom made parts, manufactured by LDO Motors.

This is our finest direct-drive extruder system, in which we have integrated all that we have learned about extruders in the past years.

Thingiverse page of Orbiter v2.0link mounts and adapters to this project. Thank you!

Ldo Logo

  1. Features and Performance

The new Orbiter v2.0 shares its concept design with the Orbiter v1.0 and 1.5 but it has been completely redesigned from scratch, improving every possible aspect we could think of. We received many suggestions from you, our users. A big thank for that!

Many new and improved design features:

  • Shorter hardened drive gears 11mm vs 15mm

  • Weight reduced to ~135 grams

  • Smaller, more compact dimensions (11.6% shorter)

  • New motor design offers ~40% increase in extrusion force in real printing conditions and much improved acceleration performance

  • Flipped drive gears: filament path closer to the extruder center for a more balanced design and perfect fit on delta printers as well

  • Stainless steel filament exit guide with 0.2-0.3mm clearance to drive gears for best TPU printing experience and extreme wear resistance when using abrasive filaments.

  • High temperature resistant housings, GPA12

  • Machined PEEK secondary drive gear sleeve

  • Tension mechanism with grab screw design

  • Mounting screws in line with filament exit path improving housing stiffness and easier mounting

  • Perfectly aligned filament path

  • New smaller and more stylish PTFE tube input coupler

  • Motor position rotated by additional 10 degrees for easier maintenance and assembly

  • Extremely low backlash ~0.06mm

  • Filament sensor add on with auto load and unload button add on feature

  • And many more small changes to improve mechanical accuracy and design look

You can read more about the design changes here

  Shorter Drive gears

Custom-made drive gears manufactured by Bondtech. The length of the gears is reduced by 4mm. Gears are surface hardened for a long-lasting printing experience even when using highly abrasive filaments.

Orbiter 2 gears comparison
Dimensions

  Smaller more compact dimensions

We reduced the overall size everywhere we could. This makes Orbiter v2.0 the most compact design version.

  Filament path exit guide aligned with mounting screw

The filament path is in line with the mounting screws. The extrusion force does not create torsion forces over the housing, which leads to slight tilt movement of the extruder and especially the extruder mount.

Orbiter 2.7vs 1.5 comparision v4


Orbiter filament alignment

  Perfectly aligned filament path

Perfectly aligned filament path. Low friction between the filament and the filament guide components. Low friction means higher extrusion force and longer-lasting components.

 Stainless steel filament exit guide

Greatly improves the extruder's lifetime when used with abrasive filaments.

The gap between the filament guide and drive gears is about 0.2-0.3mm for a maximum TPU printing speed—the filament can only go into the hotend.

Warning: Remove filament guide before attempting to remove the main drive gear

Orbiter 2.2 LDO_FilamentGuide 7MM v1
filament exit
Filament hole position

  Flipped drive gears

With flipped drive gears, the filament path is closer to the extruder center for an improved weight balance and perfect fit for delta printers.

  Retaining tension screw design

Retaining screw based tensioner design.

Nylon bushing and spring are retained on the screw when the tensioner is removed.

Reduces the possibility of losing the nylon bushing and spring.

Wider thumb screw knob for better grip and easier tension adjustments.

CaptiveScrew
motor screws

  Rotated motor position

Motor position rotated by additional 10 degrees for easier maintenance and assembly.

  New motor design

Optimized the motor design to maximize its torque in the speed range the extruder needs.

The result is ~40% increase of the extrusion force in real printing conditions.

Retraction speed up to 120mm/s

Acceleration up to 8000mm/s2

Orbiter 2.7vs filament coupling

  New PTFE coupling

Changed the PTFE coupling to a more compact, longer-lasting, and more stylish design.

  Molded housing and latch

The extruder housing and the latch are made using molding technology for best quality. Using glass-filled nylon PA12 (30% glass-filled) material, the housing temperatures deflection rating is up to 180°C.

housing
20211204_125823

 Dupont Delrin planetary gearset

Dupont Delrin planetary gearset, very low noise and friction, proper lubrication will ensure very long lifetime.

Max. temperature: 120°C


  Machined PEEK sleeve

Secondary drive gear internal metal pin bearing changed to machined PEEK sleeve. Maintenance free no lubrication, no squeaky noise.

Sleve

  2. Gallery

  3. Firmware configuration

Expand here

  3.1 Basic configuration

  • Steps: 690 steps/mm @ 16 micro-stepping

  • Max. instantaneous speed change (jerk): 600mm/min(RRF), 10mm/s (Marlin) (recommended 300/5)

  • Pressure advance: 0.02~0.03s - to be calibrated

  • Retraction: 1~1.5mm - to be calibrated

  • Retraction speed: 120mm/s, reduce it to 30mm/s when printing TPU

  • Motor current: 1.2A Peak or 0.85A RMS (LDO-36STH20-1004AHG)

  • Max. acceleration: 8000 mm/s*

  • Normal motor operating temperature: 65-75°C

  • Drive motor with stealth chop disabled!

* The extruder itself, without filament, can handle accelerations up to 25000mm/s2. Adding weight of the filament it drags along is recommended to have acceleration limit set not above 8000mm/s2. To reduce clicking noise of the extruder (due to fast direction change), you may limit acceleration to 3000mm/s2

  3.2 RepRap firmware configuration (duet family)

M350 E16 I1                      ;micro stepping set to 16 with interpolation

M92 E690                          ;steps/mm - you may need to finetune it

M203 E7200                      ;max speed mm/min

M566 E300                        ;instantaneous speed change mm/min

M201 E3000                      ;acceleration mm/s2

M906 E1200 I10                ;motor current 1.2A idle current 10%

M572 D0 S0.02                 ;pressure advance – to be calibrated

M207 S1.5 F7200 Z0.2     ;firmware retraction

  3.3 Klipper firmware configuration

[extruder]

microsteps: 16

full_steps_per_rotation: 200

rotation_distance: 4.637

nozzle_diameter: x.xx                              #define nozzle diameter

filament_diameter: 1.750

max_extrude_only_distance: 500

max_extrude_only_velocity: 120

pressure_advance: 0.025                         #to be calibrated

pressure_advance_smooth_time: 0.03     #to be calibrated

[tmc2209 extruder]

interpolate: true

run_current: 0.85 #**

sense_resistor: 0.11 #**

stealthchop_threshold: 0

driver_TBL: 0

driver_HEND: 6

driver_HSTRT: 7

driver_TOFF: 4

**Very important note!!! Please make sure the sense resistor is set according to what you have on board. TMC2130, TMC2208 and TMS2209 usually have 0.11, TMC2660 have 0.051 and TMC5160 have usually 0.075

For example, if you set the sense resistor by mistake to 0.11 instead of 0.051Ω. the real current of the motor will be more than double, and the power injected in the motor is more than four times higher; yes, you read it correctly FOUR - AKA, 4 times higher. Setting stepper current 0.85A means  a power loss of about 3.5W, doubling the current will lead to >14W - this will melt all the plastic gearset before you even notice something is wrong!

How you can identify the sense resistor? It’s pretty easy, look for two identical resistors, which are bigger than all the others onboard or around the stepper driver. See the examples in the next few pictures. 

Resistor marking examples: R110 means 0.11, R075 means 0.075Ω, R051 means 0.051Ω;

Sometimes I also doubt myself if the setting I'm playing with really sets the current and not something else does. Here is what I do to make sure I’m doing it right:

Set the current to a very low level, 0.2-0.3A. When you command extrusion, you should see the extruder turn, but it skips steps very easily. This means you are tingling the right configuration, then set it to what it should be and check the motor temperature, which should not exceed 75°C at room ambient temperature. If yes, you might have misconfigured something (shunt / sense resistor) causing a higher motor current than you think you’ve set.

  3.4 Marlin firmware configuration

There are two ways to configure Marlin for the Orbiter extruder.

1) Send configuration commands via user interface and save them to EEPROM.

Send the following commands via USB:

M350 E16                        ;micro stepping set to 16*

M92 E690                        ;steps/mm - you may need to finetune it

M201 E3000                    ;acceleration mm/s2

M203 E120                      ;max speed mm/s

M205 E5                          ;E jerk mm/s

M906 T0 E850                 ;motor RMS current in mA*

M900 T0 K0.22 L0.02      ;linear advance values to be calibrated*

M207 S1.5 F7200 Z0.2    ;firmware retraction*

M500                                ;save settings to EEPROM

* Some firmware has features disabled or locked, thus returning an error response to the above commands. Just ignore the messages, the must-have settings are the motor current and the steps/mm. 

2) Edit and change Marlin configuration files: Configuration.h and Configuration_adv.h recompile and reflash your microcontroller firmware. 

  3.5 Motor current configuration using reference voltage

Adjust Vref by the trimmer resistor to voltage corresponding to 1.2A Peak. The current configuration via trimmer resistor configures the peak value of the current.

Be aware, drivers have different shunt configuration and you have to set different voltage, please check your driver documentation before.

Setting to high current will overheat the stepper and potentially damage the extruder!

Vref settings for most common drivers - please double check the shunt resistor value!:

 - Trinamic TMC2130, TMC2208, TMC2209, TMC2225, TMC2226 - Rshunt = 0.11Ω => Vref =1.2V 

         Vref = Imot*(Rsunt+20m)/0.13mV

 - TI DRV8825 -Rhunt = 0.1Ω => Vref = 0.6V

        Vref = Imot*Rshunt*5

- ON semi LV8729V - Rshunt = 0.3Ω => Vref = 1.8V

         Vref = Imot*Rshunt*5

- ST Micro ST820 - Rshunt = 0.15Ω, VDD = 5V => Vref = 0.18V

        Vref = 5*Imot*Rhunt/VDD 

 - Allegro A4988 - Rshunt = 0.1Ω => Vref = 0.96V

        Vref = 8*Imot*Rshunt


Legend:

  - Vref -> reference voltage measured on the trimmer resistor

  - Imot - desired peak motor current - for the Orbiter v2.0 recommended value is 1.2A

  - Rsunt - shunt resistor or sense resistor value defined in Ohms.

Warning: Please check if your driver has a trimmer or not. If yes, probably firmware configurations of the motor current have no effect. 

Some TMC drivers, even if they have onboard trimmer resistor, still have the motor current configured via UART or SPI. Like the TMC2208, TMC2209 or TMC2130 etc. When configured to stand-alone mode, the stepper current is configured by the trimmer resistor.

trimmer

  How Vref is measured and adjusted

To adjust Vref you will need a digital multimeter and a non conducting ceramic or plastic screwdriver (to prevent short circuits by mistake).  If you do not have a ceramic screwdriver (get one; they are very cheap!), use a standard one very carefully to avoid any unwanted short circuits.

Cheap-ceramic-screwdriver
fluke

First, measure the Vref voltage by placing the positive probe over the trimmer resistor and the negative to GND. You may take one of the GND pins of the driver or the GND (POWER - ) side of the main power supply.

If you use the main power supply GND connection,  make sure the heated-bed, hotend, and chamber heaters are off and stepper drivers are disabled. This ensures that there is no significant voltage drop over your board GND plane and your Vref measurement is accurate.

ceramicadjuster

Adjust Vref until you measure the desired voltage. Mind increase of voltage in not always clockwise direction.

  3.6 Motor wiring

Motor wiring for duet boards

Connecting the Orbiter v2.0 is easier that ever before, just use the included adapter cable.

Duet_Adapter_Cable

  3.7 Motor current vs extruder performance and temperature

I know there is lots of discussion about stepper motor current and temperature and what is the best combination. 

First, let me repeat that stepper motors are running hot by design. Is not uncommon to run stepper motors at temperatures over 100°C. Actually, designs in which the stepper motor does not run hot are the bad designs / heavily overengineered. And do not worry, nothing will happen to your stepper motor when it is running hot. You will not extend its lifetime by running it at lower current and cooler.

The stepper used in the Orbiter design is rated to 180°C. Of course, you should not run the steeper that hot. The limit of the Orbiter max temperature is given by the plastic DuPont Delrin gears with temperature deflection rating up to 120°C. The glass-filled GPA12 housing has even higher temperature rating. A second limit is given by the fact that the motor increases the temperature of the drive gears as well and this could soften the filament before entering the hotend, which, of course, we do not want. This is most critical when printing TPU and PLA (low glass temperature filaments).

Concluding all these limits, the Orbiter stepper temperature shall not exceed 75°C, using it at room temperature.

See the attached graphs defining the Orbiter v2.0 (for LDO36STH20-1004AHG) performance based on motor current.

orbiter accel 2

As it can be observed at 25°C we have the best performance with stepper current set to 0.85A RMS (1.2A peak). Increasing the ambient temperature will increase the motor temperature as well with the same delta amount. As example, if the room temperature is 25°C and the stepper is at 65°C, having the ambient temperature increased to 40°C will increase the stepper temperature by 40-25=15°C reaching about 80°C.

Some might say the Orbiter has plenty of extrusion force even at lower currents. That is right, the extrusion force is directly related to stepper current, but also acceleration. Reducing stepper current will reduce extrusion force and maximum acceleration of the extruder.

In case you print in an enclosed chamber, the stepper current needs to be reduced not to exceed 80-85°C stepper temperature. In this case, we can allow higher temperature since we are dealing with higher temperature filaments, softening them by the drive gears will happen at higher temperature.

You can read more about this here in the story of How Hot is too Hot.

  5. Assembly guide

Expand here

Your brand-new orbiter shall come fully assembled, however, if you need to debug or service some of its parts, this chapter will help you with the important steps.

  Step 1: Filament coupling brass ring

Press in the filament coupling ring into the housing, as shown in the left picture:

filament ring

The top side of the ring shall be aligned with the top side of the housing; there is no need to push it further in.

ringlevel

  Step 2: Attach the latch lever

Align latch pivoting hole with the housing and insert the steel saft L=16mm and d=3mm. Mind that one end of the shaft is knurled to lock it in its final place (knurling not shown in the picture). 

latch

  Step 3: Spider-shaft assembly

Insert the MF148ZZ bearing onto the spider shaft with the flange towards the planetary gears.

Insert the primary drive gear over the spider shaft with the M3 screw hole aligned to the D cut section of the spider shaft.

Insert the M3 L=3mm screw and tighten into position – please use thread-locker to secure the screw in place

Add the MR148ZZ bearing on top.

After full assembly, the main drive gear position needs to be adjusted for a perfect filament path. 

spidershaft

  Step 4: Insert spider-shaft assembly into the housing

Insert the spider-shaft assembly in the housing. Push it firmly in until the front bearing (MR148ZZ) aligns with the front of the extruder housing.

spiderand housing

  Step 5: Add the planetary gearset

Add the three MR85ZZ bearing to the spider shaft.

Press over the bearings the three T27 spur gears.

The components are press fitted together, press them gently in place with fingers, do not try to use hard tools, those could potentially damage the tiny ball bearings.

planets

  Step 6: Gear-housing & Stepper

Add a drop of grease inside the gear housing and insert it over the planetary gears carefully, making sure the gears are aligned correctly.

Attach the LDO motor on the back and ensure the stepper T10 spur gear is aligned properly between the planetary gears.

gearhousingandstepper

Open latch and secure the stepper into position using the two M3 L15 screws.

Do not fully tighten the two screws yet; leave them a little loose!

After full assembly, you need to double-check the correct alignment of the main drive gear to the filament exit guide!

stepperscrews

  Step 7: Secondary drive gear

Insert the PEEK sleeve bushing inside the secondary filament gear.

peeksleve

Align gear with the Latch and insert the secondary gear steel shaft – lock the end of the steel shaft with thread-locker.

secondaryandhousing

  Step 8: Insert the filament exit guide & align filament path

Using a flat screw driver, screw in the filament exit guide. For locking into place, add a small drop of thread-locker. Adjust the insertion depths until the distance between the filament guide tip and the primary drive gear is about 0.2-0.3mm.

In case the main drive gear tooth is not aligned with the filament exit guide, you may adjust its position by loosening the M3 fixing screw. Align the main gear and tighten back the M3 fixing screw. Be aware that the M3 fixing is mounted using thread-locker, you may need to heat it up a little using a soldering iron.

This is a very important step, make sure the primary gear doesn't touch the filament guide and can turn freely. Be aware in case of a collision, the exit guide can damage the main drive gear teeth!

It is normal to have the filament guide the bottom side 0.5-1mm deep into the housing.

filamentguideinsertion
filamentguideinsertion 2

Be aware! – the primary filament gear cannot be extracted once the filament guide is in place. Before removal, the filament guide shall be unscrewed to make space for the extraction.

  Step 9: Insert the latch tensioner

Insert the filament tensioner into place as shown in the picture. The adjustment knob and the retainer screw are joined together by M2.5 thread. If the adjustment knob gets lose, add thread-locker and tighten it back into place.



OrbiterTensionscrew new

  Step 10: Insert PTFE coupler components 

Insert the PTFE coupler components as shown in the picture.

Note: the components are loose before a PTFE tube is inserted and locked by the orange nylon ring.

PTFEcouple 2

  Step 11:  Test the extruder

Activate cold extrusion and set a lower current than nominal ~0.350mA RMS. Command extrusion while the two M3 screws are lose. Check that the gear-housing has no wobbly movement or noise during a full rotation. If yes, this means the planetary gears are not aligned properly, either the planet gears itself or the T10 spur gear of the stepper is not aligned in the middle. Do not force the gears insertions. Try to rotate them and gently push them in place. If everything is fine; you can tighten the two M3 screws.

Check if there are no mechanical collisions – the extruder shall not make abnormal noise during operation, should have smooth operation and constant low noise. 

Grinding noise can have 2 root causes:

Gear-housing wrongly aligned or bent inwards and rubs against the planet gears;

Filament guide collides with the filament pushing gears – adjust the depth of the filament exit guide.

If everything is fine, you may increase the motor current to its nominal value and proceed with steps/mm calibration. A good starting point is 690steps/mm. When calibrating the steps/mm use 30-40cm extrusion instead of 10cm, you will get more accurate calibration results.

During normal operation, the stepper shall run hot, about 65-75 °C, it’s a normal operating range. Typically, its about 70°C at room temperature of 25°C. If not, double check the motor current configuration, maybe the motor current is not the one you think you have set.

  Filament path alignment guide

  6. Downloads

  7. Prints Gallery

  8. Adapters & mounts

Expand here

Collection of mounts, adapters for Orbiter v2.0 extruder designed by our 3D community members. A big thanks to all of them, we all appreciate your work!

The list will grow as new adapters are designed, in case I missed some, please contact me via our Facebook support group.

To link your project, I have a few minimum requirements:

·       The solution shall be proven and verified.

·       Provide a nice rendered picture or a nice picture of the setup you are proud of.

·       Link to where the design is stored.

 BLV MGN Cube with EVA2

Great hotend assembly designed for BLV MGN Cube with the popular EVA2.

All credits goes to Tudor Sandu and Pawel Kucmus!

Files and more details you can find here:

orbiter2
blv cubg mgn trans-min (1)

 BLV MGN Cube with Metal kit

Great hotend assembly designed for BLV MGN Cube with metal kit.

All credits goes to Stefan Wollmuth!

Files and more details you can find here:

BLV MGN

 BLV MGN12 adapter

Adapter for connecting the Orbiter V2.0 extruder to a V6 / Mosquito / Dragon hotend in a BLV printer with an E3D V6 holder. Two versions available: with M10 / 0.9 and M10 / 1 metric ISO thread. 

All credits goes to Buszmen61!

buszmen

 EVA 2.4.0 - RatRig

Slightly adapted design of Pawel Kucmus EVA 2.4.0 to fit Orbiter v2.0. I only changed the top_orbiter_mgn file. 

In the meantime Pawel also updated his design EVA 2.4.2 with Orbiter v2.0 support:

Online 3D viewer:

 EVA 3.0 - RatRig

Awesome design by Pawel Kucmus EVA 3.0

Design is compatible with all RatRig designed 3D printers.

 Fast-Swap Rigid EVA mod for Orbiter v1.5 & v2.0

EVA designed with rigid mount for Orbiter v2.0

Compatible with Dragon and Rapido Hotends.

Each part is compatible with the standard EVA carriage system.

All credits goes to Liam Venter!

Files and more details you can find here:

Liam EVA2
Liam EVA

  Prusa MK3(S+) and Zaribo

Adapter designed for Prusa MK3(S+) and Zaribo printer series.

All credit goes to Murathan Araz / Zaribo!

Design files, assembly instructions you can find here:

zorbiter

  Prusa Bear Extruder Mount for Mosquito Hotend

Adapter designed for Prusa Bear printers. Orbiter V2.0 & Mosquito hotend.

All credit goes to zcubed!

featured_preview_PXL_20211230_170451441

 Hero me Gen6 for Creality printer family

A very popular and well-designed modular approach from Andrew Soderberg Hero Me Gen6. Designed for Creality printers family, CR10 xx, Ender 3, Ender 5, Ender 6.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3182917

HeroMeGen6

 HUVUD mount, EBB | SHT42 HUVUD 

img_5187
img_5231

  Mars Orbiter - Ender3/pro/v2/CR10

marsorbiter
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  Saturn Orbiter - Ender3/pro/v2/CR10

Compatible with Ender 3, Ender 3 pro, Ender 3 v2, CR10, Ender3Max, Printer mod MDD v1.3 for Ender3v2

All credit goes to squirrelf!

SaturnOrbiter_01

  Creality Ender 3 v2

A simple adapter for Creality Ender v2 printers for those who wish to keep their original hotend assembly. Two versions with and without BLT. 

Link to online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

Creality-Ender 3 V2

 CrOD - Creality Orbiting Dragon for CR10spro

An adapter design for Creality CR10s Pro printers.

All credits goes to ReXT3D!

CROD

  Creality CR10 and CR10s

A simple adapter for Creality CR10 and CR10s printers for those who wish to keep their original hotend assembly. Two versions with and without BLT. 

Link to online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

Orbiter on CR10 v2

 Creality CR 200b

Adapter designed for Creality CR 200B printers.

All credit goes to Jade L. Orcajada.

cr200 picture

 Mach Cube v2.0 print-head

Printhead design of my MachCube v2.0 core XY printer.

Link to online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

 Two Trees Core XY Sapphire Pro, Sapphire Plus and Woodpecker

Adapter designs for Two Trees Core XY printer families.

All credit goes to Andres Palomo!

saphire2

 Two Trees SP-3 and SP-5 Core XY

Adapter designs for Two Trees Core XY printer SP-3 and SP5.

All credits goes to Lorenzo Cascone

diamond
Diamond2

 Two Trees Sapphire pro Core XY

Adapter design for Two Trees Sapphire Pro Core XY printer.

Online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

 Geeetech

Adapter design for Geeetech 3D printer.

Online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

 FLSUN QQ-S

Adapter design for FLSUN QQ-S delta 3D printer.

Online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

 Anycubic Predator Delta printer

The EffectorMinator v2.0

Adapter design for Predator delta 3D printer.

All credit goes to Ton den Braber!

miniator 2

 Anycubic Kossel delta

Adapter design for Anycubic Kossel delta 3D printer and other variants with same effector.

Online 3D viewer with downloadable content:

The Gravitron, Anycubic i3 Mega Orbiter 2.0 adapter

Adapter design for Anycubic i3 Mega printer using the original X carriage system.


All credit goes to Rémy Nyarlathotep R'lyeh


anycubic-i3-mega-x_2965

 SeeMeCNC Rostock Max delta with Duet Smart Effector

Adapter designed for SeeMeCNC Rodtock Max delta printers equipped with Duet Effector.

All credit goes to Dave Liss.


seemecnc

Voron v0

Adapter design for Voron V0

All credit goes to KurioHonno!

Detailed instructions and review:

Orbiter V2.0 on a Voron 0.1

All credit goes to David Mason!

Voron Stealthburner

Adapter design for Voron Stealthburner

All credit goes to Aleksandar Pocuc!

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