Yearly Archives - 2016

Extruder mechanism upgraded: Bondtech Dual Drive

Since early July, we have a had a very successful working relationship with Bondtech, the Swedish company producing Dual Drive extruders. The Bondtech extruders without question have brought a step change in reliability of extrusion. Main characteristic of course is the driving mechanism used: Twin counter rotating hobbed wheels. (more…)
Wanhao D6 Bondtech kit

We are distributors of Bondtech products to the UK and IRE

The big news of the week is that we are now the UK and Ireland exclusive distributors to all the Bondtech products. Bondtech extruders have understandably revolutionised the reliability and speed of printing using filaments. The team have a series of mounts to allow adapting the parts to any prosumer quality printer that are freely available from us or from Bondtech directly. (more…)
CAD mock up of R8 Spindle and QTC tooling

Drawbar tension for R8 and MT3 collets to work safely with QTC tooling?

We have been asked on a number of occasions, and seen in a number of forums, the question of "How much tension should I put on my drawbar when I use  Emvio (or Tormach) repeatable Z tooling?" This question is a very common for those looking to make a pneumatically actuated drawbar using Belville washers. So what do you need to know about Drawbar Tension? (more…)
Emvio Engineering Nema 17 stepper motor damper installed

Damping the sound of stepper motors on 3D printers

Most of us that tinker with 3D printing have wondered how to reduce the groan and squeal of the stepper motors driving us nuts. Especially when long prints are involved! For a while now we have been using and selling our own vibration dampers that place a rubber buffer between the stepper and the printers frame. The rubber is thin and stiff enough to maintain accuracy of the stepper motor while reducing the vibrations being transmitted to the body of the printer. (more…)
BCN3D Sigma 3D Printer

Exciting times, European 3D printer that kicks ass!

After looking around for a the hottest 3D printer to try, we have finally settled on a brand that will give the top players a run for their money.  So we would like to tease you all with the new kid on the block: BCN3D's Sigma   Pretty sleek. Serious engineering going on and a CE mark to boot. Where can you start?
  • Enclosed design with 210x297x210mm build volume
  • Dual heads independent that park when not in use
  • Profile linear rail, not round bar, on the axes!!!!!!!!!
  • TOUCH SCREEN!!!
Now to blow even the most sceptical away, check out the calibration procedure: Interested? Keep watching this space

3D printing obsolete machine parts

Being thrifty in the time of turmiol and economic difficulty is imperative to survive as a company. This has been the case with Oyzo manufacturers Giokarinis of Samos. Every summer we return to Samos for around two weeks to return to our roots and the directors of the company are close personal friends. It was over a glass of ouzo that we started discussing that their factory would have to reduce production in as they were having issues with sourcing spare parts. Bearing in mind that the machines are mature and well used, the original manufacturer had sold up and there are capital controls in place, it was almost impossible to source and import parts. We took on the challenge to design and manufacture some of the more critical wear parts: the bottle neck grippers (more…)