E3D – a well-known British manufacturer of accessories for 3D printers working in FDM / FFF technology, has introduced a new double-extruder extruder called Hemera. It works in direct and Bowden mode, ensuring high reliability and precision in feeding the filament to the printhead of the 3D printer. It is ideally suited to 3D printing of flexible and rubber-like materials.
The extruder was first presented in September this year at the TCT Show in Birmingham. It had a different, though very similar name – Hermes, unfortunately, less than 24 hours before the official market premiere, E3D had to change it at an express pace, as a result of the “request” it received from another international corporation with the same name that feared conflicts of interest and infringement of its brand rights.
As many of you probably associate, Hermes is the Greek god of travelers, merchants and thieves – and above all a messenger of other gods. Hemera also belongs to the pantheon of Greek deities, being a goddess personifying day and daylight. Rebranding has gone quite smoothly, although in the context of this type of product, it is rather of secondary importance … However, this does not change the fact that the appropriation of the name of the ancient god by the corporation operating on the market for several decades deserves a separate article.
Let’s get back to the technicalities … E3D Hemera is equipped with a double pressing drive, which means that the filament is fed to the heating system by means of two gears. In traditional extruders, the rack is one and presses the thread of the filament onto a converging metal wheel or bearing. Two moving gears driven by a stepper motor increase the precision and force of filament pressing. The distance between the gears and the place of exit to the printing system has been maximally shortened, which minimizes the risk of the flexible filaments curling up – E3D claims that it is able to print them at a speed of 50 mm / sec. (twice lower speed is recommended as standard).
The dual-drive system provides a high increase in traction compared to single-drive systems. The manufacturer claims that it is able to extrude material with a strength of up to 10 kg. The second gear is located in a movable, idle, spring, which allows the user to adjust the tension of the filament. All gears are made of hardened stainless steel. The teeth have a round profile, which in addition to high adhesion, guarantees resistance to the penetration of filament residues into the drive mechanism, because they are self-cleaning – all particles and impurities fall from them.
The extruder costs €127,44 in the direct version and €99,12 in the Bowden version. They are dedicated to work with filaments with a diameter of 1.75 mm. They can be installed in the vast majority of popular, amateur 3D printers such as Anet A8, Creality Ender 3 and CR-10 (in all versions), or LulzBot TAZ and Mini. Soon there will be an upgrade for Prussia i3 Mk3. The list of instructions is on the manufacturer’s website.