Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2014 09:05PM by Mutley3D.

Introducing– Thesolution for 3D Printers.Hello, My name is Jason Perkes CEO of Mutley3D. I am a Product Design Engineer and Innovator, proficient in mechatronic systems and CAD with a strong and long standing interest in 3d printing in particular Reprap 3D Printers over the last 2 years.I have just completed development of Flex3DriveFlex3Driveis a complete end to end, flexible driveshaft based extruder system offering several key advantages over other systems, including a lighter X carriage, faster print and travel speeds, reduced retraction distances, increased retract speeds to name but a few. The extruder motor is mounted remotely from the extruder itself and attached to the frame or X ends of a printer allowing the extruder to move faster with less vibrations. Flex3DriveTM is also fully compatible with Delta type machines.Other features include compatibility with all groove-mount hot ends (JHead, E3D, Arcol, Hexagon etc...) and filament types ( Nylon, Ninjafllex, Taulman, Laywoo, Laybrick, PLA, ABS and more) in 1.75 or 3mm form without modification or change.Flex3DriveTM is lightweight with a low height profile for increased Z axis clearance. Distance between hobbed pulley and hot end is less than 10mm helping to reduce ringing and other print artifacts.Print speeds in excess of 400mms are achievable whilst producing great quality prints at these speeds.A 40:1 gear reduction results in higher resolution of filament control per mm extruded. Higher accelerations are achieved and stepper motor loading is reduced. Gear tooling is owned in house, operated by a reliable moulding company. Overall driveshaft length is close to 900mm and encased within a PTFE support structure combining PTFE tubing, spring links. Wiring for the hot end and thermistor sensor, fan power etc, are attached and encased within a black conduit so it can be used for all sizes of machine.Flex3DriveTM has gone through extensive development and in house testing and has entered a Beta testing phase whilst now being made available to pre-order for early bird customers at a discounted price. 40 units are being made available under this offer.To give peace of mind, Flex3Drive also comes with a full 12 month warranty on the driveshaft and gear train components. If they fail they will be replaced.The future for Flex3Driveis to continue development and produce dual and triple filament versions, whilst providing support for customers ranging from open source CAD files, exploded assembly diagrams through to benchmark settings for printers and slicing softwares. Flex3Drivewill be made fully open source following the early bird offer and printable part CAD stl files will be made available on the website mutley3d.com shortly.You can see more by going to the links [ www.youtube.com ] [ www.youtube.com ] [ www.youtube.com ] [ www.youtube.com ] to see videos of Flex3Drivein action, as well as the images in this gallery [ imgur.com ].10 Beta units have been sold and are shipping now. I am offering the next 40 units for sale at £95 each + shipping costs (UK-£10, EU-£15, RoW-£20 . Just add motor and hot end.The Flex3Driveearly birds will receive a fully assembled item. Shipping times will range from 3-8 weeks (or less) depending on when you place your order. A couple of surplus early early bird development units are also available on shorter lead time (1 week dispatch).The supply chain is on standby and ready to facilitate product release into the market space. A majority of the items are already in stock. Revenues from early bird sales will be committed straight back into ongoing development to move towards mixed filament and multi colour capabilities through a single hot end within a few months. The groundwork for this has also been completed. Currently all development has been funded in house by myself and the early bird offer will allow its progression by way of direct unit sales so there is no associated risk. Additional early bird funded work will also fund CAD work to complete stl's for additional X cars X ends and Delta End Effectors.Please contact me with any questions, leave a post below or email me >> mutleys.crew@gmail.com I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the open source 3d community for all their support and encouragement, and in particular the first 10 beta testers that enabled the final stretch of development to be completed by making their very trusting and committed early early bird purchases which are shipping 18/05/14. Thank you for your time in reading this and....happy FlexingMutley