Bowden Vs. Wades Extruder

[JohnA136]

A Wades type extruder is a "direct" extruder where the extruder motor is mounted right above the hot end/extruder. The advantage is there is little distance between the drive gear and extruder. This means quick response for retraction.

A Bowden Extruder typically has the drive stepper motor and gear mounted on the frame with a tube going from the drive mechanism to the hoe end. The biggest advantage is that the actual hot end is much lighter and that means less mass to move so typically you can print faster. The biggest drawback is that there can be a lag in extrusion retract and recovery.

I have a bowden type on our new Kossel Delta Printers. We are still playing with them but so far it looks like they work fine. I only finished my Kossel a couple of weeks ago.

IMG_3092.jpg IMG_3090.jpg