Jetpack Extruder - Has anyone run one?

[Dave32]

Of everything Voron-related, the Jetpack extruder seems to be one of the great mysteries.

It's listed prominently on the website, in the title of this forum section, the build guide documentation was released for it, etc... Yet a Google Image Search can't produce even a single photo of one actually being constructed, other than the "Choosing a Printer/Extruder" section of the Voron Design website. It is said to have influenced the development of the Afterburner, but with one being a belted extruder and the other a toolhead system that doesn't use a belted extruder... that only adds to the mystery.

Is there any additional information available on this extruder? Apparently it was mounted on the back of earlier 2.x designs.. on the X-axis (carriage or gantry?) somehow?
Did it have any notable pros or cons? Was it a good belted extruder prior to the community gravitating toward direct drive as the baseline?
It has been superseded by the Mobius M4, but reading between the lines, it really feels like they were designed for different purposes...

 

[vinnycordeiro]

Jetpack never was that popular, to be honest. I believe it was designed by Nero long ago, I remember he making comments about it on a live stream.

 

[niemand]

Jetpack was a modified Mobius, basically started as a "Why not strap a Mobius to the X-beam to shorten the bowden tube while keeping the toolhead light?" and got a bit of refinement from there. It was in Beta when Afterburner with the direct-feed extruder attached to it was designed, so more or less was superseded by that and never had much time in the spotlight (if any really).

 

[Dave32]

Thanks guys. Do either of you happen to have a photo of one installed? The assembly document stops short of the installation steps.

 

[niemand]

Thanks guys. Do either of you happen to have a photo of one installed? The assembly document stops short of the installation steps.

Found these in the discord -

https://imgur.com/a/qJWelZt

 

[Dave32]

Found these in the discord -

Oh, that's awesome! Thank you for finding and reposting those, really appreciate it!

 

[Dave32]

@niemand, do you happen to know what kind of wiring is on the gantry of the grey printer? It almost looks like it might be a sleeved ribbon cable?

 

[niemand]

@niemand, do you happen to know what kind of wiring is on the gantry of the grey printer? It almost looks like it might be a sleeved ribbon cable?

That would likely have been back on the tape-chain days. so probably network cable. The concept was that you take a length of tape measure and use it as a ever bending wire guide. Tesa tape on the edges, wire sitting up against the measuring tape, then sleeve over the whole thing. Worked reasonably well actually until the steel of the measuring tape start breaking. (and people who got low strand network cable and riser cable started having line failures)

Reference: https://hackaday.com/2017/12/17/diy-cable-chain-looks-great-stays-cheap/