Glad it helped!

No, shouldn't do that. It will transfer all the hear that makes difficult heater and filament melting

you have 7 of these?? do you run a 3d printing farm perhaps?

Nice! Please let me know how that BMG works out. I am very curious because it's been something I've been wanting to do, but I just purchased a new printer to review. Maybe the BMG was a better deal, lol. Thanks for watching.

Hey there! Im buying my X1 as well, whihc specific BMG extruder did you purchase.

Also have a Genius Pro and have had no failure of my tension arm. Replacing something thats not broken doesn't make sense to me but if it does theres many 3d model options available too btw. Based on all the shavings seen in the video I suspect people run wayy too high tension

I have been in your shoes when it came it came to getting a larger printer. I was terrified of the ribbon cables because I have seen them melt, not on the Sidewinder, but other mechanical devices. I tried the Creality CR-10 and really spent time with it. However, it just never gave me the results and simplicity of the Sidewinder. I felt like the solution was always to "upgrade" things on the CR-10 to get the results I wanted. The Sidewinder has just given me what I want right from the start. Even that lever arm that I replaced lasted me 6 months before it finally broke. The ribbon cables have never been an issue and I run it all the time and for very LONG periods... days on end. In my situation, the Sidewinder has been extremely reliable and hasn't required any major upgrades other than that lever, which lasted a lot longer than I expected. Thanks for watching.

If you are needing the actual filament guide, you can find that on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/113949960150 If you are needing the actual tube, that’s just a small piece of Teflon tubing, 4mm outer diameter. You can find that on Amazon.

That’s awesome to hear! I thought about doing that, but I wasn’t how sure how it would hold up over time because I’m pretty abusive on my machines. Perhaps I will print one just to test. Thanks for watching!

just make the hole bigger and put some tube, capricorn or teflon tube like the plastic one

I wouldn't replace the part until the part breaks or you notice issues with the print quality. One of the risk many people make with "upgrading" any printer is that it requires the new part to be installed correctly AND calibrated correctly. While in this part's case it's not too difficult, there isn't much point of wasting your time on a replacing a perfectly good working part with another part that has the same print quality. I would replace the stock nozzle with a .6 Swiss stainless first because you notice better print quality.

So if i buy an artillery x1 i gotta buy that metal part ?

@@chipachipa7601 It is still plastic. I bought mine a week ago and installed the Metall one after the first print and it prints even more consistent than before. You can find those Idlers for 5 bucks and free fast shipping on Banggood.

i just got an x1 how can i tell its set right?

When you feed the filament into the extruder when you change it, there should be a slight amount of tension on the filament. If you start to hear a slight bit of click as the printer begins printing, it means the tension spring is too tight. You will need to loosen it a bit. Of course if you start seeing small shards of plastic it means it's way too tight. Generally because the spring is pretty firm, you won't have too many issues with not enough tension. If you use TPU on a routine basis then you will be to tighten the the lever just a bit.

mark rossi insert your filament and spin the drive gear(black rotating thing next to the extruder) away from you until the inner gear has a grip on the filament. Loosen the lever by turning the knob. Hold the drive gear in place with your finger(so it won’t move) and when you try to pry the filament out it should come out easily since it’s loose. Next you want to tighten it bit by bit until you cannot easily pull the filament out while also holding the drive gear. This is when you know the gear has is tight enough and has the correct amount of grip. You could also manually pull and push the filament in and out to see if the gear slips. if so keep tightening until it dosent anymore.

@@gregorybowes4742 does the extruder need to be hot? i am doing it with it cold and evfen with the tension all the way as loose as it will go, i still cant remove the filament by pulling.

@@gregorybowes4742 There's a grip pattern on its lever, clearly intended for the user to push on it. It's not user error, it's a design flaw.

I have not had any issues with thermal runaway on this unit. It's supposed to have thermal runaway protection so it should be shutting down to avoid damages to the parts. Are you sure the thermistor is install correctly?

@@make_and_remake runaway is a common failure with these, because they have such a high wattage heater the mosfet on the mainboard wils closed meaning ruaway protection does nothing and the hotend will reach insane temperatures very quickly

BTW...just got an X1 today, and I'm pretty impressed having used the Flashforge Dreamer for a few years

Don’t get me wrong, the filament holder above the Sidewinder is awful. I only used it in this video because the cart it sits on a regular basis was too low for camera framing. I couldn’t get myself and the printer in frame at the same time. Trust me, as soon as I was done recording the video it went back in the cart with the filament holders mounted to the side. Good observation by the way!

@@make_and_remake Your logic of the flaw was totally justified, I have to say. I might try using an empty spool just as a roller to run filament up and over. On my Dreamer, I've been using a really low tech solution to feed filament from the side just using a wine box with a lightly greased PVA pipe holding the reel. A bit crappy, but works perfectly fine.

I know this is 10 months too late, I had this issue, I pressed the gear on the motor arm into the stepper motor while putting it back together, caused the stepper to get stuck. This would be more for anyone else reading

The one I bought from Amazon is out of stock. However, here is a link for an identical one that will work: www.amazon.com/POLISI3D-Aluminum-Extruder-Artillery-Sidewinder/dp/B086GWQK3B/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Silver+Titan+Aero+Extruder+Idler+Arm+for+All+Metal+Titan+Aero+Extruder+1.75mm+Prusa+i3+MK2&qid=1593289871&s=industrial&sr=1-1

Yes, the process will be identical. It should only take a few minutes.

@@make_and_remake welll it is not 😓

@@jensaukema732 what was different with the v4?? Is this not needed as an upgrade for the v4??

Yep that’s the the correct link. The lever handle works in many printers because it’s open source. This is the link I used to buy the one in the video.

@@make_and_remake Thank you so much!

The part fits perfect for the sidewinder. It works just as well for the genius. One issue many people encounter is the not putting the bolts back in the correct spots. As I show in the video, the four bolts to attach the plate are different sizes. If you don’t put the bolts in the correct spots it will cause the piece to be loose.

Sorry to hear that you are having some issues after replacing the part. When you remove the plate, make sure you have the bolts in the correct location when putting it back together. For some reason this unit does not have the same length of bolts for reattaching the plate. I assume it's because of different clearances. However, I do know that the bolt with just a little threading on the shaft goes through the plate and gear. That could be why the gear is having issues because it may have the wrong bolt in it's place.

I appreciate the quick reply Jason, my version has 3 identical long screws (fully threaded, no shoulder) and one short one, I think I found the solution though, there’s a hidden button head fastener within the assembly close to where the short screw goes fastening the plastic plate adjacent to the pancakes extruded motor, tightening this stops the wobble, my next issue is my build plate has a dip in the center.....

I spoke directly with the manufacture and they claim the problem has been fixed with a new part and design. They are sending me a new one to try so I will let you know.

In total there are 8 bolts that need to be removed to install the lever. The first four are used to mount the fan and heat sink to the plate. They are all the same size. Next, there are four black bolts that hold the plate to the assembly that warehouses the gear and lever. The bolts are not all the same size. The bolt with the threading only on the end, not the entire shaft, goes through the plate and through the gear at the front. The only other bolt/screw should be the black thumb screw that has a silver nut attached to it. If you look at 5:15 it will show the placement. The lever will have a spring attached to the back side that pushes against the spring.

@@make_and_remake Hi! I’m on an X1 V4...For the plate bolts I have three screws with threading on the ends and one shorter one with threading all the way down the shaft. If one of the ones with threading on just the end goes through the gear, where does the outlier go? Kept them all in order the first time I took it apart, but lost the order when I went back to fix a rattle.

You may not have the bolt tight enough now. There needs to be some pressure applied from the bolt to push the filament against the gear. Also make sure you have the unit preheated as you try to load the filament. The last thing you may to check is if the filament guide is the correct spot. It’s that long plastic piece. I circled it in the video.

@@make_and_remake I had discovered that when I reassembled everything initially that the bolt to tighten the idle arm was not placed back in correctly and it was sticking out. I got to the point where the gear was actually able to pull filament, but the gear would stop spinning and get stuck about 20 minutes into a print. I’ve tried tightening and loosening things many times now. If I try to tighten the idle arm I get a horrible grinding sound, If I loosen it, it doesn’t pull the filament at all. I have disassembled and reassembled things many times now, so much so that the two screws on the bottom part of the metal plate under the grill no longer tighten. I don’t know if this is causing additional issues or not. If I knew the size of the screws I could replace them, but I don’t know if it would actually solve anything.

Problem solved, here was the solution. ibb.co/Snwq8cj Also here is a higher resolution shot of the thumbnail that I posted in my reply. Just in case anyone is having the same issue. ibb.co/bbc904D

it should have seemed obvious without having to spell it out for you.

Yes. This is V3. They have updated things for V4. Thanks for watching.

Oh yes, this will in the Genius and many other printers. It's not propriety so it can fit a wide spectrum of printers.

Jason Siwek thank you dude! I ve order it this morning, in my genius for now stock working but i notice a lot of pressure on filament also loosing tension, stock made a lot of sign on pla (my goal is print tpu for fpv drones parts)

The original part lasted for several months. I doesn’t break over night but rather through continuous usage. In fact all the TPU testing I did in one video was all done with original part. However the part will break due to numerous variables.

Yes this issue has been resolved with the newest version of the Sidewinder.

@@make_and_remake i just got the v4, but this arm is still made from plastic. I will order the metal one.

@Señor Why Me yes but it is made better

@Señor Why Me i did to, but i sent it back. Just dont fix what is not broken

@Señor Why Me as u want i wish you good luck with replacing

Nope. The part busted because it was too weak for that amount of usage, not from too much pressure. If the part wasn’t an issue than the company wouldn’t had reached out to me test the part they now include on the machine. They literally reached out to me and shipped the new upgraded piece they now included. It’s a common issue that they have sought to correct. It was simple -the part was too fragile for the amount of usage it would get, not because of incorrect pressure.

@@make_and_remake If you were grinding your filament at all, you had too much pressure. I was going nuts watching you still use it without cleaning the old stuff from the teeth of the gear.

Who hurt you?