New Zephyr extruder achieves extreme flow rates | VoxelMatters - The heart of additive manufacturing

Oct 24, 2024

Canadian company Dyze Design, a specialist in ultra-fast extruders and hotends since 2015, has launched its latest product, the Zephyr High Flow Extruder. While Dyze Design is perhaps best known for its pellet extruders for large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM), the new Zephyr extruder is made for rapid extrusion of 1.75 mm filament. Its high-temperature capabilities make it compatible with high-performance materials like PEEK.

The most attention-grabbing aspect of the new Zephyr extruder is its extreme flow rate of 685 grams per hour or 154 mm³/s (achieved using PLA at an extrusion temperature of 260 °C with an ultra-wide 1.80 mm nozzle). While such rates are more likely to be reached on industrial 3D printers—Dyze extruders have been used by high-temperature AM specialists from Roboze to fellow Montreal company AON3D—Dyze Design regards the Zephyr as a solution that bridges desktop additive manufacturing with large-scale industrial applications.

Dyze Design’s product catalog includes filament extruders like the Zephyr, pellet extruders like the Pulsar Atom and other equipment for high-speed FFF printing such as hotends, nozzles and filament sensors that can detect runout and jams. The company says that almost a decade’s worth of research and development has gone into the Zephyr, making it the culmination of the company’s technological innovations to date.

The Zephyr weighs under 700 grams, measures 47 x 108 x 155 mm and can be integrated into desktop printers or industrial AM systems. Packing dual independent 70W heaters and PT100 temperature sensors and leveraging Dyze Design’s unique MeltCore technology, the Zephyr extruder can reach up to 500 °C, hot enough for engineering and high-performance materials like PEEK and PEI. The company offers MeltCore nozzle assemblies in diameters ranging from a standard 0.4 mm to 1.8 mm for maximum throughput. Other features of the Zephyr include hardened alloy steel gears for consistency and durability and a gear ratio of 3.1:1 to balance speed and torque. A double grip mechanism, supported by two idlers on a cam-locked slider, minimizes slippage and ensures efficient filament feeding. Nine tension settings serve to accommodate a wide range of filaments, including standard thermoplastics, flexible materials like TPU and oversized filaments.

“The Zephyr extruder is engineered for high-speed 3D printing without compromising on quality and performance,” says Simon Duchaine, Chief Commercial Officer at Dyze Design. “This extruder is ideal for rapid prototyping and small series production and addresses the modern industrial demand for both speed and precision.”

Few extruders can compete with the extreme flow rate offered by the Zephyr, though one that does is Dyze Design’s own solution for 2.85 mm filament, the Typhoon. Unlike the Zephyr, the Typhoon extruder is made exclusively for large-format industrial 3D printers. That model has a stated flow rate of up to 200 mm³/s, though its maximum rate for PLA at 210 °C through a 1.80 mm nozzle is 115 mm³/s.

Dyze Design’s pellet extruders offer even higher flow rates than the Zephyr and Typhoon, but lack the high resolution of these models. Other extruders built by Dyze Design include the DyzeXtruder GT and DyzeXtruder Pro, high-temperature extruders for desktop 3D printers with a more accessible price point than the premium high-flow solutions.

Although the Zephyr is arguably of more use to industrial users than desktop users, it compares favorably to other high-throughput solutions for desktop 3D printers such as the E3D Super Volcano hotend. Mounted to a Titan Aero extruder, the Super Volcano has a stated maximum flow rate of 110 mm³/s using a 1.40 mm nozzle, slightly less than the maximum rate of the Zephyr.

The Zephyr High Flow Extruder is available for pre-orders starting at CA$1,750 ($1,285), with order fulfillment set to begin in July 2024.