Black-Box V2.0 All Metal Direct Drive Feeding Extruder Kit Upgrade, Dual Gear Extruder and Extrusion Specific Motor for Ender 3/Ender 3 V2/Ender 3 neo/Ender 5/CR 10 3D Printers from ChowThink

The media could not be loaded. I purchased the BlackBox extruder as an upgrade for one of my Ender 5 Plus printers, which still had the original MK8 extruder. Initially, I was attracted to the BlackBox's appearance in the product pictures and decided to give it a try, despite my reservations about free product reviewers. In this review, I will provide an honest and expert assessment, including detailed pros and cons, as well as some pictures and videos showcasing my testing and adaptation of the BlackBox.I tested the extruder in both Bowden and Direct Drive setups, requiring me to modify a mounting carriage I had previously used for different extruder types.Pros:1. The BlackBox is impressively designed and constructed, suitable for both Direct Drive and Bowden setups.2. It incorporates a filament sensor, which is a valuable feature.3. The aluminum guide for the filament, leading from the feed entry point up to the dual gears, is a thoughtful addition.4. The extruder is lightweight due to the use of a small non-standard stepper motor.Cons:1. The extruder has a limitation when it comes to printing speeds. It struggles to handle speeds over 80mm/s in both Bowden and Direct Drive setups. Even with maximum tension applied, it starts skipping. As a result, I uninstalled it and tested a Creality Sprite kit, which, for an additional $10 in price, provided the performance I was seeking.2. The choice to use a non-threaded PTFE connector was not ideal.3. After approximately 20 minutes of printing, the motor began rattling (refer to the video) to the point where it became noisier than the power supply fan.4. The provided motor cable is a non-standard stepper motor cable and is too short for direct drive use. Another reason to switch the motor to a pancake style ;)I have given the BlackBox a 4-star rating primarily due to the speed limitation and skipping issues. I tested the extruder with both PLA and TPU and while TPU performed slightly better than PLA, it still experienced occasional skipping. At low speeds, the extruder performs very well.I would recommend that the manufacturer consider the following improvements:1. Explore the use of a PC4-M10 PTFE connector.2. Utilize a standard NEMA 17 pancake stepper motor with replaceable driving gears. This would allow for the design of 3D-printed mounts. Currently, only 2.5mm metal mounts are compatible due to the driving gear specifications.If the manufacturer addresses these issues, I would be willing to try the upgraded BlackBox extruder.

The media could not be loaded. For the price you're getting a pancake style stepper motor, the black box itself, multiple brackets to convert to direct drive, extra hardware (standoff, screws), and tools!I paired this with a bi-metal heatbreak. You can use it in the factory location with a bit of work, but the direct drive conversion compliments the heatbreak for those abs prints. It's built solid, weighs less than the factory motor extruder combo, and looks cool!I have this on my ender 3 v2, running mriscoc custom firmware. I set the e steps to 687, and the max extruder speed to 300.This is not a paid review, I seen the others and kept getting the feeling they were paid to make the reviews so great. But after installing and printing, I found it to be worth every penny.

I bought this to replace a failing extruder on my Anycubic Vyper, which ships with a Bondtech BMG clone. The Black-Box is a vast improvement. To say that it's powerful is an understatement.A lot of thought clearly went into its construction. There is an aluminum guide tube for the filament that brings it directly to the dual gears, allowing for easy loading. A cavity in the tube allows for an integrated filament runout sensor, eliminating an unnecessary middle man in the filament path.My one gripe with this design is that Chowthink elected to use a nonstandard PTFE tube fitting for the outlet, which is secured via set screw rather than threading. I've had this connection come apart twice, leading to an entire print's worth of filament spiraling out of the extruder.Other than that, it performs admirably. It's light and compact enough that it would also work well in a direct drive setup. It's a more than viable alternative to the extruders shipping with the more popular budget printers.

I have quite a few 3D printers and they have a wide variety of extruders. I have upgraded most of them with all-metal, dual gear extruders from various brands including Bondtech BMG, a Tough Extruder and now the Black-Box All Metal Dual Gear 3D Printer Extruder. I mounted it on one of my Ender 3 V2 printers and it works exceptionally well.It comes with a 5:1 ratio and comes with hardened steel BMG extrusion gears. It comes with a manual knob which is nice as most all-metal, dual gear extruders do not have one and you must control it through the software.You can adjust the pressure to handle diverse types of filaments, such as PLA or ABS. One of my favorite aspects is that it has the filament run out detection incorporated into the extruder. The extruder comes with a 10 teeth 36 type lightweight motor and is a drop-in replacement for the Ender 3 series.I can highly recommend the Black-Box All Metal Dual Gear 3D Printer Extruder!

Not bad for the price. The instructions mentioned nothing about the filament run out sensor. Also the cable that came for the run out sensor is short by three whole inches. I extended it with some wire, heat shrink and JST connectors.I'm running this on a Ender 3 V2 with the 400x400 extender mod. BTT SKR Mini E3 3.0 board with Klipper. Be advised, if you're planning to use this or any direct drive on the ender extender mod get dual Z axis.