Sherpa Mini extruder: weight, gear ratio, motor and build

The Sherpa Mini is Annex Engineering’s compact printed extruder: four parts you print in ASA, Bondtech dual drive gears and a 36 mm NEMA 14 pancake motor whose pinion turns a 50-tooth gear at 50:8 (6.25:1) or 50:10 (5:1). Annex publishes the files, bill of materials (BOM) and build guide free on GitHub for personal, non-commercial use. In the US on November 4, 2026, Bondtech’s gear and hardware set cost $34.99 at Filastruder and an LDO motor $16.14 at Fabreeko.

What is the Sherpa Mini extruder?

The Sherpa Mini is a dual-gear filament extruder designed by Anlin and the Annex Engineering team for direct drive or Bowden use. Its body is four printed parts. Bondtech drive gears grip the filament from both sides, and a pinion on a 36 mm NEMA 14 pancake motor drives them through a 50-tooth gear.

Annex describes it as “a smaller version of the sherpa extruder”. Its siblings are the more compact Sherpa Micro and the NEMA 17 Sherpa Heavy, both covered below. The current files are Release 2, which added support for Bondtech’s RIDGA v2 (the main shaft, main gear and drive gear in one assembly) and a stiffer idler arm.

The GitHub repository holds the STLs, the CAD (STEP and Parasolid), eDrawings files and the build PDF. The design is source-available under a non-commercial license: you may print and modify it for personal use, and selling the design or parts of it needs Annex’s written permission. How two driven gears differ from a single drive gear is covered in dual gear extruders, and other extruders are compared in extruder upgrades.

What is the Sherpa Mini gear ratio?

The Sherpa Mini’s gear ratio is 50:8 (6.25:1) with an 8-tooth motor pinion or 50:10 (5:1) with a 10-tooth one, the two ratios Annex publishes. The 50-tooth gear comes in Bondtech’s Sherpa gear set, so the pinion on your motor sets the ratio. Sorted by reduction:

Annex’s sourcing guide lists a 6-tooth motor from one vendor, but Bondtech says its RIDGA v2 gives ideal engagement with an 8- or 10-tooth motor gear. Annex’s own Klipper block is written for the 8-tooth motor, so count your pinion’s teeth before you configure. Rotation distance, steps per mm and motor current are on Sherpa Mini Klipper config.

How much does the Sherpa Mini weigh?

Annex Engineering publishes no weight for the Sherpa Mini. The motor is the heaviest part: West3D lists LDO’s 36 mm pancake stepper at 70 g. Measured from Annex’s STL files, the four printed parts total 11.1 cm³, under 12 g of ASA even printed solid. FYSETC lists its nylon-bodied Sherpa Mini at about 136 g.

The published and derived figures, sorted by weight:

The solid figure assumes 100% infill at Prusament ASA’s 1.07 g/cm³. Annex’s print settings call for at least 40% infill and four walls, so real printed parts weigh less. For a side-by-side with the LDO Orbiter, see Sherpa Mini vs Orbiter.

Does the Sherpa Mini use a NEMA 14 or NEMA 17 motor?

NEMA 14. The Sherpa Mini takes a 36 mm round NEMA 14 pancake stepper with a pinion gear on its shaft; Annex’s BOM lists the LDO-36STH17-1004AHG or its 6-tooth version. Annex offers no NEMA 17 version of the Mini: its NEMA 17 extruder is the Sherpa Heavy, built on a modified Mini housing.

Annex requires a “Pinion Equipped Pancake Stepper”. The sourcing guide links 8-tooth motors at Fabreeko, 10-tooth at Printed Solid and Bondtech and 6-tooth at northprint3d, including LDO’s 20 mm-body LDO-36STH20 versions. Annex warns that motors from other brands or vendors may be “a lower quality clone, which may have inferior temperature class windings or a weaker toothed gear.” The motor’s run current is on Sherpa Mini Klipper config.

If you want a NEMA 17, Annex’s Sherpa Heavy pairs a modified Sherpa Mini housing with a 7-tooth NEMA 17 that Annex co-developed with LDO (LDO-42STH20-1004ASHG7T in its BOM). Annex gives it a pushing force above 160 N, a weight of 160 g and a footprint “only slightly longer than a Sherpa Mini”. West3D sold that motor for $27.00 on November 4, 2026.

Annex says the Mini “provides more than sufficient performance” for most users, and its user-mods repository lists no NEMA 17 conversion of the Mini itself.

What is the difference between the Sherpa Mini and Sherpa Micro?

The Sherpa Micro is Annex Engineering’s more compact Sherpa Mini. Both use the same Bondtech gear set, 36 mm NEMA 14 motor, 50:8 or 50:10 gearing and Klipper settings. The Micro’s printed housing is reshaped, with about 16% less plastic by STL volume and fewer screws, and it has its own mounting pattern.

Choosing Sherpa Mini or Micro comes down to the mount: print the one your toolhead names. Churls’ Stiffy toolhead for the Creality Ender 3 takes either. The Mini Stealthburner cowlings in JackJack3231’s repository come in separate Mini and Micro versions, both marked tested.

Where are the Sherpa Mini BOM and build guide?

Both are linked from Annex’s Sherpa Mini repository. The build guide is a 20-page PDF. The BOM is Annex’s Google Sheets sourcing guide: open Extruders, then the “Sherpa Mini - R2” tab. Annex keeps it locked and live, so check it for hardware changes before you order.

The direct-drive BOM, as the sheet lists it:

The PDF also shows M3 × 12 mm button-head screws at the motor, which the sheet does not list. Bondtech’s OEM Set for Sherpa Mini (EXT-KIT-100) covers every non-printed part except the motor, the PTFE tube and the optional shim: RIDGA v2 and secondary drive gear, two 3 × 20 mm shafts, four needle bearings, two MR85 bearings, the thumbscrew, seven heat-set inserts and nine screws, two of them M3 × 12. Bondtech lists it for the Mini, Micro and Heavy.

Annex’s print settings:

• Material: ASA (Annex names Fillamentum, Prusament, Polymaker and 3DXTech) or PC
• Nozzle and layers: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.1 or 0.2 mm layers
• Infill: at least 40%, with five solid top and bottom layers
• Walls: four in the settings file, three in the PDF
• Orientation: as supplied (the STLs are already in print orientation)

The steps where builds go wrong, in the guide’s order:

1. Fit inserts and bearings. Melt in the heat-set inserts and press an MR85 bearing into the rear housing.
2. Check the shaft. Keep the shaft’s end within 2.6 mm of the 50-tooth gear’s face; Annex warns that a longer end can damage the motor.
3. Center the drive gear. With BMG internals, run a piece of filament through, line the drive gear up on it and tighten the M3 set screw with threadlocker. The RIDGA v2 has its drive gear fixed to the shaft.
4. Grease the idler. Put a little lithium grease on the needle bearings and keep it off the plastic; never use silicone or PTFE-based lubricant. Then snap the idler gear into the arm.
5. Mesh the motor. With the motor screws loose, press the motor so its pinion engages the big gear firmly, then tighten the upper screw.

Annex recommends inspecting the bearings and housing for wear after every 20 kg of filament.

Where can you buy a Sherpa Mini kit or clone?

Annex’s files assume you print the four parts and buy the rest; Bondtech’s set and an LDO motor came to $51.13 on November 4, 2026. Complete units exist too. Sorted by price:

Clones come from other sellers, who credit the design to Annex. FYSETC sells a Sherpa Mini with an SLS (selective laser sintered) nylon body at 5:1 with a 10-tooth motor or 6.25:1 with an 8-tooth one. Trianglelab sells one with an SLS PA12 body, without a motor or with a Moons’ or LDO motor.

Under Annex’s non-commercial license, selling the design or parts of it needs Annex’s written permission, and Annex prefers printed-part kits to come through an Annex representative. For the gears, Annex’s FAQ advises Bondtech’s OEM parts over AliExpress clones “due to their superior quality, compatibility, and reliable customer support.”

Can you put a Sherpa Mini on a Voron Stealthburner?

Only with a remixed toolhead: Voron draws the Stealthburner around its own Clockwork 2 extruder. The published options are Mini Stealthburner remixes:

• MiniSB Extruder Mounts by JackJack3231: new cowlings and strain reliefs for the Mini Stealthburner, with the Sherpa Mini, Micro and Heavy among the extruders. It is a drop-in for printers with the Voron 0.2-style X carriage.
• Mini Stealth by atrushing: a scaled-down Stealthburner with Sherpa Mini cores for many hotends. Its v1.2.5 listing fits the Voron 0.1 and 0.2 and, with M3×50 screws, the Voron 2.4 and Trident. The author says the newer v2 on GitHub does not share parts with v1.2.5.

Annex’s user-mods repository also has non-Stealthburner Voron toolheads: a Voron V2.4 toolhead with its Quickdraw magnetic probe, and a Voron 0 toolhead. More on Voron builds is in Voron printers.

How do you mount a Sherpa Mini on an Ender 3?

Print a published mount and fit the Sherpa Mini with its own pinion-equipped NEMA 14 motor; the Ender 3’s stock extruder motor does not carry over. Mounts for the Ender 3:

• theFPVgeek’s Sherpa Mini Ender 3 mount: keeps the stock hotend and fan, has built-in wire management, and also fits the Ender 5 and Ender 5 Pro.
• Churls’ Stiffy: a complete Ender 3 toolhead for the Sherpa Mini or Micro with two 5015 part-cooling fans, the stock Creality or a Phaetus BMS hotend and optional Quickdraw probe. It uses Annex’s optional “k” front housing and has an Elegoo Neptune 2 version.
• Churls’ Chubby: for the original Ender 3 carriage, with two 12 V 5020 blowers; also uses the “k” front housing.
• atrushing’s Mini Stealth: has centered Ender 3 mounts. Its author notes that with some extruders the stepper sits low enough to need changes to the V-wheel plate.

Then replace the stock 93 steps/mm: the Sherpa Mini needs about 881.9 steps/mm with an 8-tooth pinion or 705.5 with a 10-tooth one at 16 microsteps, derived as 200 × 16 × (50 ÷ pinion teeth) ÷ 22.67895 from Annex’s Klipper values. The full settings are on Sherpa Mini Klipper config. The rest of the conversion (cable, direction check, offsets, retraction) is in adding direct drive to an Ender 3, and other options are in Ender 3 extruder upgrades.