Multi-filament users??

I got to thinking that dual/multi-filament machines don't seem as widely popular here among the more advanced members as I'd have expected. While I'm not terribly interested in dual-color printing, my impression has been that dual-material printing is perhaps the only proper way to achieve high surface-quality prints when needing support. Opinions?

I've been planning all along to incorporate a dual system in the delta which I'm currently putting together, but if others are finding ways to make same-material support work cleanly it sure would save a lot of hassle.

I designed and built a dual x printer. I printed a couple of parts with a mix of hard and soft filaments that worked out nicely, but over all i tuilized the dual printing capabilities a lot less than anticipated. Now i use it mostly to have two different filaments ready at any time so i can choose without switching.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

Thank you for the reply Srek. Yes exactly, I could so easily imagine something of the same sort happening with this project -- so much preparation going into a dual system design and then rarely taking advantage of it! Well, I guess that's the cool thing about DIY, I can pretty easily add the capability at a later point if I find that being able to print dual-material becomes a demand.

Same here... I had a dual color setup and made a few nice looking gadgets. But it was a nightmare to print with one nozzle while the other was constantly scratching along the fresh tracks.
Now, on my Kossel XL with play-free Mag-Rods and perfect bed calibration ( due to the Smart Effector ) I'm keen to try it again, as soon as a dual nozzle Smart Effector is available.

I also got some dual material printers, but also rarely use it for mixed parts. But I do like the two printheads because it saves so much time not having to swap hardware. One side is an all metal hotend with a hardened steel nozzle, the other is PTFE lined with a brass nozzle. One side for carbon fiber and high-temp materials, the other for flexibles and everything else.

Unless you got the absolute need, you can get some great results with just a single hotend and probably won't miss the second printhead like Srek said.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2018 11:48AM by jerryjs8.

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Build Log - DDDE 330x330x300mm Ultimaker

Yes o lamp, it's that concern about the dragging nozzle which has, at this point, brought me to feeling that the Prometheus would be the better approach over a Chimera solution for my application (primarily fabricating mechanical components) despite the system's time penalty.

I am actually a bit surprised that the tilting/rocking dual-head effector approach has not yet seen the light of day in a significant way. On paper, seems the way forward -- elegant and effective -- I guess I can only assume that implementation is still presenting technical difficulties.


Your comment is welcome to see jerryjs8 ... this discussion here and on the Duet forum has me feeling that, for the time being at least, it might be best to keep it simple.

I have a chimera with two volcano blocks, but I've never used it for a multimaterial print. I got the Chimera to be able to have two different sized nozzles without having to change them. So I run a 0.6mm nozzle and a 1.0mm nozzle and switch between them depending on how big the part I'm printing is and how much detail I need.

I setup a y splitter 2 into 1 system it was okay never really got it tuned reliably enough to try it out properly. And the waste and extra time required to print 2 colour seemed not worth it for me. If I went back and really wanted to utilise soluble supports I'd consider a dual heads (IDEX) to eliminate prime towers and also use the idea of printing most of a support in the main filament and only the interface layers in PVA, that's a really smart idea.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Oh my Simon, that is quite brilliant! So much so that I find it amazing that it's not already become the norm. Just thinking out loud here, but would that not still require the priming tower to keep up with the print layers? Perhaps we could still save a lot of time by making the unused layers of the tower out of mere support structure in the primary material.

I've been so exclusively infatuated with deltas since getting into all this about six months ago that I've been lacking in attention to other approaches such as your corexy. But if I find that I'm wishing a better support solution than single material can provide you now have me thinking that it may be best just to design another machine for it, this time allowing IDEX capability. I guess that also means that I now have the idea for my next project, thank you!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2018 10:29PM by papilio.

To me, printing parts that require support is equally rare than the "need" for dual color printing. I find it intriguing to print tool-handles with TPA inlays, but then I think I better buy them instead of building a printer for that purpose.
If I had to print something with support, I'd probably use the Y-splitter and combine it with the interface layer idea. Seems to be less hassle and waste.

Thanks for the input o lampe! Means a lot to hear views of people such as yourself with plenty of experience as I work on designing the first machine of my own.

So yeah, that's the impression that I'm getting -- my hope is that the urge for soluble support isn't going to be too great. I've picked up both a Prometheus and a Chimera but at this point doubt that I'll design them in. Still, I can imagine that were I to have the capability I'd love the freedom to design components with more complex and interesting architecture.

It wasn't my idea I saw it here:

[www.prusaprinters.org]

But it is a good idea.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Very cool, thanks Simon. Leave it to Josef!

I´m printing with bowden and chimera supported prints with no problem. It´s just the waste of time and support material, so if there is a cheaper way (glue or similar) I choose it.

Thank you sliceheart. I've decided to complete my delta project as a single material machine, dual filament will be phase II. I have both a Chimera and a Prometheus, I'll likely try both when the time comes.