How to set up dual extrudes?

Hey guys
Im planning to make a 3D printer, Im going to use Megatronics V2.0 for my board and want to have 2 extruders installed on the 3d printer
im looking to buy this kind of dual extruder => [www.ebay.com]

I was wondering about how I would set it up, since im going to use slicer to slice my stl files
by setting it up, i mean how can i tell the slicer the space between the 2 nozzles so it can print properly?

Thank you

You need to tell slicer the offset between the two print heads. Its on one of the set up pages for the extruders. I think I remember reading somewhere that the offset is specified in steps, not mm.

I'm more wondering about the association between the hot ends and the X end stop.

I would assume the leftmost hot end would be tool 0 against which the end stop is used to determine home position. But then if you home tool 0 and then switch to tool 1, the carriage would need to move further to the left than the end stop allows.

I guess this means tool 0 has to be on the right, or the end stop needs to be on the right.

For my dual extruder setup, I have E0 on the right, E1 on the left. It is better (IMHO) to set the extruder offset in firmware rather than in Slic3r. This way the gcode preview will show correctly, instead of showing each extruder's gcode offset.

Either way, the firmware will need to be set up for two extruders. What firmware are you using?

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Thank you for your answers guys!
I still dont know which firmware to use, what do you guys suggest?
also how should I upload the firmware to the board? (Please explain as much as possible, since im not good at these stuff)
thanks again

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2013 02:02PM by bardiaesm.

I am using marlin firmware.

So since E0 is on the right, do you have to have your X end stop far enough to the left to allow E1 to go beyond the edge of the print area? Or do you have your X end stop in the max position?

I think I should have my X end to the left
How did you install the marlin firmware on yours?

My dual extruder printer is still under construction. Almost done, but not quite there. I use marlin on my current single extruder, and was planning on using it on the new printer too.

As things get closer and closer to completion, I am starting to think of some of these issues. If I have my X endstop on the left, which I do, and the E0 tool on the left, then the E1 tool cannot move to the left edge of the platform because the endstop is creating a physical barrier there.

So like New Perfection says, E0 HAS to be on the right. I'm not sure how this is expressed when giving the offsets - I would guess E1 is a negative x offset from E0.

I hadn't realized that the offsets could be configured in the firmware, but I see the place in marlin where the changes need to be made. So if the firmware is taking care of this, then the slicer does not need to consider it. The offsets there could be expressed as 0. At least that's what it seems to me.

I can't wait to get the printer working just so I can puzzle my way through these questions.

thanks for your answer @jbernardis, what kind of board are you using?

Controller board? RAMPS 1.4 for both printers.

In Marlin, you can set up the offsets using G codes.

The format is:-
G10 Pn Xo Yo Zo St Rt
where

n is the number of the extruder starting at 0
o is the offset for the appropriate axis (Z is always 0 - you set this with the z axis stop)
t is the temperature:- S for the nozzle working and, R for the nozzle standby.

Thus for extruder 1, with an x offset of 10, a y offset of 20, working temp of 200, standby temp of 150, the command would be:-

G10 P1 X10 Y20 Z0 S200 R150

You have to issue the complete string. An don't forget to save it in firmware memory once you are happy with the setting by issuing M503 afterwards.

Set up the X stop so that your 'right hand' extruder is at X0 and issue the G10 for this. then measure the offset for your 'left hand' extruder and issue the appropriate G10 code for this (note that the X offset will be a negative value).(This assumes your X home is at the left as on my RepRapPro Mendel).

There is an excellent explanation of this at 'http://www.reprappro.com/documentation/RepRapPro_Multimaterials'.

Hope this helps


Harvey

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2013 04:53AM by HarveyC.

Thank you harvey - that's just the explanation I was looking for

Oops ... its M500 to store the parameters not M503

Harvey