25

I'm thinking of building a new printer and would love to be able to make 2 color prints or dissolvable supports. Does anyone have any experience with this. I see 3 paths.

  1. Two hot ends Pros: Most robust No retraction or filament waste Cons: Alignment issues. Reduced travel Dragging nozzle

  2. Dual filament hot end(taichi style) Pros: Easy to mount No offsets Cons: Jamming? Long retraction

  3. Y splitter Pros: easy to mount No offset Compatible with any hot end Cons jamming Super long retraction

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] rambos@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

May I ask what is Y splitter? Is that DIY version of 2.?

I would add 4. Idex printer and 5. mmu. Maybe even 6. manual filament swap (its what I use haha) and 7. Sharpie hack (rofl)

I never seriously considered getting one myself, but interested a lot. Following..

Edit: typo

[-] moody 3 points 1 year ago

Filament swap is not really a valid alternative when it comes to something like wanting dissolving supports. It's only realistic if you want to change the color or material for a fairly large consecutive portion of a print. Otherwise you're going to have to swap out the filament every layer.

[-] rambos@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Sharpie hack is also not a valid alternative hehe. These 2 were more like a joke, but for simple designs manual swap works like a charm. Swapping filament every layer would be honest work tho

[-] shitescalates@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

Y splitter is something that goes in the middle of the Bowden tube to allow two extruders. Its similar to #2 but allows you to use any hot end.

[-] rambos@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

How do you handle long uneven and "streched" filament end after full retraction? Sounds like 2. in hard mode

[-] shitescalates@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

IDK, thats why I asked.

[-] thegreekgeek@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

I've had my eye on this one ever since I saw it on Reddit years ago: https://www.3dchameleon.com/

It uses switches on the z-axis to kick off the filament change, not sure how it deals with stretched filament.

[-] rambos@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Interesting, thx for sharing

this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
25 points (96.3% liked)

3DPrinting

15291 readers
23 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS