The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?
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This is a follow on from my earlier multi-input mixing hot end designs. I believe it might be the worlds first hot end capable of printing multiple materials at up to 350 deg C whilst maintaining the temperature of other loaded filaments at less than 200 deg C. That is to say with this single hot end, I could potentially print a 6 part object with each part made from a different material ranging from say PLA at around 200 deg C up to PC at around 320 deg C or higher and the PLA would not get "cooked". It also has the capability to combine filaments with similar thermal characteristics and because it has 6 melt chambers, it could also be used with very large nozzle diameters requiring very high flow rates.
Link here if anyone is interested (and there is a bit of an appeal at the end). https://youtu.be/1j0UH6ctTDI
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Really impressive... and then you said you use OpenSCAD to design things; yow! Do you use the STL output to machine the design?
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@generisi said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
Really impressive... and then you said you use OpenSCAD to design things; yow! Do you use the STL output to machine the design?
No I don't. Unfortunately my milling machine and lathe are manual machines. I have fitted them with digital readouts but all movement entails me having to turn knobs and handles. So I have to work from drawings. To produce those drawings, I take screen shots of the parts from various angles and print them out. Then I look at the OpenScad code and manually add the dimensions to the print outs. It's a slow and labourious process. The only time I use STLs is for printing.
The entire machine was designed using OpenScad. So I have an OpenScad model of the carriage and rails. I use this to ensure that the hot end will fit within the envelope of the gantry, sit at the correct height, and to position the mounts etc.
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@deckingman said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
It also has the capability to combine filaments with similar thermal characteristics
Can you elaborate what you mean?
Do you want to mix different filament? Which combos would be suitable/useful?
Or do you think of eg. PLA for the core structure and TPU for perimeters or the like? -
@o_lampe said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
@deckingman said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
It also has the capability to combine filaments with similar thermal characteristics
Can you elaborate what you mean?
Do you want to mix different filament? Which combos would be suitable/useful?
Or do you think of eg. PLA for the core structure and TPU for perimeters or the like?What I meant was that it will still "mix" like any other mixing hot end. But still with the "stripey toothpaste" effect so I used the term "combine" rather than mix. So one could for example still print green by combining say blue and yellow of the same filament. But one could also combine something like PET-G and TPU which have similar print temperatures of around 220 - 250 deg C, at any mixing ratio from 1:99 to 99:1. Whether one would want to do that is of course another matter entirely.
But it would beis possible. -
@deckingman Do you avoid using Onshape (free, online parametric CAD tool) because your designs would be publicly available? It creates drawings with dimensions from the 3d design.
Also, have you looked at "Patreon" as a way to monetize your videos? People can make donations in appreciation for your shared information / education.
Gene -
@generisi said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
@deckingman Do you avoid using Onshape (free, online parametric CAD tool) because your designs would be publicly available? It creates drawings with dimensions from the 3d design.
No I don't deliberately avoid Onshape or any other CAD package. It's simply that I'm not naturally good at designing things, and when I started out in 3D printing, I had never used any design software of any sort. I tried most of the free ones but struggled with them all. OpenScad seemed easier for me to learn, having no prior knowledge or experience. I have too many things I want to do, to spend time learning how to use another CAD package just now. But thanks for the tip.
Also, have you looked at "Patreon" as a way to monetize your videos? People can make donations in appreciation for your shared information / education.
GeneThanks - I'll look into it.
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@deckingman It's really interesting and impressive what you built! A field of science is combining different material, so it will be interesting to see what you can accomplish with it. Mixing hard with flexible material, or mixing normal pla with pva to create highly porous objects, or mixing with conductive filament or other special properties, it will result in interesting objects.
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@joergs5 There are probably too many combinations to try out in a single life time
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@deckingman said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
OpenScad seemed easier for me
This suggest that you could do well with a software programming career. Just saying.
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@zapta said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
@deckingman said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
OpenScad seemed easier for me
This suggest that you could do well with a software programming career. Just saying.
Maybe a few years ago, but at 68 years of age, I'm too old to think about another career. I can hack out simple bits of code in Python, and mess around with Arduinos and ESP modules with the aid of the internet and YouTube but that's the limit of my coding skills.
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Part 2 is out now if anyone is interested. https://youtu.be/XMrf4pIpMww
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@deckingman looking forward to the next video for sure!
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@t3p3tony said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
@deckingman looking forward to the next video for sure!
Part 3 is now public. I've been exploring PET-G melts rates and got some pretty crazy results.
Edit - Oops, forgot the link - here it is https://youtu.be/4YIhfj7BHk0
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@deckingman nice!
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Interesting
What's the layer adhesion like at those dimensions? -
@owend said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
Interesting
What's the layer adhesion like at those dimensions?Layer adhesion is awesome - that "bucket" is so strong!!
IIRC, E3D found similar strength advantages when they tested large nozzles on their volcano/supervolcano. One contributory factor might be that with a bead that big, it doesn't cool fully before the next layer gets laid on top. If I printed anything much smaller, I would likely have to slow the print down or use a massive amount of part cooling air, otherwise it might slump into a horrible blob.
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@deckingman said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
Layer adhesion is awesome - that "bucket" is so strong!!
is it water tight?
Doug
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@dougal1957 said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
@deckingman said in The worlds first 6 input, single nozzle, multi material hot end?:
Layer adhesion is awesome - that "bucket" is so strong!!
is it water tight?
Doug
Hi Doug. To be honest, I doubt that this one would be water tight. The reason being that when you do 45 degree infill into a curved perimeter, with a layer width of 1.65 mm, the slicer didn't do a very good job with those last bits of infill which need to be less than 1.65mm wide. i.e where the straight line infill is a chord of a circle segment and the distance from that chord to the circumference is less than a layer width.
To ensure that it's water tight, I'd need to tweak the slicer settings (e.g. infill/perimeter overlap, or use a different infill pattern), or tweak the design of the part so that the infill to perimeter junction is better. I don't think there would be that problem if the base was rectangular with rectilinear infill. Otherwise, if the part had to be water tight, then maybe a smaller nozzle (say 1.0mm instead of 1.5mm) might be a better choice. And/or use two bottom layers instead of just one.
In a nutshell, I'd say that layer to layer would be water tight, but layer to perimeter might need to be given some consideration.
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@deckingman Fair point shame really as that would certainly show how good the inter layer adhesion was.
