Y Adapter filament switching
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The problem with multiple hotends is the XYZ calibration. It is not funny, and you have to do it again as soon a you swap nozzle or so.
Z can be automatically calibrated using piezo or similar probing system, but how to calibrate XY?
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I think multicolour printing is a novelty which with a switching system soon wears off, and takes 3 times the filament and 8 times the time to print (a mixing hot end seems to perform this function better). I can see the point of printing with soluble support material, but also think a second x carriage with independent z probe is probably the best way to achieve it.
With a "mixing" hot end it is possible to print multi coloured objects with zero waste and zero impact on print time but with a few caveats. For one thing, as all the filaments are loaded at all times, the amount of purge required is basically what is in the mixing chamber. Depending on the object being printed, this purge can happen during infill where it isn't noticeable. Where it would be noticeable, then a separate purge mechanism is needed but due to the very small amount of purge needed (compared to fully retracting one filament and feeding in another), it can be a very small tower or simple bucket. The main advantages over multiple nozzles is that you don't loose axis travel by having to allow for nozzle offsets, you do not have to worry about Z alignment, there is no waiting time for one tool heat while another cools and you do not have to worry about fighting ooze from nozzles which aren't currently in use. Haven't said all that, mixing hot ends are not without their own particular set of unique problems. They are not for the faint hearted or those without deepish pockets (I'm thinking about my 5 E3D Titan extruders when I say that). Oh and of course, a true mixing hot end (one which actually blends colours together) is yet to be invented.
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With a Y switching system, is the purge length shorter with a Lite6 rather than a E3dv6?
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I think multicolour printing is a novelty which with a switching system soon wears off, and takes 3 times the filament and 8 times the time to print (a mixing hot end seems to perform this function better). I can see the point of printing with soluble support material, but also think a second x carriage with independent z probe is probably the best way to achieve it.
This sums up my experience. I got it working well, got some great looking multicolor prints. Got tired of the headaches from it, and moved back to printing single color prints. The time & headache weren't worth it once the novelty wore off.
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I will add that the Mosaic Pallette+ system looks like a really nice setup if you just want multi-color prints. The results I've seen from it so far look impressive… with apparently a lot less headache. Very expensive, though.
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I'm wondering how reliable this system is… Looks pretty complex.
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@fma:
With a Y switching system, is the purge length shorter with a Lite6 rather than a E3dv6?
Most of my switching was done with a Lite 6. With some color combinations (usually darker colors), the color change was pretty quick. But when I was changing from red to white, it would never print white. It was always pink. I think the largest purge tower I used was 20x20, and it was still printing pink afterwards. That's when I decided filament switching wasn't worth the pain/cost…
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@fma:
With a Y switching system, is the purge length shorter with a Lite6 rather than a E3dv6?
Most of my switching was done with a Lite 6. With some color combinations (usually darker colors), the color change was pretty quick. But when I was changing from red to white, it would never print white. It was always pink. I think the largest purge tower I used was 20x20, and it was still printing pink afterwards. That's when I decided filament switching wasn't worth the pain/cost…
Red to white was always the worst for me, too. I think it took a 30x30 to get it to switch.
That's the transition that got me to thinking about using a purge bucket, and some sort of color sensor….
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Using a purge bucket allows for variable purge length; good idea! Don't know if a color sensor will be accurate enough: not easy to detect such small width. Having a table based on tests should be enough, I think.
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What is this black magic?
I ordered the prometheus heat break and a manual fast pull leaves no strings at all and an almost perfect plug. A slow pull however still strings. I only did 2-3 quick tests so i need more reliability, but how is that done?
Is it the smooth interior surface of the heatbreak so no material can stick on retract? However I dont believe that the stadard e3d heatsink is that much stickier.
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Personally I had months of trouble with a y splitter and an e3dv6, could never get more than around 40 retractions in a row without a failure.
Changed over to a v6 lite, and 10cm of their fancy new blue bowden tube, and have not had a single problem/failure since.
12mm prime tower seems to be enough for me with clear/red petg
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I'm thinking of putting my Y-Splitter upstream of a remote direct drive extruder mounted on my effector (I have a delta) then using secondary extruders to handle the changes and let the RDD to do the precision printing work.
This would allow the long retractions needed for a splitter without the downsides of a Bowden arrangement.
The other thing I'm considering is the prime cup up high, maybe with a wiper on the edge - with a delta, Z is just another direction and Z moves are as quick and accurate as X and Y ones. No need to waste material building layers of a tower with no changes.
Has anybody had any success with either of these ideas?
[edited for spelling and clarification]
