What are some good options for dual extrusion?
I am mainly wanting to print parts with the dissolvable support material. I was hoping to go non-Bowden style but will if it’s the best choice.
I saw the E3D chimera and liked it but it’s pricey for just a hot end.
I’m aware that I will lose some build volume with this as well and haven’t decided if I would be better off with a dedicated mpcnc or not. But I definitely need another printer and dual extrusion capabilities.
The MK8 dual extruders that I have seen all are configured such that mounted on the MP3DP they’d extend along the Y axis, which would likely create enough of a side load on the X axis that you’d run into real alignment problems. Mounting them sideways in relation to the current extruder would alleviate that somewhat, but it’d be a much larger redesign of the mount and would either be two pieces bolted together or fairly hard to print. I haven’t looked at other extruder designs yet…
I may have to go Bowden style then. I’m just not familiar with them and wanted to minimize variables switching to dual extrusion, I know the main benefit is taking weight off the moving parts so it should allow me to print faster. I always print at 30-35mm/s though for quality. I’m too worried that if I go much faster it’ll skip some steps while I’m away, wasting my time and materials.
If you go bowden mount the motors on the gantry and use short tubes. There are a few out there with 2’+ bowden tubes and they must be a nightmare to retract.