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Dual Extrusion with (mostly) stock parts

Posted: July 8th, 2017, 10:38 am
by shocksofmighty
I had a bunch of left over parts from my recent build of 3DP-11s thanks to upgrading the hotends on two of them to E3D V6s.

I was about to throw all the parts in a box, but started messing around with them, and realized that it would be fairly straightforward to setup a dual-extrusion head using nearly all stock parts if I switched the extrusion to a Bowden (which I found very easy to do on my first Hictop). I just needed to drill two holes in the X-carriage and print the Bowden adapter blocks.

This is really just for fun (I have a FFCP for dual extrusion purposes), and the leveling of the nozzles would certainly be a bit of a pain. However, it is pretty much just a drop in of the existing carriage along with adding the extra wiring. Firmware was quite easy to setup (E1 MOSFET is pin 7 on MKS board, in case anyone is searching for it).

Re: Dual Extrusion with (mostly) stock parts

Posted: July 8th, 2017, 11:24 am
by Roberts_Clif
Would like to know more on this.
Does It matter how far away the extruders are from each other. It appears yours are the same distance from each side.

Re: Dual Extrusion with (mostly) stock parts

Posted: July 8th, 2017, 11:42 am
by shocksofmighty
This is so they can be mounted using the stock aluminum block. You might be able to get them a little closer by drilling the through holes in the carriage at different location, but you run into mounting issues and the possibility that the heatsink and fan may not sit flush against the block. It matters functionally only in the sense that with the additional fan heat sink and fan on the the left extruder may not be able to make it all the way to right side of the build plate (and vice versa). I haven't mounted it yet, so I don't know how much clearance there is on either side. Offset in X and Y is defined by firmware or slicer.

Re: Dual Extrusion with (mostly) stock parts

Posted: July 8th, 2017, 12:41 pm
by Roberts_Clif
Wow was not thinking about the Fan mount, would have drilled mine and not be able to mount the Fans.

If they were mounted symmetricly would estimate 33-36mm

Re: Dual Extrusion with (mostly) stock parts

Posted: July 8th, 2017, 1:29 pm
by shocksofmighty
35.35 mm from my calipers

Re: Dual Extrusion with (mostly) stock parts

Posted: July 13th, 2017, 10:46 pm
by shocksofmighty
I finally decided to print a second Bowden extruder and put the dual extruder on.

A few observations:

As suspected, leveling the nozzles was a bit of a pain. This is because when you tighten the set screw to hold the heat break in, it has a tendency to work between the threads which will slightly raise or lower it.

I use Simplify3D for slicing, and it does a pretty nice job of keeping the oozing under control. I just made a new printer profile with the Other setting, put the Hictop i3 settings in along with dual extruders and I could then use the Dual Extrusion Wizard after finding the offset (still about 0.7 mm off in X, it looks like).

Here is a video: