Daid

STL does not support multiple materials. How it's currently being done for most printers is exporting 2 STL files, one for each color and then combining them in the software. In Cura you can load 2 STL files, select the first, press the right mouse button on the 2nd, and join them in dual-extrusion. The origins of the models are matched up then so make a nice 2 color model. Cura can also load and save AMF files, these files support multiple materials and thus are fit for dual-extrusion. Right now no design tool that I know off exports AMF. But for ease of sharing you can combine the 2 colors in Cura and save the resulting AMF file. See the UM robot on Ice as example: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/robot-ice-winter-is-coming it has 2 STL files for the 'classic' way, and 1 AMF file for the new way.

I've uploaded a 2nd test version at http://software.ultimaker.com/Cura_closed_beta/ I've made the support extend a bit more beyond the model while keeping distance from the model. This should help with the thin support sections like the bird.

Small bug that got into this test version, easy fixed.

The long screws should still screw into the plate, there are 2 screws in there now, from the top and bottom.

Yes I will, it's on my todo list. But not near the top right now.

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Dual_Extrusion:_Assemble_printhead You need to add the spacers and 2 extra bolts from the bottom. This keeps the fan better in place and solves the short studded bolt problem.

The rev4 machine is actually cut from the 3.5.7 files from https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ultimaker-laser-cut-drawings

"Combine everything Type-B" overrides the Type-A, so checking both won't do any different then checking only Type-B. All 4 options actually work on the 2D slices not on the 3D model. Only Combine everything Type-A does something with normals, all other code ignores normals. In detail, CombineEverything tries to do a CSG boolean union with everything. In can do this in 2 different ways, with or without normals. If it ignores normals it will remove any internal holes you see on a layer. So a cube with a straight hole downwards in it becomes a cube. While a cube with a hole from side to side will remain the same. "Keep open faces" happens in a step before that. What Cura does at first, is taking a knife and slicing your model into tiny slices. Each slice is a layer as you might understand. But, 3D models are never perfect, so what I end up with is a lot of small line segments in a 2D plane. The next thing I do is joining up small gaps between the line segments, and any line segment that makes a full circle is stored for later reference. Any line segment that fails to make a full circle is normally discarded. UNLESS you have this option checked, then it makes a line from one end to the other to close up the line. Simple example would be to take a cube, remove 1 side from the cube, save it, load it in Cura. It won't generate any GCode because no slice is closed, unless you check the "keep open faces" then it will effectively fake in the removed surface again. Results may vary, and it usually works best in combination with "Type-B combine everything". "Extensive stitching" is something related to open surfaces, but not exactly. Imagine you have this cube where you removed the side, and then you move this open cube with the opened up side against a larger cube. From the outside this will look "solid" but in reality you have a big gaping hole and an internal surface that will cause issues. Extensive stitching fixes this, it tries to find the partial internal surfaces, and the open parts and tries to stitch them together so they form a solid outside. (I know some pictures would really help here)

The dual-extrusion-support material checkbox in Cura 13.06.X does not work. The test version I uploaded about the new support material contains a fix. Note that printing dissolvable support material from an Ultimaker is an unsupported feature as we know it can issues.

First off, kill off the pythonw process like gr5 suggested. Then, goto the cura installation folder, there should be an output.txt, I'm very interrested in the contents of that file. (Cura developer here btw)

Most likely you didn't enable the proper config option for that. The default might be EEPROM settings disabled.

Up-to-date command list for Marlin can be found at: https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/blob/Marlin_v1/Marlin/Marlin_main.cpp It works by sending raw GCodes over USB-Serial. The code Cura uses to send the commands can be found at https://github.com/daid/Cura/blob/SteamEngine/Cura/util/machineCom.py

PVA is tricky in dual-extrusion. I've done it, but 2 out of 3 prints resulted in a clogged nozzle.

The difficulty of getting quality filament. And the amount of tuning that is required.

It is heavy, once you use 6mm thick plates. Which is way more then the construction would need for strength. But the design is based around the thickness of the plates. (Polished metal would make it look like a microwave)

The colorfabb people told us it took them 3 months to perfect their production process. And they have professional equipment...

The UltiController and dual-extrusion are the only upgrades not included in the default kit. I only recommend the UltiController, this really helps a lot. Dual-extrusion is more for the experienced user.

Acrylic works, but it's fragile. One other option would be trespa, it's durable, strong, looks great and you can mill it. But it's heavier then Acrylic I think.

MY MISTAKE! The part is included. No need to contact support, or me, or anyone. The "missing" part is actually included, I didn't check it properly.

The dual-extrusion merge currently ignores the scaling/rotation/mirror of 1 object when it merges it into the other. So you need to make 2 different STL files. You could mirror 1 part, save it as a new STL and try merging that, but I think you'll generate an odd offset then.

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Cross post from the google group, where I'm answering some questions on the kit: I think the blog posts: http://blog.ultimaker.com/ accurately show what is possible, it shows that there are flaws when dual-extruding. All done with Cura 13.06.5. Note that the models where cleaned up a bit, just the strings removed. Another example: http://daid.eu/~daid/IMG_20130621_134822.jpg (cannot use this model for promotion goals due to the cc-by-nc license) >Things like, single head print quality before and after adding the extruder. Does the extra weight lower >the overall print quality? I have no indication that you have quality reduction after installing the dual extrusion upgrade. However, if you remember the initial dual extrusion installation on my home machine, you might remember reading that I removed that. One of the issues I had with it was the nozzles not being level and thus the 2nd nozzle pushed the object off the printer. Our dual-extrusion kit solves this issue. The trick lays in this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultimaker/9502705648/ See those 2 curved rings? They add a tiny amount of spring between the hotend and the bottom plate. This gives a bit of height adjustment (0.5-1mm), just enough to get them perfect level. The weight might cause issues if you are turning up the acceleration or go beyond the default limit of 300mm/s. The default firmware settings are quite safe. One other thing is the Z height, the dual extrusion head is slightly longer and thus the maximum Z height is slightly less. It's about 5mm I think. >How well has non-printing nozzle drip been handled? Does it require extreme retraction? I will be honest, dripping is still there. Printing at 190C is recommended, as this removes most of the dripping. ABS drips a lot less then PLA (guess why Makerbot does it with ABS). Switching extrudes does a 16.5mm retraction. This is slightly more then the hot zone of the V2 hotend. It helps to cool down the inactive hotend and I have a experimental Cura plugin that can do this, heating up the hotend just in time before it's needed again. (It's a bit tricky to do this in the C++ engine) To fully remove the dripping we would need a fully new hotend design. As you can imagine, we're not sitting still and did work in that area. But getting a hotend right is a difficult issue, and that's a whole story on it's own which I might tell later. >What is the software toolchain currently in use? I seem to recall Cura isn't ready with dual yet so >either kisslicer or slic3r? Cura 13.06.4 works great for dual-color printing. Printing with dual-extrusion support material needs some work (PVA). However, for dual-color printing Cura has a feature that no other software package has, it can actually generate an tiny overlap between the 2 colored parts (without requiring to change your model) this generates a better bonding between the colored parts. The default is on 0.2mm overlap. Without this overlap the gray-red vase on the photo would almost fall apart, with it enabled the vase is almost water-tight. Note that the overlap is quite extensive to to calculate, so it slows down the engine quite a bit on complex models. And it happens before you see progress happening in Cura, so it seems stuck on the slicing for a while. Just a minor warning there. So PVA printing, is not there yet. But it will be possible with the same hardware. We have printed PVA just fine with the setup, but having PVA sit hot and not extruding causes it to burn up and block your nozzle. If you are planning to experiment with PVA I recommend ordering a few extra nozzles. It will require extra software tuning to get this fully working reliably. FYI, We've installed this upgrade on various R&D machines that where in different states, and have some of our "pre-assembled" builders take a kit with them and put those on their home machines. It's quite extensively tested and tweaked. Might not look that way, but we had quite a few prototypes that worked less or where much more complex. There where some issues with the 2nd feeder, as you can see it sits higher, and it's also longer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultimaker/9514271773/ this was needed or else a full roll of PLA would snap at the feeder and entangle itself in the first roll.

Charlotte did build a aluminum case, it was very difficult to assemble, and ridiculously heavy. So I wouldn't recommend it, unless you have a wooden machine as reference.

Not yet, building a Mac version always takes extra care, as I need to test a few things to be 100% sure that it still works properly. It's great to hear that there are people having success with the new support method. I have improvements thought out for some of the issues that other people pointed out, but haven't found the time yet to implement them.

I think he means the Z seam, not the minor almost invisble shifts that are most likely slight variations in the colorfabb PLA color.