[Two Material Extrusion Design Problems]

Ok, we have been printing two paste materials with the Ultimaker 2 now for a while, however we are still finding issues with the offset between the two nozzles. To solve this I designed an adapter that allows for two materials to flow out of one nozzle. However, this adapter uses a "door" type valve that closes off one path when the other is printing, and vice versa. This door style valve is so small that I can't print it on conventional printers, as it just comes out as mush. So, does anyone have any ideas as to how to fix this? Or should I just redesign it to allow it to be printable?

And, once this is solved I will still have the problem of adjusting the flowrate of each material individually so that I can push through which ever material I want to without leakage. Is there a way to change the flow rate during each individual layer in the gcode?

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The "axle" of the door valve has a 1.5 mm diameter, and is too small to print with any sort of form.

If anyone can help me improve on the design, I would be very appreciative!

[Need help with getting the second extruder port up and running!]

In general getting the 2th extruder (feeder motor + heater + temp sensor) to work is fairly simple, just needs to be turned on in the firmware. Here's how I did it (&links to where I got the info).

Basically get the UM2 (you have a UM2??) firmware from github, change a few parameters, and compile again using arduino software, upload the .hex file to your machine using cura.

http://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/10657-a-different-multi-extrusion-approach-um-tool-printhead-changer?page=27#reply-107302

 

Alright I'll give it a try, and thanks for the info, I've been looking all over the place for a how to guide to get this project rolling!

[Need help with getting the second extruder port up and running!]

Ask the designers of the Structur3D Discov3ry Paste Extruders? I've never heard of them before, so I cant help you with it.

 

Alright, I'll try their forums as well, but is there a way to get the second extruder working in general? We just want it to be able to respond in Cura when connected via USB, and to hopefully print with it eventually.

[Need help with getting the second extruder port up and running!]

So we have the first extruder printing beautifully, but we are interested in hooking up two Structur3D Discov3ry Paste Extruders to the printer. We are having trouble getting the second extruder port to work at all, and would really appreciate some help finding a solution. Perhaps with a software upgrade, official or unofficial?