Multi-color filament - The Palette

[LePaul 326]

I stumbled upon this Kickstarter project today.

It is for 1.75 mm filament but looked very interesting!

Thoughts?

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Looks pretty cool, sounds a bit more difficult then they make it sound?

Like difficulties with bonding etc, deviating diameters and printing temperatures with different materials?

But if it could be working together with the 3D printing and everything is synced it could be pretty cool. Did you back it up?

[neotko 1,417]

For 1000€ (+/-) it better work well. Maybe it check filament in/out sizes and recreate them with very precise tools?

[Labern 774]

The problem is most different materials require different temps, so it would be good with ones that print with the same temp/speed settings. changing the temp on the fly wouldn't be 2 good as you may get a layer of under extrusion etc.

also I don't think you would get a crisp color change as there would be a bit of mixing in the nozzle, you may even get streaks of one color going through.

[SandervG 1,521]

The problem is most different materials require different temps, so it would be good with ones that print with the same temp/speed settings. changing the temp on the fly wouldn't be 2 good as you may get a layer of under extrusion etc.

also I don't think you would get a crisp color change as there would be a bit of mixing in the nozzle, you may even get streaks of one color going through.

 

That too yeah. But if they weld two ends together you probably have to apply pressure to create a bond.. I have tried this a couple of times by hand when my filament was about to run out, but I always ended up with either a weak connection that didn't make it through the feeder or a blob.. which didn't make it through the feeder either

I assume this device will probably do a more precise job, but still..

Also, does it cut the filament for you? It needs to be a pretty sharp blade if it were not to leave an edge.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Guest

[Labern 774]

 

The problem is most different materials require different temps, so it would be good with ones that print with the same temp/speed settings. changing the temp on the fly wouldn't be 2 good as you may get a layer of under extrusion etc.

also I don't think you would get a crisp color change as there would be a bit of mixing in the nozzle, you may even get streaks of one color going through.

 

That too yeah. But if they weld two ends together you probably have to apply pressure to create a bond.. I have tried this a couple of times by hand when my filament was about to run out, but I always ended up with either a weak connection that didn't make it through the feeder or a blob.. which didn't make it through the feeder.

I assume this device will probably do a more precise job, but still..

Also, does it cut the filament for you? It needs to be a pretty sharp blade if it were not to leave an edge.

 

Yep

I couldn't get the welds good myself. There are enough print issues without adding this to the mix which I can imagine creating more hassles then what its worth and people will put it to one side after many failed prints.

If you look close in the video you can see defects of colors blobbed onto the filament as its coming out.

[LePaul 326]

No, I didn't back it/fund it but I found it pretty interesting. It must be challenging to predict when one filament will be completely out of the Bowden tube and the next color ready to print.

I know whenever I change filaments, I am amazed how much of the previous color is leftover until the new color begins to appear.

[SandervG 1,521]

Yea I heard of a different project that calculated the length of filament.

Something like mozaic or something.. sounds familiar to anyone?

Edited August 21, 2015 by Guest