Best UM2 Dual Extrusion Kit

[CaseyScalf 1]

I have been using a Ultimaker 2 printer for the past 2 years.

I really need that dual extrusion feature. After some searching I found a few different approaches to solving this. However, I did not find anything conclusive. I was curious to start a thread on "turn key solutions". Something that someone can source easily, install easily, and be dual printing relatively easy.

I see a few online. Some on eBay and others. Not really sure if that's the best path. What about motors, etc?

My only conditions are:

- Dual Extrusion

- Full Kit (No tracking down arcane parts)

- Print PLA & HIPS (Dissolvable stuff).

Any tips or ideas?

Thanks for all of the help!

[Labern 773]

You can easily buy all the parts to do this but there is a reason that Ultimaker didn't proceed with this. There were temperature issues where the heat from one nozzle heats up the other.

As the nozzles don't lift up then the oozing from the one that's not used can then knock over your part.

Also the lack of any good soluble material for PLA.

You can order all the parts from ultimaker but you might want to look at THIS Thread as it is the best option at the moment.

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

In addition to the thread @Labern linked to there is a german thread about a dual extrusion on one head with water cooling.

However, none of the two solution is available as a kit atm.

[CaseyScalf 1]

Well it's really a shame. It's kind of the ENTIRE reason I bought this machine - the dual extrude that is.

Why not just use one of the heads off of eBay I listed?

Is the oozing really that big of a deal? I just need another nozzle to do some support stuff. PVA maybe?

[ultiarjan 1,221]

Why not just use one of the heads off of eBay I listed?

Is the oozing really that big of a deal?

 

short answer, because it just doesn't work, save yourself the frustration.

longer answer;

1st problem to avoid is your part getting knocked over by the nozzle not in use, you ether need a lifting system, lifting the nozzle not in use, or you need a system with separate nozzles parking the nozzle not in use out of the way.

2th problem to solve is the oozing of material, even when you solved the 1st issue. you can do this f.e by cooling the nozzle not in use, or just let it drip and prime the nozzle every time you start using it.

All the solutions for dual material have one thing in common, your printing will get much slower. The solution I had on my UM2, the magnetic head change did work, but it needed constant monitoring and cleaning and the fail-rate was high. I stopped using it, it was a great experiment but I don't have the patience for it and moved on to other experiments....

There are printers on the market that claim dual extrusion, I've seen f.e. the new felix printer, it has a lifting system that seems to work pretty good and cools and heats between each change, making the print times increase enormously. If the process would be totally reliable (I have no idea what the fail rate is) this would be less of an issue. I would not dear to leave my magnetic head changer system on over night. Another available system with 2 separate heads mounted on one rail is the BCN3d sigma. https://www.bcn3dtechnologies.com/en/catalog/bcn3d-sigma

[Labern 773]

I actually printed something the other day with the new Cura 1.99 and it had a massive flat overhang. I used support roof and it came out super smooth. I was really impressed. Support came off really easy as well.