A different multi-extrusion approach - UM tool / printhead changer

[foehnsturm 969]

Basically you can use whatever feeder you want. There are only two requirements:

 

• Both feeders should be identical
  
• If it's not the UM2+ feeder, you will have to use your own (or Bondtech's) mounting brackets
  

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by Guest

[bob-hepple 59]

Thanks for the Reply Fair play don't have any problems with that.. I'd even drill the case if that's what it takes.

[EECKHOUT 10]

Did I miss something, reading everybody talking about pieces. I just order the magnet till now and I search around the discussion for the listing of what I should buy (or perheaps it is not yet the time to do so), but find nothing?

[foehnsturm 969]

You did not miss anything. It's just a second drive train (feeder, hotend, wiring, fans, aluminum print head parts, fans, fan shroud) and the magnets.

[Gouveia 0]

Hi all

I'm also very interested in this solution.

I have a UM2 with the upgrade to UM2+. So I guess with parts left from the old head I have at least the minimum to get it going.

I will definitely do this upgrade, beta or not as for the parts I need to print I really miss the ability of printing support like PVA.

[conny_g 251]

So, das Upgrade Kit ist da. Die Magnete innerhalb von 1-2 Tagen.

[greengecko 8]

also excited aboutthe upgrade. i will order my magnets today. hopefully my dual extrusion upgrade has all the parts.

the poll is currently at 23 (UMO) versus 53 (UM2).

would be interesting to know how many umo versus um2 have been sold and if the ratio reflects that.

@sandervg are you allowed to give us some numbers or at least the ratio?

@foehnsturm awesome effort. one question, any comment which noozle typ is the most recommended for an umo upgrade? or does that not matter much in terms of quality?

Edited November 23, 2016 by Guest
typo

[SandervG 1,521]

nope

[SandervG 1,521]

So, das Upgrade Kit ist da. Die Magnete innerhalb von 1-2 Tagen.

 

Looks good!

[Titus 170]

this is getting more and more exciting!

[stefan 0]

Hi everybody,

I've been lurking the UM community and forum for a while now, but just have to respond to this development. I love it, great job! Count me in for an update kit and simply name your price.

Long story short: I run an UM2+ (upgraded UM2), I desperately need the soluable PVA support for my scale models and maquettes. I'm sick of chopping perfectly fine models up for reasonable print results and later stick them together again (and postprocess it all, often 'not helping' on the quality side). It has cost me days and days of work. Weeks if not months.

No wonder I'm super excited about this solution.

I have been looking around but couldn't find an answer yet. Maybe I'm just being stupid here, but I was wondering how possible interferences of the nozzle are accounted for, as the bed doesn't seem to move after swapping heads. When the (e.g. PLA) product is completely enclosed by support material, and this support layer is printed first (seems logical to me), it could be possible that the nozzle needs to pass the higher support wall, right? So this could mean, with bigger layer thickness, that the nozzle touches the support. Or am I missing something here? I'm sure you have figured something out, I just would like to understand this.

On the gcode side; I'm sure there will be a custom plugin for this?

Last but not least; are there any test yet with this system while using PLA + PVA?

Keep up the great work!

Edited November 24, 2016 by Guest

[conny_g 251]

Look here for tests with PVA:

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/20293-any-experiences-with-dual-extrusion-and-pva

I would assume that these are printed already with the dual header approach of foehnsturm, but he would need to confirm.

[foehnsturm 969]

A good example, besides the ones conny_g mentioned, for a PLA / PVA print with the tool changer is this one:

[print=5463][/print]

There is actually a z offset between both nozzles, which is one of the key ideas of this approach. It's handled by the firmware. You don't need a plugin as there will be config files for Cura 2.3 to set up this as a special machine.

Edited November 24, 2016 by Guest

[conny_g 251]

There is actually a z offset between both nozzles, which is one of the key ideas of this approach. It's handled by the firmware. You don't need a plugin as there will be config files for Cura 2.3 to set up this as a special machine.

 

Good point actually: Can I run the dual header approach with Simplify3D slicer as well? That's my favorite at the moment.

[foehnsturm 969]

S3D should be supported as well. It actually always was but with adapting to new Cura the job supporting both becomes a little more tricky.

[conny_g 251]

The magnets are here! The Scaffold and another PVA filament will get delivered tomorrow.

I am ready to go, should you need another beta tester :-)

[EECKHOUT 10]

I've received mine too, I don't know what I should do now...DO I have to buy a ultimaker upgrade kit?

[conny_g 251]

I've received mine too, I don't know what I should do now...DO I have to buy a ultimaker upgrade kit?

 

You need a second feeder, bowden, hotend with cables. How you do that is up to you. The feeders have to work the same (geared/ not geared, gear ratio etc) and I think it's much easier if your hotends are the same. Otherwise your printing parameters differ between hotends even for the same material, that makes adjusting your prints more complex.

Also buying that stuff in separate parts from eventually different sources is quite some work and has the danger that you miss parts when working on the mod. Or they don't work well together because that combination is untested.

For all these reasons I chose to buy the 2+ upgrade kit. It's tested, it's the same what I have and has all I need.

So if you calculate your time and if you have "more money than time" then buy that kit.

[conny_g 251]

Scaffold soluble support is here. What's next? :-)

[mastory 44]

I'm following here.  Probably won't make it into the test group (answered the questionnaire though), but intend to upgrade my UMO to dual extrude with the collective knowledge that will be gained.  If possible, I'd like to contribute.  

I will be needing 2 identical print nozzles.  I am currently running a custom hot end, but also have 2 unused 3mm non-cartridge UBIS hot ends on hand.  I could either duplicate my homemade nozzle, or use the 2 UBIS hotends.  Either way I have to customize the tool change hardware.  The UBIS parts would be a more elegant design.  Also their capacity to heat quickly would be a benefit to dual extrusion.

I did a search of the old UBIS discussions, and don't find any long term testimonials there on the usage.  For the last year or so, I have been printing mostly with ABS, and I want to be able to continue this with the requirement to also print PLA+PHA and others in the future.  Is there any experience with UBIS ends with ABS, PLA, and of course PHA?

I understand that replacement UBIS 3mm parts are not available and am keeping this part of my consideration.  Would my concerns be better addressed with a Olsson, E3D, Merlin or other?

My existing one off hot end is working well in the above scenarios, so I am equally prone to go that way...

Thanks as usual.

Matt

Edited November 26, 2016 by Guest

[EECKHOUT 10]

I've ordered an Ultimaker extrusion upgrade kit #9510 as suggested. It is not so expensive : 477€.

The fact is that I found another reseller who propose so much spare parts for ultimaker but I could not decided what is needed. http://www.makershop.fr/175-ultimaker

[peggyb 170]

for the umo, (probebly the

um2 as well), do they share the same fan or does each head need to have it's own?

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Each head uses its own set of fans.

[neotko 1,417]

Each head uses its own set of fans.

 

Umm interesting idea... (thinking out loud) I don't think that it should be too hard to redesign the hotend fans to make only one set of fans hit the print area, since the stock fan isn't blowing symmetrically anyway right? Push it forward a cm and a few and you can cool the print area of both hotends?

Edit: Ofc the 5v hotend fan can't be avoided without a full new hotend design. But, it should be possible to just keep that small fan, also with just 2 fans it should weight less to keep the quality as high as possible?

Edited November 26, 2016 by Guest

[peggyb 170]

sounds good,

difference for UMO and UM2 because of the middle fan indeed, and the whole printhead including the fans are in the upgrade, but not for the UMO, that is one fan on the left. This one could be permanent on the central head and not on the parked ones in the corner.