Last month I finally got around to installing my phonedual extruder.
So far I have successfully completed 0 dual extruder prints.
I have completed 0 prints using one of the two extruders individually.
This (attached image) happens every time.
There are no fans on the dual extruder. And heat creep has been a major issue, so I found a dual fan thing on thingiverse and put it in.
Only to find there is no way of programming the second fan!
The firmware is garbage as well.
For most dual prints I tried, after the first layer nozzle one suddenly stops dropping in temperature. According to the LCD the temp was set at 210, but the nozzle was at 165 and dropping when I caught it. Setting the temp to 0, then back to 210 solves the issue.
So I continue printing. Then all the sudden I notice its jammed. Best creep has bonded the PLA to the assembly as shown in the picture. (This is the 3rd time!) Then I notice the fan has stopped. I scan through my gcode only to find nothing that stops the fan. It should still be running 100%
The assembly is huge and way too heavy. It’s incredibly wobbly and the alignment is almost never right no matter how long you spend turning that thumb screw.
I can honestly say this is the worst 500$ I have ever spent. I’ve had this thing a few months now and its too late to send it back.
Save yourselves the headache and don’t buy the dual extruder. It blows.
I don’t have a dual extruder setup so I can’t commiserate. Lulzbot probably wouldn’t continue to sell the dual extruder if it wasn’t performing to par. Have you tried contacting support? They seem pretty good with helping folks.
Would also help if you posted the software you’re using to slice the project and control the printer.
The loss of temp in the second nozzle seems strange, usually its frustrations with leveling the two nozzles… but it doesn’t sound like you’ve gotten to that stage of pulling hair out. 
Some PLA filaments can be really bad. Small diameter and chemical composition can cause problems that would not exist with better filament. Try a quality brand of ABS filament instead. Also, with repeated jams, the liner tube inside the hot-end may be damaged. Further, hot-end cooling fans do not need to be software controlled, and in this case, should not be. Simply connect to DC power.
Firmware support is an open-source product of the community, configurable and hackable to your heart’s content. Having used a variety of firmwares, including Marlin, I think the characterization as “garbage” is harsh.
I built my Dual Extruder based on the Lulzbot design but I chose to go with all metal hotends. That definitely looks like heat creep, but since I do not have a Budaschnozzle, I probably won’t be a lot of help.
I did need to modify the Lulzbot design of the dual extruder mounting plate due to the excessive play that you mentioned. The problem was that the mount wasn’t fitting all the way down into the x carriage. A couple passes with my Dremel fixed that. I also think that the heads on original equipment 3mm screws that hold the x carriage guide interfered with the mount so I replaced them with button head screws (and worked the mount some more with the Dremel).
I am using Hexagon hotends with 2 micro fans like the one used on the standard Lulzbot printhead. With the modifications noted, the dual extruder works very well.
Second the comment on trying a new different filament. It’s helped with another dual I was having trouble with
A desk fan pointed at the hotends can help with heat creep
I’d be interested in seeing details of the mods to use the hexagon hotends.
I’ve tried different filaments and I have had some success with abs, but this current run requires PLA and pva.
Pva with a fan is a nightmare.
Again, I feel software and hardware for the dual extruder is unfinished. Fans are a requirement. And if fans are a requirement, so it software support to control them. BOTH of them.
I’m slicing in cura and printing in astroprint. I’m not using the astroprint cloud.
My next plan is to build a hexagon dual extruder. I’d love to see some pictures of yours that you have built! Maybe share some instructions for the build?
The amount of time I have been involved in 3d printing is measured in years. I have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing. Everything in my original comment stands.
I was responding based on the sparse information in your first post.
If you’d provided more information first, I would have responded differently, rather than starting with “the basics”.
How about more info:
- Printer model
- More printhead information beyond “phonedual”. I’m assuming this is a typo for Lulzbot Dually, based on the extruder pictured and $500 comment, but I could be wrong. It could also be a Lulzbot FlexyDually, or actually a “phonedual” (which is not easily web search-able)
- What filament you were using beyond PLA, and if you’d tried a different fresh roll.
- What firmware version you used that is “junk”
Help us help you…
First let me ask you, where in this thread was I asking for help? This was simply a review of my experience with the dual extruder.
I applaud you for your keen reasoning skills for figuring out “phonedual” was a typo. This is a skill rarely found on internet forums. I must say though, that is where your impressiveness ends as we all know, there is only one dual extruder. The difference between that the flexy, and the dual flexy being a small insert where the filament goes in to stop flexible filament from binding.
Seeing as I’m using PLA and ABS it seems it would be reasonable for most (as others have) you could have figured this out without posting such a asinine and unhelpful comment.
To answer your questions that did have a bit of merit to them for anyone that is interested…
For PLA I have used velleman, gizmo dorks, E3D, and something else I got at microcenter.
The last firmware I tried was the double extruder firmware labeled double fan support (or something along those lines)
Chris, I apologize for coming off as asisnine in my second post. I think you’d agree there’s nothing asisnine in my first post.
If you don’t want help, please be more clear about that. I honestly was trying to help in my first post, and you posted a somewhat biting response.
