We’ve been playing around with some of the developing dual extruder modifications, and it’s been AWESOME. We’re currently working on a redesign of 1013’s excellent dual extruder mount (https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/taz-dual-extruder-mod-files/142/1). Stay tuned for a drop in dual extruder kit for your printing pleasure.
Dual extrusion lets you do all kinds of neat things; two-tone parts are just the beginning. You can print with a secondary support material like HIPS that will dissolve away cleanly. You can mount extruders with different size nozzles; allowing you to print with ultra fine detail on the surface while gobbing the infill in at high speed with a second larger diameter noz. People have even printed rudimentary circuits with dual nozzle setups (blog.reprap.org/2012/04/some-more-printed-circuitry.html).
Looks nice! I never considered the different nozzle size aspect. that could come in really handy. Much better than my initial idea of “red licorice filliament in one, chocolate fillaiment in the other” and print candy!
Maybe not the right thread for this question, but I’ll ask it here anyways. Have you guys ever considered putting some sort of printer ink cartridge and print head into a 3d printer so you could “paint” it after you make something? The multiple colors got me thinking along those lines.
This is looking great! I’m really looking forward to picking up one of the dual extrusion kits when you have them ready. The TAZ is great already, but this upgrade will be an excellent addition.
We’ve been making some progress on the lulzbot dual extruder. It’s now a drop in replacement for the single extruder (you’ll need to remove and replace a single M3 bolt, but that’s it!). We’re toying around with some slick undercarriage ducting for the fan to eliminate oozing, and modifications to the wiring to clean up the appearance.
There are still quite a few tweaks planned, but here are some images (previews came through upside down, but images are flipped when opened in a new tab) and part files if you’d like to follow along.
Is that a standard 40mm fan? looks thicker than the one I got from the lulzbot site.
I like the multi-part design. separating the hot end mounting plate from the backing plate should make printing easier.
you certainly took my design to the next level…nice.
As a computer guy I can confirm that is not a standard 40mm x 10mm fan. It’s either a 40 x 20 or a 40 x 28mm. You can get larger ones from Performance-pcs or similar places.
It is a 40x20mm fan, we’re currently testing with pla to see if that amount of cooling is necessary to stop oozing, or if we can go with something lighter duty (or possibly no fan at all with enough retraction!)
The design is still in development, but if anyone wants to give it a shot we have the freeCAD source files, stl, gcode, BOM and assembly instructions up at http://devel.lulzbot.com/TAZ/Dual_Extruder-TAZ/
Heyo. We’ve got a new version out, 0.75. We modified the design to accept standard extruders or our new flexystruder, while cutting the weight from 1.46kg (version 0.5) to 0.86kg!
I’ve been running Version 0.75 for a couple weeks now, and all the major bugs have been worked out. An updated bill of materials and set of assembly instructions have been posted, in addition to the firmware update you’ll need.
I’m using standard greg’s wade extruders as well as flyexystruders on the Version 0.75. It looks like there’s room for 1013’s moved motor version as well, and it should give you a teensy bit more X travel. We went with the std. extruder to keep assembly a bit easier, the m4 nuts used to mount the extruder are pretty inaccessible on the motor moved version when the motor is mounted.
We’ve got a fresh redesign of the Dual Extruder that’s easier and just generally better. Take a look at Version 0.9 (we’re getting super close to an official release!).
After a few weeks of testing, we found that version 0.75 of the dual extruder tended to drift out of calibration. The main culprit was the 2 point z-leveling system; even a small difference in the height of the 2 leveling screws will start to show up in the print after a few heat cycles.
The new version uses a single centered leveling screw (more like a dial now); and flexes both extruders together, rather than flexing between the extruders. We’re super excited about the results, and hope you will be too.
I’ve previously downloaded the parts for the dual extruder and printed them, but now the link above isn’t working anymore and I need the details around instructions, etc. Any ideas what’s up with the URL, or is there a new one?