Curious what you experienced 3D Printing people think of this:
Realize the limitation of different melt point materials, but it looks pretty cool that using different colors of the same material/supplier could generate some pretty clean multi color designs…if it pans out as they hope in practice. Look as though they are getting close…
Basicaly, thats the basic idea of the Cyclops (multi color with 1 nozzle) and some further development…
My 2 cents:
I think there will be a very small market if they stay at 800$ for a device with 4 colors, especialy if you can have 2 colors for 90£ with the small drawback to go bowden. It would be very intresting to see how easy it is to calibrate the system and how precise the color changes can be made. I miss some high res. pictures of example prints on their side.
But it’s an interesting solution! Sometimes I’m thinking about how to solve this problem in a different way. Like a CNC machine can automaticaly swap it’s milling tool, why a 3D printer shouldn’t be able to change the used filament on its own? The procedure could be as followed:
.) For a color change, move to a safety position where the nozzle isn’t oozing on the part.
.) A servo could unlock the clamping of the filament inside the extruder (if it’s direct drive like the TAZ)
.) A second extruder placed beside the printer (inside a “filament hub”?) clutch in and completely unretracts the filament
.) The unused filament ends are hold inside grip tongs on a sledge. This slidge slides to the position of the new filament, the second extruder grabs it and feeds it to the extruder.
.) Purge 10mm of filament to get a nice color change and continue printing.
Maybe more moving technic, but you don’t need to know before when a colore change have to happen. A trigger signal from the Rambo would be enough…