Is Anyone doing research into dual head RepRap?

Did you try the existent dual extruder Marlin firmware mod (X2) with the replicator?
[github.com]
I've been printing with it for a while and it is pretty solid. It might save some time. If there is any compatibility issue I can probably fix it prety fast.

BTW, there is now a GUI frontend for the script merging G-code files in the sofware bundle for the dual extruder X2 machines:
[github.com]

I found that using replicator G will not work because of the way their coding works with the extruders.

Basically I am using Printrun with special made buttons in the program to control the dual heads. I can upload a video of the dual head printing, but it works great. The only thing I need to figure out now is getting just the support material to print on the second head.

The firmware is Marlin v2. It is very easy to set up. Use Ramps to control the two extruders. Cura can slice files for the Dual head, and they are close to slicing the support for the second extruder.

Probably will set up a Youtube for the videos. Will get back to ya'll in a few

This firmware seems to be out of date. I will see if I can see what I am missing from the latest RC2 from Erik. I would like to keep using the latest firmware and make manual changes as necessary.



dob71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did you try the existent dual extruder Marlin
> firmware mod (X2) with the replicator?
> [github.com]
> I've been printing with it for a while and it is
> pretty solid. It might save some time. If there is
> any compatibility issue I can probably fix it
> prety fast.
>
> BTW, there is now a GUI frontend for the script
> merging G-code files in the sofware bundle for the
> dual extruder X2 machines:
> [github.com]

---

Jeff Christiana

Here is a Youtube video of the first Dual Head Printer I made. I have change the design a lot since then, but haven't had a chance to record more videos.

Thanks guys

[www.youtube.com]

There are a lot of commits and small improvements in the standard Marlin, but I didn't yet see features that would look valuable enough to do the merge. They are still working on the same version of the code my changes went into. I'll probably do the merge eventually when they release from Marlin_v1 or better they might pull in the changes. I've already done the merge a few months back and submitted the pull request (https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/pull/27), but the chance to do an easy merge was missed and there are a lot of differences again.
I'd rather spend time merging everything and have the multiple extruder code in the standard Marlin, but I'm not sure they have high priority for the multiple extruders feature of maybe just don't have hardware to test it on. They are probably working w/ Ultimaker, at least that seems like what was the main target for the firmware in the first place.

BTW, I'm testing another set of changes (not yet pushed). One of them is for M109 option to wait for all extruders to reach the target temperature. The latter is for experimenting with lowering the idle extruder temperature. I'm hoping it can help solve the PLA leaking from the idle hotend that becomes a big problem when extruder has to be idle for a long time and then print a very small feature. Did anybody try something like that?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2012 02:04PM by dob71.

When I observe my nozzle as it heats up to operating temperature, it always oozes if it's in the air. I've learned to have the nozzle at z=0 before I start heating the nozzle so that the bed acts as a cover and prevents ooze. I don't see how lowering and raising the nozzle temperature would prevent the idle extruder from oozing unless you have a cover over it.

Here is the situation is I'm trying to deal with. When extruder 1 is printing extruder 0 is slowly leaking PLA. Let say it takes a minute for the extruder 1 to print its part of the layer before extruder 0 has to start printing its own. In that case it might be better to lower the extruder 0 temperature about 30 degrees down while the extruder 1 is printing and then reheat it back before it is its turn to do the job again. It's a big time penalty, but might be worth it.
Even better way would be to cover the nozzles whille adjusting the temperatures, but that requires a little hardware mod.

@DOB71


Do you have retraction set for the extruder tool change? Use
3-5 mm retract which will have to be set in the extruder tool change gcode area

The problem is that retract doesn't remove all the plastic from the nozzle area in the hotend. PLA also stretches a lot inside when retracting. Even though there is no more pressure the remains are still oozing through the nozzle. ABS is better in this regard, but I'm interested in printing PLA w/ PVA support and both of those appear to be prone to leaking regardless of the retract.

The experiments with lowering temperature didn't give any good results yet. Too much is leaked while the temperature is being adjusted. I'm planning to either print a small parking object that would be used to plug the nozzles and stabilize the flow after extruder change or just lower the nozzles down to the platform level. Maybe that will make it work better.

Switching to smaller nozzles might also help.

The next version of Slic3r will contain some basic support for dual extrusion. Full support is in my plans

Sound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The next version of Slic3r will contain some basic
> support for dual extrusion. Full support is in my
> plans

Awesome! I am currently printing and assembling my dual extruder

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Help improve the RepRap wiki! Just click "Edit" in the top-right corner of the page and start typing. Anyone can edit the wiki!

Here are the results of a few experiments with lowering idele nozzle temperature when printing with 2 extruders. The PLA oozing was pretty much eliminated when temperature of the idle nozzle was lowered 40 degrees. The "parking" object solved the problem of oozing during the temperature change. It is quite time consuming though. Here are the pictures comparing results of printing the same test object with and without temperature adjustments (PLA of different colors):
[www.okob.net]

I still can't get PVA to print reliably (10-15min max and a piece of it plugs the nozzle and since it is soft extrufer grinds through it), so not sure how adjusting the temperatures will work for PLA+PVA printing.

sumpod.com has a dual extruder machine - has done for some time now, though I've yet to hear much feedback about it.

The latest MARLIN firmware (2-2-2013) has lots of dual head support now. I can display the temps of both heads. In repg The control panel still does not move both print heads. If I create a blank gcode and type T1 or T0 and press print. Then from control panel in ReplicatorG I can control the one I typed and printer with. For some reason ReplicatorG is ignoreing the T1 or T1 that I see it send when I am debugging. Anyway. I can now control both heads and print with both heads.

My problem right now is my offsets. I tried to add this to the support_start and the support_end file. I have The following:

this is the start

T1
G1 X-20 F5000

This is the end

T0
G1 X+20 F5000


I am trying to move it to the left when T1 is activated and move it to the right when T0 is activated.

What is happening is it is trying to go to -20 coordinates or +20 coordinates.

So what I need is the ability to Add +20 to the gcode or -20 to the gcode/

Has anyone figured this out?

I am running RepG 40 and Skeinforge 50 with the latest MARLIN firmware.

I see that Makerbot puts their offset in the Machine.xml file. I have also read about it being in the firmware. I have not seen this in MARLIN yet. And the last place is to put the code in skeinforge…

Thanks

Jeff

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2013 11:01AM by Adventure.

Not sure if the re-positioning is merged to the latest Marlin.
Try [github.com] (to clone run "git clone -b m git://github.com/dob71/Marlin.git")
The instructions are here: [www.okob.net] and README.md in the code.
Setting the offsets are done in the configuration using EXTRUDER_OFFSET_X and EXTRUDER_OFFSET_Y
defines or using M208 command. Example: "M208 T0 X0.00 Y0.00", "M208 T1 X20.00 Y10.00" is equivalent of
#define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_X {0.0, 20.00}
#define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_Y {0.0, 10.00}
in the config.

Readme excerpt about extruder change:
T_num_ [F_num_] [S_num_] - changes the extruder. The feedrate might be set to reposition the extruder and specify at what speed. If "F" is not present the coordinates are adjusted, but the move is not performed. "S" allows to choose what E position the just selected extruder should start from (_num_ - the extruder number to pick the last position from). If "S" is not specified the last known position for the new selected extruder is used. For example, if Skeinforge generates support using absolute coordinates and you want it to be printed using extruder 1 while the object is printed using extruder 0, use "T1 S0" to start support printing and "T0 S1" to go go back to the object printing. Alternatively, If you have gcode for extrider 0 and 1 generated separately and then mixed just use T0 and T1 to switch between the extruders.

I'm not aware about compatibility with RepG.
You can try X2SW bundle. The info is here: [github.com]
This has everything bundled in. The available slicers are slic3r and Skeinforge. The frontend UI is Pronterface. Everything is modded for using dual extruder machines (when it asks you what profile to use after the install, pick one under "RepRap/X2" and use as a the starting point).

Another thing to try is using Slic3r with your current firmware. Slic3r has options for extruder offset.

I am looking into if the changes were merged into the latest MARLIN firmware. I see this in the configuration.h but not in the main firmware release.

#define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_X {0.0, 21.68} // (in mm) per extruder, offset of the extruder on the X axis
#define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_Y {0.0, 0.64} // (in mm) per extruder, offset of the extruder on the Y axis

Are you the creator of this? I see that you have added many changes to the X2 MARLIN release. I also see Bernard was the original creator and has not update this for quite some time.

Do you have all the changes that you made in order to allow the statements above to work? I would like to intergrate them into the current MARLIN firmware.

I have a dual head printer that I have been printing with for some time. I want to actualy use them at the same time now to print support material or print two colors. My last item is the offset issue.



RepG40
Skeinforge50
Firmware MARLIN as of 2-2-2012

Jeff

Hello,
Some might find this of interestMendel
trustytrev

All the features on the X2 branch are working.
If you'd like to merge the changes to the mainstream, that would be great.
I was planning to do from the start, check the comments here:
[github.com]

Andrew Diehl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've done some experimenting with limonene and
> HIPS, and have not have very good results,
> unfortunately
>
> Limonene takes forever to dissolve HIPS, and
> mostly just makes it gummy. It's also a pain to
> wash off the part (and is somewhat expensive.)

[www.adafruit.com]
So it takes a day minimum?

Some pics from Dual-Bowden printing


The printer is a HUGO (PrintrBot clone). The Hotend is a "V3" from Reprap-fab.org
Firmware is Repetier 0.81 with Slic3r and RepetierHost


Achim

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2013 11:50AM by jsturm.

I'm new to 3d printing stuff

i've made my 1st 3D printing machine in single nozzle...

Can one help in programming side for making dual nozzle dual extruder 3D printer.

You didn't say what electronics or firmware you are using. But this is how I converted my Ormerod to dual nozzle: [miscsolutions.wordpress.com].

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Marlin already fully supports dual nozzles and even dual X setup. I use it for my current project
[www.youtube.com]
There is no need to redo it

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

If you decide to go dual consider biting the bullet and making it dual X carriage (vs having both hotends on the same X carriage). Something like the previous poster showed or this:
http://www.okob.net/projects/reprap_x2v3/default.htm
instead of this:
http://www.okob.net/projects/reprap/default.htm

The firmware changes are all there. I'm using my own mod for Marlin (Marlin X2) that was written before mainstream had support for independently moving X-carriages, but the concept is the same. X2 has more flexible dual extruder support, a few other tweaks and slightly different command set, but testing is limited to RAMPS 1.4 electronics and I'm only merging from mainstream if find it necessary:
http://www.okob.net/projects/reprap_x2v3/firmware.htm

thanks to all for your reply,,

i've already using my arduino mega2560 ramps1.4 single nozzle

from this circuit i wanna go for dual nozzle dual extruder....