Prusa i3 Dual Nozzle?

Hi guys, I'm thinking about upgrading my Prusa i3 to a dual nozzle set up like this one: [www.youtube.com]

The hardware is not a problem but I'm confused about the software chain. First of all, do I have to modify the Marlin firmware in order to recognize the second extruder? The only thing I see that could be relevant is

"
// Offset of the extruders (uncomment if using more than one and relying on firmware to position when changing).
// The offset has to be X=0, Y=0 for the extruder 0 hotend (default extruder).
// For the other hotends it is their distance from the extruder 0 hotend.
// #define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_X {0.0, 20.00} // (in mm) for each extruder, offset of the hotend on the X axis
// #define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_Y {0.0, 5.00}
"

Has anyone done this before?

Also, I dont see an option on Pronterface to control a second extruder at all.

Finally, in terms of Slic3r, how do I assign part of the STL to a specific nozzle?

Sorry for all these questions I just didn't find anything valid online after many hours of search. Hope someone has done this and could point me to the right direction, thanks.

If you have a RAMPS board you will need to set the board type in configuration.h to 34 so that it will see the fan power output as the power for the second extruder. You will also need to set the number of extruders:

#define EXTRUDERS 2

You will need to set the offset between the two extruders, as you've mentioned above.

I think that's everything you need to get dual extruders going with the firmware, but once you've got everything wired up, make sure you test to see that you're getting thermistor readings from everywhere you need it.

There's a good diagram on how to wire everything to RAMPS here (reprap wiki).

Re Pronterfrace, you can add custom buttons to the UI to do the most common things, such as checking and setting extruder temperatures. The premise behind using multiple extruders in gcode is to first select the extruder using T1 to select your first extruder or T2 the second, then set or check the temp on the selected extruder using M105 / M104 S100 (100 being the temp in celsius) respectively.

Re Slic3r, this is how I understand the process (YMMV and check the Slic3r site for further info and tutorials):

1. Open the Printer Settings tab in Slic3r and set the number of extruders under the General section (make sure you're in Expert mode first).
2. You should then see Extruders 1 and 2 in Printer settings. Configure each.
3. Create a separate Filament configuration for each filament you're loading into your printer. Go back to the Plater tab and look at Filament on the right-hand side; you'll see there are two combo boxes there now in stead of one. Select your filaments in each (first is extruder 1; second is extruder 2).
4. Create one STL file for each material / extruder you are printing with. This is the conceptually difficult bit. For example, if you have a cube you want to print the left half in red and the right in purple, create two half-cubes with origin coordinates set so that they appear side-by-side. If you're using Inventor, you can create an object with multiple materials and export a multi-material AMF to make things a bit simpler.
5. If you're using two STL files, use File / Combine Multiple Material STL Files to load them in to Slic3r.
6. Export gcode from Slic3r, load into your printer and print.
7. ???
8. Profit!

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[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.

Correction: the latest version of pronterface has native support for multiple extruders. Go to Settings / Options in the pronterface menu and increase Extruders count (near the bottom of the window). Restart pronterface and you'll see a new Tool button to the left of the Extrude button. Click on it and it'll cycle through your extruders, allowing you to then extrude / retract / set temp for each in turn.

---

[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.

Quote
myohmy11
Hi guys, I'm thinking about upgrading my Prusa i3 to a dual nozzle set up like this one: [www.youtube.com]

The hardware is not a problem but I'm confused about the software chain. First of all, do I have to modify the Marlin firmware in order to recognize the second extruder? The only thing I see that could be relevant is

"
// Offset of the extruders (uncomment if using more than one and relying on firmware to position when changing).
// The offset has to be X=0, Y=0 for the extruder 0 hotend (default extruder).
// For the other hotends it is their distance from the extruder 0 hotend.
// #define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_X {0.0, 20.00} // (in mm) for each extruder, offset of the hotend on the X axis
// #define EXTRUDER_OFFSET_Y {0.0, 5.00}
"

myohmy,

Did you do the upgrade successfully ? I am working on dual extruder upgrade for HICTOP Prusa i3
Was wondering if you have any good extruder mount for E3D Chimera ? and also the firmware upgrade, kindly post pictures or steps..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2015 09:25PM by warankarp.

Hi guys,

I had to deal with dual extrusion for weeks !

IMHO, you shoud not minimize hardware factors to get best results.
First, you want a nozzle height adjustment at last on one nozzle.
Best choice is E3D Chimera (or chinese clone), or the dual Rework for Hexagon by Emotion-Tech on Thingiverse.

Seccond, you should consider the double X carriage to avoid oozing issues.
There's exemples from Buildrob or recently from BCN 3D.
An alternative is to build a catching wall, which is pretty well done by Simplify3D.

++JM

I am in the middle of dual MK8 heads. I need to adjust the height of the last one, one more time. I have a feeling I can clearly see the nightmares as they unfold.
But I will try my best. Then I can move on to testing the thermocouples.