One problem is going to be supporting good support material. Everything I've seen so far "only" requires a hot lye bath to remove the support material or some other too-nasty-for-most process.
If there's something as stiff as ABS that can be printed and is also room temp. water soluble and non-toxic, I'd be quite happy.
On 6/13/12 12:15, Matt Stultz wrote:
Slic3r has experimental support for dual extrusion with a dedicated head for support material. Dual extrusion is nice and these extruders look like they could make it much easier for RepRap printers. Thanks, Matt On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 11:28 AM, j. eric townsend <jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote: Background: I have a Mk7 right now and I am not happy with it. The tension system is such a joke that I replicated the Mk6 adjustable tension system on the first day. Since then it's repeatedly jammed, when i talked to Mets about it he thought there might be some tiny scratches inside the extruder. I bought some .35mm and .4mm drills to try and clean it up or make a new extruder nozzle. Right now dual just gets you two colors, not a pro-level supporting system for making complex prints. So while this dual looks cool, I'd like to see a bunch of other people using it without any problems. I've just spent way too much money on parts and designs that failed early on as there had been no field testing. On 6/13/12 11:14, Jeremy Herrman wrote: What do you guys think about using this extruder for our yet to be built printer? http://www.kickstarter.com/__projects/qu-bd/open-source-__universal-3d-printer-extruder-__dual-ext <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qu-bd/open-source-universal-3d-printer-extruder-dual-ext> There are "rewards" for both single and dual extruders with either resistor or cartridge heaters. The dual extruder with resistor heating is $98 - half the price of a Makerbot MK7 single extruder. Looks like it would be compatible with pretty much every newer printer out there. And should ship as soon as the the pledging period is over (July). - Jeremy On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 1:30 PM, j. eric townsend <jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>>> wrote: This is part of the reason I think it's not a simple question and actual experience with bots is part of the question. 2 Comparing the pint quality of your first generation Cupcake to MakerGear's finely tuned sales tool demo unit is pretty absurd. Of course his first-generation Mosaic was "tuned", just like any production unit taken to a show by a company selling things. MakerBot, Stratasys, etc, would have also brought a tuned box for demos. However, my "first generation Cupcake" was hardly that. It runs on a Mega, TOM/Gen4 electronics, beefed up replacement steppers from Lin, bigger power supply, and uses a Mk6 extruder with a custom temperature chart. About the only parts that are FG Cupcake are the case and the Z-plate and the fasteners. This is why I asked on the reprap-dev list something like, "which one is easiest to hack/modify/test for a club or school?" The Cupcake was easy to assemble and turn on but modifying it has been a challenge for me some days given how many parts are stuffed into a tiny wooden box. I'm willing to at least look at MakerGear's products and designs having seen the effort he puts into cranking out a good product. Personally I don't see much "hate" for him on the reprap-dev list and there are plenty of MakerGear parts on Thingiverse and the M2 has some promise. Sure, MakerGear is selling Reprap clones (and a bunch of other stuff), but it's in a very competitive market. If you look at the lists on reprap.org <http://reprap.org> <http://reprap.org> and on ebay he has lots of competition from everyone from grad students to "Chinese pirates" as some describe them. -- J. Eric Townsend design: www.allartburns.org <http://www.allartburns.org> <http://www.allartburns.org>; hacking: www.flatline.net <http://www.flatline.net> <http://www.flatline.net>; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 -- J. Eric Townsend design: www.allartburns.org <http://www.allartburns.org>; hacking: www.flatline.net <http://www.flatline.net>; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8
-- J. Eric Townsend design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8
