this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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I'm thinking of building a new printer and would love to be able to make 2 color prints or dissolvable supports. Does anyone have any experience with this. I see 3 paths.

  1. Two hot ends Pros: Most robust No retraction or filament waste Cons: Alignment issues. Reduced travel Dragging nozzle

  2. Dual filament hot end(taichi style) Pros: Easy to mount No offsets Cons: Jamming? Long retraction

  3. Y splitter Pros: easy to mount No offset Compatible with any hot end Cons jamming Super long retraction

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

May I ask what is Y splitter? Is that DIY version of 2.?

I would add 4. Idex printer and 5. mmu. Maybe even 6. manual filament swap (its what I use haha) and 7. Sharpie hack (rofl)

I never seriously considered getting one myself, but interested a lot. Following..

Edit: typo

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Filament swap is not really a valid alternative when it comes to something like wanting dissolving supports. It's only realistic if you want to change the color or material for a fairly large consecutive portion of a print. Otherwise you're going to have to swap out the filament every layer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sharpie hack is also not a valid alternative hehe. These 2 were more like a joke, but for simple designs manual swap works like a charm. Swapping filament every layer would be honest work tho

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've had my eye on this one ever since I saw it on Reddit years ago: https://www.3dchameleon.com/

It uses switches on the z-axis to kick off the filament change, not sure how it deals with stretched filament.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Interesting, thx for sharing

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Y splitter is something that goes in the middle of the Bowden tube to allow two extruders. Its similar to #2 but allows you to use any hot end.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do you handle long uneven and "streched" filament end after full retraction? Sounds like 2. in hard mode

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

IDK, thats why I asked.