I am at an impasse, I cannot find a 3D print head that extrudes pellets instead of filament that is:

• Affordable

• Reliable

• Actually for sale

• Has sellers that respond

I've been trying to contact www.Mahor.xyz & www.direct3d.it & https://dyzedesign.com/pulsar-pellet-extruder/ all to no avail.

The last one I am asking to become a beta tester.

I am building a large scale 3D printer (Cartesian) with a build volume of 1450x1450x1000. Printing large objects with filament is not only slow, but incredibly expensive. I could buy a filastruder, but again, slow.

I was thinking about building my own, there are projects out there that have a partially printed mechanism driven by a NEMA 17 and in to a Chinese auger, I'm just trying to find a pre-fab solution that's sub $400.

Any thoughts? Leads? Rumors? Legends or quests that I can embark on?

TIA.

Project from Tom Lauerman, Professor of Art, School of Visual Arts, Penn State University, USA.

https://wikifactory.com/@tom/stories/du … pring-2019

I am printing with a Makerbot replicator 2X and makerbot desktop
.2 mm layer thickness 3shells  and 30% infill.
the Case is 3mm thick so the inlay is about 1.5mm thick.
I slowed the speed down about 50% and am running a temp of 240°
110°bed temp.

Thanks
Dale

Can someone help me figure out where this switch is happening at?  Is it in the .gcode that extruder 1 is being switched to Tool 1?

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I found these instructions a year or two back and I'm not sure anymore who originally posted them, but I didn't see them in any of the threads so I'll post them here:

HOW TO PRINT IN WITH 2 FILAMENTS!
Instructions(How to Print in 2 or more Filaments)
I use Slic3r version 0.910b, and these instructions apply to that version. The following instructions apply to printing an object which is made with two different materials, two different colors of filament for example. The OpenSCAD process and the amf file creation, as explained below, are not necessary if all you need is a different support material.
Before we can slice an object for dual extrusion, we need to have a separate stl file for each section. The sections must have the same origin and orientation. One suggested approach is to create the object with OpenSCAD using two different colors to distinguish the two sections, then export each section separately as an stl. Look at the OpenSCAD file for an example.
Slic3r (I'm using version 0.9.10b) can handle a new format called amf ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_M … ile_Format ) which represents different materials. Since OpenSCAD doesn't export this format, Slic3r conveniently includes the ability to make a file with that format starting with two stls. It is clearest to think of this as a stand-alone utility within Slic3r since it is unrelated to any other Slic3r functions. To use it, select Combine multi-material STL files from the File menu. Select the two files you want to combine. You can select them both at once or one at a time. When you have no more files to select, choose cancel to complete the step. Then choose a file name for the amf file. Do not change the file type â € “ leave it as .amf.xml. Note that the first file selected will be printed with the first extruder. Also note that you do not need to do this to use support material. The resulting .amf.xml file behaves like an stl file. It must be brought into the Slic3r Plater and sliced as described in a few paragraphs.
Parameters for dual extrusion are specified in three sections of Slic3r. Under the Multiple Extruders page of the Print Settings tab, Slic3r assigns extruders to applications. With two extruders, either may be assigned to print perimeters, infill, or support. Notice that the extruders are referred to by numbers 1 and 2, not 0 and 1. Don't worry, Slic3r generates the correct g-code.
Under the Printer Settings tab, first increment the Extruders value on the General page to 2. You should then have an Extruder Two page on which you can set up your second extruder. Set the Extruder Offset value to 0 in X and Y directions. These values will be adjusted as you calibrate. On the Custom G-code page, you may want to specify g-code that will turn off your extruders when the print is done. Put M104 T0 S0 in the End G-code section to set the target temperature of Extruder 1 to 0. Duplicate the line with T1 instead of T0 to do the same for Extruder 2. (Sorry about the confusing numbering â € “ no way around it.)
If that last bit was confusing, brace yourself for the Filament Settings tab! On this tab, we must use the Filament page to specify diameter and temperature settings for the filaments for the two extruders. But notice you have space to set up for only one extruder's filament! The answer is to create an individual configuration file with the applicable settings for each filament. Enter the values for one filament and notice that the modified flag appears on the name bar. Enter all the necessary values, then click the disk icon. Enter an identifying name for this configuration in the Save Preset file box, then click save. The names you enter will be available in the drop down menus. When you have created entries for all the filaments you want to use (at least two), then use the Export Config entry on the File menu to save all the entries.
Now it's time to use our Slic3r settings and our .amf.xml file to create the g-code file for printing. In Slic3r, on the Plater tab, locate the second Filament drop down block and find the entry for the filament used in your second extruder. You should end up with two configuration entries for your two filaments. Now use the Add... button to bring your .amf.xml file into the Plater. We'll start simple with just a single instance, so click Export g-code... to create the g-code file. You always have to use this method to re-slice, but you don't need to create a new .amf.xml version. IMPORTANT: It won't work to simply load an stl or .amf.xml file directly into Pronterface. You must use Slic3r to create the g-code file and load that.
Once the g-code file is created, you may want to view it with Repetier host. It uses two colors to show how the extrusion will be done with two extruders. This is extremely helpful when trying to check results from slicing experiments. It works for dual extrusions where a second extruder is used only for support material as well. The offset you specify for the extruders will separate the two sections. Keep that in mind as you view your part. If it looks OK, you can load it into Pronterface, and prepare to print in the usual manner. Be sure to load your g-code file, nothing else.
Wow! That seems like a hugely complicated process just to do a dual extrusion. But it's really not that bad after a little practice. For comparison, look back at ScribbleJ's original dual extrusion piece ( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6632 ). This is way simpler.
Now let's proceed to calibration. To calibrate your dual extruder, slice the object (as described above) with zero offset in the X and Y direction specified in Slic3r and print it. Measure the X and Y distance from any two points that should be conjunct and put the values in for the X and Y offsets, and go through the slicing process again. If either offset of the second nozzle from the first is nearer the origin, then the offset will be negative. I have a hard time getting this right the first time, but a quick test will tell you what the correct signs are.
The pictures show examples of my calibration steps. I measured the offsets from my first test (not shown since the two sections were far apart) and got the result in the first picture on the next try. Notice the small gap along one edge. I adjusted by 1mm and got the second result. I then adjusted again, but got the sign wrong yielding the third picture. The fourth picture shows the final result with a satisfactory calibration. My adjustments were as small as 0.3mm.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

currently I am a little thing to do when trying out with a 0.2mm airbrush nozzle that.
The here are the prints that I made today.

The geco is printed with PLA and a layer height of 0.1 mm, the small just 5 minutes and the large after 45 minutes was finished.

But I have so even large characters printed as this dragon with 378mm height.

The course I also printed in small.

greetings Edwin

I'm gonna go with a bunch of extruders, probably on the order of five or more.  What I want to know is this:

I see that in slic3r you can specify support material extruders, outer wall extruders, infill extruders, all separate. Good.

I also see that you can specify different parts of the stl to be different materials! Also good.

Here is what I want to know, can you do both of those things at the same time?  Can you have your different extruder for dissolvable support material and then one nozzle is normal abs, then one is ninjaflex, and then the ninjaflex one always infills the ninjaflex sections, but the dissolvable only prints the dissolvable support, and I can have one or two of the main abs extruders working on the abs section?

my arrangement that I've been thinking of is as follows:

1 e3d volcano for dissolvable support.
1 specialty material extruder, also e3d, for strange filaments such as nylon or ninjaflex
2 normal extruders for 2 colors of normal abs
1 volcano for high thickness high speed infill or high speed, high strength structural prints in normal abs

The way everything is worded it appears that I can have nozzles set to their own jobs for one material prints, OR I can have different nozzles do different materials, but not both?

I attempted to redesign the fan mount so it would overlap the hot end by some to shield it from blast of air but that quickly failed because some parts would blast the air straight up and from all sides allover.

So i thought: Hmmmm INSULATION ?
I used aluminum duct tape and fiberglass insulation roll piece by piece wrapped around the hotend.
The tape glue stinks as it heats up (i suspect all sorts of toxic fumes come from that tape sticky side), so clearly its not the ideal way, but i already ordered another insulation tape from ebay and will give it a go very soon.
I will also try to wrap another hotend i have (from China, but aren't they all from there ?) with that yellow tape (kapton)

Results are AMAZING !!!!!! (so far with fiberglass and alum tape)
Hotend temperature is more stable. It heats up faster.
Because i can have 2 fans blow at 100%, PLA cools down instantly making the print as perfect as it could get (with what i have)
Print quality has jumped from good to gooder !
Allot of difficult areas of the print are now getting done easier with less artifacts and nearly perfect result.
Overhangs and bridges. Open holes are not nearly as problematic as before. (not a big fan of support print)

Print speed was at 50mm/s and u could go 70 but i needed as much accuracy as i could for this part.
Slight drip at the very top (see picture) but not as bad as before.

Keep in mind that this is a 100% solid print and its not warped and has no pealed off corners anywhere. Its as straight as it should be.

I'm just wondering if there are any others here with a nozzle addiction I'm brand new to 3D printing, and brand new to my machine. I look forward to sharing!

1. I can manually force extruder T1 to print single filament prints by manually altering the start g code. When in slicr you can designate which extruder but I am apparently missing something to make it work automatically select the proper extruder and it just goes to the T that is set in the g code. Is there a g code that will tell it to use said extruder set to part x when you slice it?

2. Obviously Extruder T0 centers to the build plate. When I force change my G code to T1 to use the second extruder instead, where do I change my offset to shift it to the center of the build plate? It will use T1 but will still center it on the T0 extruder thus printing the part off tot he left. Not a huge problem if the part is relatively small but if it is not then it is going to print it off the plate and fail the print fast.

So what's in the Legends Package?
Everything you need to set up either the Cyclops single nozzle dual extruder or the more traditional Dual nozzle dual extruder.  Complete with heat cartridges and thermistors for both arrangements.  This comes in handy when you break the leads off of one of the heat cartridges

I started my install by doing a complete inventory of the parts included in the package.  Then I did a complete read through of the assembly instruction from E3d.  http://wiki.e3d-online.com/wiki/Cyclops … umentation
Once I was comfortable in my understanding of the process I began assembly following the directions to the letter.  I did find a couple areas of the instructions to be slightly out of order but nothing too confusing to be concerned about.  Just follow the assembly instructions carefully and everything goes together rather smoothly.

Time to heat up and tighten properly.

Then finish the assembly.

Next up was installing the Cyclops on the printer.
For this I made and posted a mount in another thread http://www.soliforum.com/topic/9077/kra … era-mount/
At this time I would like to mention that I need to make some changes to that mount but it does function fine.  It just isn't as good as it should be but for now will have to work.

And a quick test extrude to verify things are working properly

Now that the easy stuff was done I needed to figure out how to make use of this thing.  Being new to the area of Bowden drives along with Multi-extrusion I called in the help of a couple users you may all be familiar with IronMan and Jagowilson.
First up IronMan:  After all I just want to test this thing out and I had no idea how to merge .stl's but I knew he did.  So as a shortcut I asked him to create and generate G-code that fit my printers parameters.  Thank You IronMan!!!
Easy enough right? Just load the code and click run!  Not so fast.  First you need to update the configuration.h by enabling the second extruder and setting the temps and thermistor.
Here's the biggest hurdle and fortunately for you (and me) the hard work has now been done.  At this point I am trying to figure a way to extrude with 2 motors using only one heater and one thermistor (think "Cold Extrusion Prevented").
Well since I had a spare V5 now that had what I needed, I simply plugged it into the pins for the second extruder. 
This clearly wasn't a long term solution but I was so excited to see this thing work!!!!!
Well work it did... I loaded the code IronMan sent me and clicked run.
This is what I saw

This was great except I had this very serious issue of an E3d V5 bolted to the back of my printer sticking out like a hot spear.
I needed to find a permanent solution via firmware to lie to the board about the temp of the second extruder.  Knowing not nearly enough about what had to be changed I summoned the help of Jagowilson.  I explained the problem which we had discussed a few days prior and he graciously sent me the needed firmware change needed.  Of course the first couple didn't work   He did come up with what I consider to be a fairly permanent solution.  By mapping the two thermistor ports together as well as the two heater ports.  In a nutshell T1 goes to T0 and HE1 controls HE0.

The only thing that gets kind of confusing is remembering that to manually heat up the extruder you need to (in RH) turn the heater on for both extruders.

Once I had that all ironed out it was time to really try printing with this.  That's a challenge if you have never merged two .stl's together.  Fortunately Slic3r has an option to help with this.  For more info watch the video on IronMan's post.
http://www.soliforum.com/topic/9155/dual-printing-stls/
Note: Slic3r version 1.2.0 does NOT support "Combine Multi-material Stl files" So I had to step back to version 1.1.7

Once I figured out how to merge the two files I wanted to start with something very simple.  I started with 2 cylinders, one inside the other (think tire and wheel).  I was impressed with how nicely the Cyclops transitioned between the colors.  I still need to work on my retraction settings a bit but for a second print I was happy.  Plus now I had the ability to really change things in my profile. 
NOTE:  It is important to not retract too much as this will allow the other extruder to push molten filament up into the other side.  Also never extrude without having filament in both sides of the Cyclops.

Slic3r is nicely set up if all you are looking to do is use a different filament for infill .vs perimeters or support.  All you need to do is slice any regular STL with the settings and it will do the heavy lifting.  It would be very nice if you could select which extruder was used for things such as top and bottom layers.  In this next picture I had to manipulate perimeters to create the illusion that just the top layers were a different extruder.

And of course a very short video of the Cyclops in action.
I am planning on adding to this post when I install the Chimera ends.

As always Happy Printing