1 Topic by dibble

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Topic: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

I have just gotten a new duo with the intention of using PLA in one extruder and the water soluble for rafts/supports in the other.

But, they are not playing nicely together. At the moment, I'm just using the XYZware software. Since I discovered the issue, I've been printing out a sample 1cm x 3mm thick disc tests. Doing this, I can print EITHER left extruder (water soluble) OR right extruder (PLA) and get good models at highest resolution. But, as soon as I try to print anything that uses both extruders at the same time (PLA for the model, water soluble for the raft/supports) it seems to go well for about 1-2 minutes, then I get a clog and full diameter water soluble filiment comes spewing out the back side of the extruder.

I have read that Simplify3D supports the duo. I'm just curious if anyone has a working PLA/water soluble profile they wouldn't mind exporting and posting. It'd save me a lot of hair pulling.

2 Reply by david.tucker

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

I have no experience with the Duo, but have you considered adding in a throwaway water soluble tower next to your real part.  That way the extruder is outputting a bit of filament every layer.  That will at least force the slicer to keep things all warmed up and flowing.

3 Reply by dibble

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

david.tucker wrote:

I have no experience with the Duo, but have you considered adding in a throwaway water soluble tower next to your real part.  That way the extruder is outputting a bit of filament every layer.  That will at least force the slicer to keep things all warmed up and flowing.

Great idea. I had the day off today and have spent the last 8 hours fiddling with this thing. That thought never popped in to my head.

I'll report back. Still, I'd like to hear from anyone using the Duo with current firmware and current Simplify3D. There are so many settings in the application I don't know which ones to fiddle with. If I could just import a known good profile I could move back to CAD work instead of fiddling with parameters (I know that's all part of the fun. But, at the end of today I'm a little frazzled around the edges)

Cheers!

4 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

The issue is you will still have to fiddle. Another profile will get you in the ballpark and that's it. Every machine is different and requires different settings. Even the material requires different settings per spool even from the same vendor.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

5 Reply by dibble

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

Ballpark would be great. I just need to get the settings file so I can try to use simplify’s settings in my other slicer software. Slic3r, for example, comes as a blank slate. I don’t even have a map to the ballpark.

6 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

Not sure why you want to use another slicer? S3D is one of the best and fastest out there. In addition S3D also has a built in dual head print wizard that allows you to assign parts of the model to each head. S3D sounds like more what you need.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

7 Reply by dibble

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

I can think of 150 reasons :-o

If I could get the process file and tinker with those settings in slic3r for a bit I might be a bit more confident in buying S3D. There’s a real chance any improvement in software may be negligible. And, to me that would be a waste of money.

8 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

dibble wrote:

I can think of 150 reasons :-o

If I could get the process file and tinker with those settings in slic3r for a bit I might be a bit more confident in buying S3D. There’s a real chance any improvement in software may be negligible. And, to me that would be a waste of money.


They do  offer a money back guarantee that if you are not satisfied in two weeks you can get your money back.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

9 Reply by Kronikabuse

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

I have a bootleg version 3.0 if you want to give it a try. It made me see that its worth it and go buy it for the updates

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10 Reply by dibble

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

The 30 day money back convinced me. I just bought it.

On a side note, I was loading all the different xyz printer profiles to see how they might differ—hoping maybe that would provide insight on what values to modify. But, S3D locked me out after 10. So, now I’m stuck apparently unable to load any more profiles.

I already opened a ticket with S3D. Is this a known issue?

11 Reply by carl_m1968 (edited by carl_m1968 2018-03-16 18:46:22)

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

dibble wrote:

The 30 day money back convinced me. I just bought it.

On a side note, I was loading all the different xyz printer profiles to see how they might differ—hoping maybe that would provide insight on what values to modify. But, S3D locked me out after 10. So, now I’m stuck apparently unable to load any more profiles.

I already opened a ticket with S3D. Is this a known issue?


It's a two week money back, not 30 days.

I never had such an issue as my Ct'c was not supported and I had to make a profile from scratch.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

12 Reply by dibble

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Re: Duo printing with water soluble PLA

I’m sure that’ll give me enough time to see if I can improve print quality over the stock software.

Still curious about the profile download lockout.