Hi , Most of the time i have enough trouble printing with one extruder, but when i finally "master" this I would like to use multi-colour or multi-material for support material...... So I was interested when learning about Prusa 2 and 4 material upgrade that they have for Prusa i3 MK2 Original Prusa i3 MK2 Multi Material upgrade kit (preorder) - Prusa Research im not sure what electronics and firmware they run on the Mk2, but im hoping it will be compatible with my machine at some point (ramps , marlin) Otherwise I might use 2nd direct drive extruder, but probably not the best idea as my X axis is only 20x20 v-slot, anyhow , has anyone else liked the look of the system from Prusa ? if you havent seen it there is a video here- Original Prusa i3 MK2 Multi Material upgrade release - dual/quad extrusion cheers ben
lol I would say so I have one on backorder... there are plenty of other systems out there though.. was thinking of adding this to one of my machines Hotend 3-In-1 V6 0.4mm Nozzle Multi Color Extruder Fan Kit for 3D Printer TE603
hi snokid, good to hear you are getting this so will Prusa provide firmware that will be compatible with your electronics / will you need to adapt this firmware? cheers
Good one Bob, I Imagine the Multi -material system is aimed at owners of MK2, and I should wait for it to come out to see if others adapt this system for non-mk2 machines. I just did small bit of research to find that mk2 has rambo-mini board, which is arduino mega shield reprap wiki says rambo board uses marlin firmware, so i imagine its just a matter of someone writing / adapting firmware so that Ramps could talk to the break-out board that Prusa uses to drive the 4 extruders, cheers Ben
also Bob , i saw this ebay one you had link too as well , but not sure how to run it, i guess a Rumba board can run 3 extruders so no break out board needed, also i found this which is similar but has more information on how to do it Diamond Hotend - RepRapWiki this is where to but it The Diamond Hotend
yeah the color mixing is pretty cool!!! I have seen the diamond hotends before they are cool for sure... The rumba board is the way to go, by the time you mess with a stepper expander the costs aren't much different... this is going to be the year multi color/material that goes mainstream... Bob
yes i think that this is an exciting development. but just when i was about to get my machine working I feel the need to introduce a whole new level of complexity !!!!!!!!!
Don't buy the one made of plastic , they melt and clog. There are ones with metal configurations much better.
Hey outofstep I was reading your question, because I had the same one. I have a question for you, did you ever by the prusa multimaterial upgrade. If you did and it worked could you please tell me how to set it up.