I went ahead and purchased the V4 Dual awhile back. The kit arrived recently but I haven't installed it yet. Looking around this forum there hasn't been a lot of discussion about the Dual recently. I am not sure why but was hoping to hear some feedback as to how it prints. It would also be nice to see some additional sample prints. Anyone care to share their experiences?
Thanks,
Keith
Sample Prints - Dual Feedback
Re: Sample Prints - Dual Feedback
Dual extrusion for two colors is gimmicky. Very finicky to set up, difficult to pull off, and you must use a wipe tower/ooze shield, which means you must use Cura. When you're done, your print will be solidly encased in a one-filament-thick shell which needs to be cut off, and depending on the model that can be difficult and tedious. When that's done, you have... a two-color object. Yay. I think learning some finishing techniques gets you more bang for the buck. It's fun to play with, but not something that's earth shattering.
However, using the second extruder with a dissolvable filament IS pretty useful. You don't have to worry as much about oozing, so you don't have to go to Cura. You can print objects that would be difficult or impossible to print with single extruder support. PETG support for PETG objects, especially, is difficult to remove, even with large separations, so it is useful for that. HIPS dissolves cleanly and relatively quickly (a few hours).
It is also useful just to have two extruders just sitting there ready and loaded with different filaments. You avoid the spool swapping routine, which isn't particularly difficult, but it's certainly a lot easier to just select the filament you want in your slicer.
However, using the second extruder with a dissolvable filament IS pretty useful. You don't have to worry as much about oozing, so you don't have to go to Cura. You can print objects that would be difficult or impossible to print with single extruder support. PETG support for PETG objects, especially, is difficult to remove, even with large separations, so it is useful for that. HIPS dissolves cleanly and relatively quickly (a few hours).
It is also useful just to have two extruders just sitting there ready and loaded with different filaments. You avoid the spool swapping routine, which isn't particularly difficult, but it's certainly a lot easier to just select the filament you want in your slicer.
Re: Sample Prints - Dual Feedback
Thanks for the info.
Re: Sample Prints - Dual Feedback
Yeah, note the "have to use Cura" thing. Simplify3D promised a big dual-extruder upgrade at the end of last year; I talked to them about this at the Maker Faire in September. They came out with an upgrade, sure, but it was rather short of expectations, or at least hopes, on the dual extruder handling. The MakerGear hardware is as good as any dual-extruder solutions I've seen, but it still has problems with dripping and is in need of some way to close off the inactive extruder. We're all waiting for a slow progression of both hardware and software. And then every now and then something comes out of left field, like the E3D Cyclops or that box that splices together four filaments, that keeps everybody guessing as to how the future of dual extrusion is really going to pan out.