New and different dual extruder idea

The official subforum for discussion of the installation and use of the official M2 Dual Extruder upgrade.
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Tim
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Tim » Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:09 pm

Vandal968 wrote:I just made a spool holder that works equally well on either side and is nice and small. Have it installed now, works fine.
I updated the parts list on my project page. Thanks!

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Tim
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Tim » Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:20 pm

Vandal968 wrote:Just heard back from MG, the parts run about $200 shipped altogether that includes upgrading both extruders to the metal mount. I already had a spare v4 hot-end.
I don't know how the metal mount works with this project, though, as I don't have one, and I wouldn't be able to design to it from a photo view. My motor mounts are printed backwards, although apart from keeping the wiring well away from the filament guide, I don't think it matters all that much which way they go. The main issue you will have if you use the new v4 extruder hardware is that anything that sticks further out to the side than the original motor mount is going to further restrict the range of the left extruder along the X axis. With the original motor mounts, I'm losing 2cm off of the right edge. If I were to replace the motor mounts with, say, somthing using a metal strap to eliminate the need for the thickness of the mount, then I could shave it down to maybe 1.5cm, but then the stepper motors run into each other, so I can't reduce it more. But on the new mounts, the cable housing on the side will definitely increase that distance, although I assume that the cable housing can be considered optional. As for the metal brackets, you'll have to tell me whether they reduce the space between the extruders or increase it.

Vandal968
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Vandal968 » Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:32 am

Tim,
maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but the first picture on your project page seems to show the metal motor mounts. The printed style that I currently have wraps around the round part of the extruder motor and has (2) pinch bolts at the top.

My magnets arrived today. Yay!

cheers,
c

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Tim
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Tim » Sat Dec 19, 2015 4:19 am

Vandal968 wrote:maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but the first picture on your project page seems to show the metal motor mounts.
Maybe I should have made it clearer that the first picture shows the MakerGear dual extruder, which is what I had before I started disassembling it all for the project.

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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Vandal968 » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:31 pm

My bad, I was doing a couple of things at once when I heard back from MG asking if there was anything else I needed Looking at the pics though, I think it will work fine.

cheers,
c

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willnewton
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by willnewton » Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:10 pm

I'm finally back to where I started two days ago!

A thread with some stuff in it I update every once in a while. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9
See some of my stuff http://www.thingiverse.com/willnewton/favorites

ErikAkia
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by ErikAkia » Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:32 pm

Hi Tim,
I have been busy with school and not paying attention to the forum. I open up thingiverse and there on my dashboard is your twin project. I love the idea.
Thanks you for all the work you have put into this.
I also love my E3D V6's so I am going to work on a remix for those hotends utilizing my unique extruder design.
I have ordered the carriage block from MG and will order the magnets soon. I read through the entire post and you mentioned that you would probably have used the 3mm magnets instead if you knew about them. Since I am going to be starting essentially from scratch would you recommend that I start off with the 3mm?

I am so excited.

Thanks,
Erik

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Tim
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Tim » Fri Dec 25, 2015 5:08 am

ErikAkia wrote:I read through the entire post and you mentioned that you would probably have used the 3mm magnets instead if you knew about them. Since I am going to be starting essentially from scratch would you recommend that I start off with the 3mm?
Not unless you want to resize everything in openSCAD and regenerate all the STLs for 3mm. My only reason for using 3mm would be to keep everything in metric, but it doesn't really matter. In fact, probably the smaller size is preferable because every extra bit of magnet cuts down on the surrounding material and makes it more susceptible to breaking during assembly.

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Tim
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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by Tim » Fri Dec 25, 2015 2:09 pm

ErikAkia wrote: I also love my E3D V6's so I am going to work on a remix for those hotends utilizing my unique extruder design.
This may work, but just be aware that the v4 version is a very tight fit, and only works because I flipped the extruder design left-to-right. With both carriages on the rail, the left extruder will not have room to travel all the way past the right edge of the bed plate. It needs to be off of the bed to park, so the left extruder needs to be able to travel a little bit off of the bed to the left. The M2 was designed to have the hot-end exactly at the plate edge at X home, so you may need to move it left a little, and that's a tight fit.

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Re: New and different dual extruder idea

Post by ErikAkia » Sun Dec 27, 2015 12:44 am

Hi Tim,
I made a video of the modification work I have done so far in solidworks. Would you mind taking a quick look and see if you see any major problems?
https://youtu.be/LMzPOrkEcKs
Thanks

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