Dual Extruder Upgrade - Limited Availability

[Levi8than]

I'm in.

I'm assuming you're doing the same v4 hot ends. one metal, one w/ptfe insert.
Why is it good to have two different types? Do they heat up and behave differently? Why not make them both the same?
I'm guessing all metal is preferred to ptfe insert. Am I wrong?

[hybridprinter]

I will order once it comes pre-installed on the machine. My understanding is swapping extruders is a PITA.. No quick disconnect or wire quick connect plugs.

[sprior]

It's a pain enough that you don't want to swap extruders on a regular basis, but not such a big deal that you should avoid it entirely.

[rpollack]

These will likely be dual ptfe versions.

hybridprinter - i am not sure that i understand your concern. Like sprior said, not something you want to do all the time but not really that difficult to set up.

[insta]

I will order once it comes pre-installed on the machine. My understanding is swapping extruders is a PITA.. No quick disconnect or wire quick connect plugs.

It's not that bad. I changed between a PTFE and all-metal tip in under 3 minutes, including levelling. It just doesn't twist-click and make a cool "chick-hissss" noise.

[sprior]

Swapping out the left extruder is a lot less fuss that swapping the right one because for the right one the wires go behind and more parts need to be taken off and put back on. I've been wondering how much of a redesign it would be to run the wires for the right extruder around the right side of the print head instead of to the left. It would require a redesign of the back motor shroud and running the wires through that thing the first time was the biggest pain of doing the dual extruder upgrade.

[hybridprinter]

Thank You. We are just waiting for a printer that comes pre-assembled, pre-configured with dual extruders on it. This year should bring about many ready-made dual extruder printers, so I would guess that MakerGear has those plans as well.

[lem]

One question that pops up from time to time is something like "Which V4 should I use - all metal or PTFE lined?" I haven't seen a discussion on this topic and would like to see some of those with the dual extrusion upgrade (one metal - one lined) weigh in with some comments.

In looking at PTFE I have read the following. PTFE does not melt. At high temperature it changes to a gel. Some sites list the "melting point" at somewhere between 327 and 375 degrees C. One article claims that PTFE changes volume with temperature - the example was a 1% shrinkage from 30 degrees C to 0 degrees C. I'm assuming that with increasing temperatures that it will expand similar to other materials, but have not read this anywhere.

So, what is the current thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of one hot end or the other. Are you an all metal fan (and why) or a PTFE lined fan (and why)?

Thanks for your comments.

[sprior]

As one of the initial dual upgrades I got the left extruder PTFE and the right all metal. I had problems with the all metal nozzle clogging when trying dual extruder prints in PLA. Didn't have the same problem with ABS. I've now switched to all PTFE, but haven't retried the PLA experiment to see if it made a difference.

What I've heard is that with all metal the hot zone is larger and in most cases it's desireable to keep it all small as possible - the PTFE helps keep the hot zone small. Since PTFE is OK with most of the materials we print with these days I'd say it's the easy answer and all metal is useful for people who want to try high temp exotic materials.

[jeffpowell101]

I would like to purchase this, am I too late?