Multiple extruders & temps
I saw a comment that it would be possible to use a mix of materials and extruder temps on the XL.
My question is, say you have two extruders, one is printing, the other one is idle - do idle extruders maintain temperature, are they still powered ? It seems clear to me that this would have to be the case to keep up speed and not induce re-heating delays, but I wasn't sure.
RE: Multiple extruders & temps
From what I've seen of the gantry and such, I don't see how they'd maintain or heat "parked" extruders. I may be wrong about that, and there's no official word one way or the other. Just have to wait and see.
@rbarris Wrote:
My question is, say you have two extruders, one is printing, the other one is idle - do idle extruders maintain temperature, are they still powered ?
In most cases, you can choose the "idle state" for multi extruder printers, based on the images shown of the Prusa XL each extruder has its own power and appears to be wired for telemetry. The current, and several past versions of Slicer include some functionality for multi extruder printers, and can be viewed in, Print Settings/ Multiple Extruders, in Slicer if you care to get familiar.
Regards
Swiss_Cheese
The Filament Whisperer
RE: Multiple extruders & temps
IRC, the XL was shown with 3 power supplies on the back side. So I assume, toolsheads can be powered when in parking/idle position.
Best regards, Peter
RE: Multiple extruders & temps
Given the hit on sales the delays waiting for nozzle reheat would cause I think it's safe to say that this facility will be incorporated.
Having said that, inevitably nozzle temperature on idle extruders will need to be maintained below the point where filament is degraded.
We already have time markers in the gcodes allowing time_until_next_change calculations. It should be straightforward to extend that to time_until_head(x)_is_required and start preheating head(x) at t-time_to_preheat.
Cheerio,
RE: Multiple extruders & temps
We already have time markers in the gcodes allowing time_until_next_change calculations. It should be straightforward to extend that to time_until_head(x)_is_required and start preheating head(x) at t-time_to_preheat.
Cheerio,
I'm not saying that having unpowered idle nozzles would not work, simply that the filament change delays would be unacceptable, esspecially given the price of this machine. It would be even slower than a Mk3/MMU combo.
RE: Multiple extruders & temps
I seem to recall them mentioning that the new extruder reaches working temperature much faster than the old one, so there was greatly reduced wait time... which might suggest that there was no need to pre-heat the tools.
filament change delays would be unacceptable,
I just pointed out how easy it would be to eliminate them.
esspecially given the price of this machine.
?? - If it meets spec it's cheap.
It would be even slower than a Mk3/MMU combo.
That rather depends on the objects being printed. I can see it making true multimaterial possible, print-in-place a lot easier and I don't expect it to take any longer over utility multicolour work. I don't print garish toy superheros so I don't care how long they take.
Cheerio,