XL in comparison to MMU2S?
Hi,
i have a MK3S + MMU
the MK3S is good enough for me but the MMU I would not buy again!
Multi-Color prints with small designs are working mostly, but changing the filament is not working very reliable!
When I tried to print larger designs over night, there was always a failure on changing the filament.
Further I tried to work with different materials (soluble filament). It was not working at all!
The printed part was always contaminated with remnants of the soluble filament between the layers, so the part was not very stable and was broken within short time.
The feature list of the XL printer sounds really interesting, but I am afraid, that there will be other problems, nobody wants to mention right now!
RE: XL in comparison to MMU2S?
No one can respond to this with a meaningful answer as no one has used an XL in the wild. Like you, I have given up on the MMU, and my experience with a Palette is not that much more encouraging. On paper, the XL with tool changers *should* be more reliable but until it actually gets released, who knows.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: XL in comparison to MMU2S?
The XL system is similar to the Core XY head changing system. How is that working? I agree, the MMY is... well, cursed. It has gremlins that make it unreliable. That is mostly around the filament changing- but there are 'ghosts' in the firmware that make it do odd things- unpredictable things.
I'm hoping that the head changing system is more robust. I'm in for a 5 head model.
RE: XL in comparison to MMU2S?
A tool changer will be multitudes more useful than an MMU or all the related single nozzle systems. I have to defend the MMU here however. It is definitely not easy to set it up reliably but it can be done. I have done 2 day prints with it without manual intervention. Even soluble support prints can succeed without intervention (even though that is a much tougher thing to pull off). The underlying problem that you have to flush almost forever to truly remove all traces of soluble material from your print material is however a thing. My upside down Benchy with soluble support (BVOH) did turn out pretty decently however.
In the end the MMU is in reality more of a multicolour unit than multimaterial. The XL should be true multimaterial.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4
RE: XL in comparison to MMU2S?
additionally I want to mention, that MMU is working like a bowden driven printer.For a while it was possible to print TPU but lately the filament jams most of the time and I have no idea which setting to change!
RE: XL in comparison to MMU2S?
After a lot of tinkering, the blade firmware update and using the dribbling version of prusa slicer it usually works. Mostly though on small projects. The fact though that the overhead on time is large, coupled with the fact that even if you get one loading failure when you are not there it grows even more (especially if you dont notice it) it makes mmu2s rather more hassle than benefit for me. I bought it mainly for solubles or using PLA as supports to PET but i kind of gave up on it. I pre-ordered XL since the actual concept of the design eliminates loading unloading times and filament tip problems. You load them once and they stay in the head. Also there was a lot of time and filament wasted on those wipe towers. It may have new problems i dont know that but i'm hoping they will solve better than what they did with mmu since there is already something similar in the market by E3D.
RE: XL in comparison to MMU2S?
Indeed, for soluble support or PLA supporting PETG, the MMU is a possible but not a great tool. I think where the MMU is truly useful is for engraved patterns/text. Sure with a lot of manual work, that would be possible without the MMU but with it, it is a breeze, takes not that much extra time and enables a lot of options from tokens to labelled housings or simply signs. Maybe miniscule but it is also handy to have up to 5 spools ready to print at the click of a button.
I have put the MMU to good use with my own Catan set though, took me almost forever but I am very happy with the result.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4