ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!  

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

No, go away, seducer, and take your shiny colored pictures with you! I don't want to be tempted to order one now and having to wait till August.

Well, to be honest the "waste tower" is still reducing your print area. Would be nice if there'd be some way to just let it drop the waste at a specific point on the back (potentially feeding it into some kind of tray or slide). But guess that would be too tricky to realize especially considering it can't really leave the build plate.

Thinking about it, would be nice having one of those intakes for a tube even on the regular version of the printer so you could easily use a tube as a filament guide.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

looking forward to june (when my order is estimated to be delivered). meanwhile would it be a good idea to get the basics about slicing for multi-material prints. any suggestions where to start ?
Peter (PJR) always recommends KISS for this purpose.

will there be a new (sub) forum here, related to the multi-material-upgrade ?
does the upgrade come along with sample gcode files for 2 or 4-colors (like the little benchy, marvin...) ?

ps. i assume that customers that ordered at the previous price ... and are waiting for months now for this news... would be served as well with the new, enhanced parts (without any extra charge).

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

I totally sign all what @JeffJordan posted above. Would be a good idea to have a new section just for the MM-stuff.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

Well, to be honest the "waste tower" is still reducing your print area. Would be nice if there'd be some way to just let it drop the waste at a specific point on the back (potentially feeding it into some kind of tray or slide). But guess that would be too tricky to realize especially considering it can't really leave the build plate.

For now, you can dispose of the material only somewhere within the reach of the Extruder and to a sticky surface, but I'm sure devs are aware of this. Lets see if they will come with another solution 😉

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

looking forward to june (when my order is estimated to be delivered). meanwhile would it be a good idea to get the basics about slicing for multi-material prints. any suggestions where to start ?
Peter (PJR) always recommends KISS for this purpose.

will there be a new (sub) forum here, related to the multi-material-upgrade ?
does the upgrade come along with sample gcode files for 2 or 4-colors (like the little benchy, marvin...) ?

ps. i assume that customers that ordered at the previous price ... and are waiting for months now for this news... would be served as well with the new, enhanced parts (without any extra charge).

Hi Jordan,
I will try to cover as much as possible regarding multimaterial here on forums, through guides and articles. However even I need some time to practice my skills.

There will be definitely a new subforum for multimaterial. I have it in my TO-DO list. I'm sure we will include some tested G-codes, I don't have the list yet.

Of course, for those who already ordered, the price stays the same. We will cover the extra expenses. Increased price is just for future orders 😉

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

... I have it in my TO-DO list. ...
yes, there seems to be a lot at your to-do list, especially while you're moving headquarters (remember my pn a month ago ?).

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

yes the list is pretty long and your request is there. I went through your thread last weekend and just waiting on Josef to have time to discuss it 😉

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

just seen that preparations for the multimaterial kit are ongoing inside the firmware.
at the 3.0.11-RC1 we can see a:#ifdef SNMM
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {100,100,3200/8,140}
where the E-value (140 instead of 161.3, as without SNMM) let us assume that the pulleys are now slightly bigger, with an effective diameter of 7.3mm (instead of the previous 6.3mm).
looks as if the new stainless steel pulleys from bondtech are somehow MK8 compatible.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

Will spare parts be available?

--Colin

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

Just seen this thread, so I thought I would respond to some of the queries:

There will need to be spare parts available from PR; there are some quite specific parts required, such as:

PTFE tubing with low-tolerance ID and formed correctly at both ends
Cooling tubes
Heat break

All the other parts involved in the MM upgrade are either printable or available elsewhere.

The Bondtech drive pulleys are pretty good, being a pair they require less tension and cause less damage to the filament whilst allowing sufficient drive. Unfortunately, being larger, they do reduce resolution somewhat but it's not an issue at normal print heights.

Print heights - I have tested at 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25mm layer heights; all have been successful. I have a feeling that 0.05mm layer height may be difficult to achieve but as I haven't tested that I can't confirm.

KISS. As Jeff mentions, this is my favoured slicer. However it is not currently supported by the post-processor supplied with the upgrade. All multiple filament sliced GCode files must be passed through a post-processor in order to add the waste tower and do the "magic" when changing tools. For anyone who is interested in trying out KISS with the MM upgrade, I have written my own post-processor.

The waste tower is required and provides back-pressure during a filament change. The back-pressure is necessary when unloading the filament to ensure that the filament tip is cooled slightly before unload so that more of the old colour is withdrawn. It would not be possible to have a decent tool change if the tower were not is use. Unfortunately, the tower does take up some room on the bed, but this has only had an effect on one model I have printed.

Personally, I have only tested the MM upgrade with PLA (a variety of makes and colours) and PVA.

Peter

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

How well did it work with PVA? I've been wondering about the temperature difference needed when using it.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

I am very interested in multi-material printing, and in particular mixing flexible filaments with rigid (e.g. NinjaFlex and PLA or ABS). I've printed that successfully on a two-extruder direct drive printer so I know that the materials can work, but I'm interested in the Prusa i3 and the multi-material upgrade as it would allow for more flexibility, such as mixing two flexible filaments with different hardnesses with two rigid materials with different color. So the question is - can the MM upgrade's Bowden-style extruders work with flexible filaments (which typically don't work well in Bowden drives)? Prusa said he was working on an approach for this - did that get worked into the final design? Or should I keep waiting? I have dreams of a hybrid direct/Bowden drive model, where Bowden motors drive the filament into the Direct Drive, and the firmware somehow keeps it all coordinated. 🙂

And the second question is whether the Simplify3D slicer will work with the Prusa i3 MM upgrade? Simplify3D has fantastic color printing support (no post processing, etc.), and since I use it with other printers it'd certainly be convenient for me. Is Prusa worked with Simplify3D on supporting MM printing? Or will there be enough info released so that we could configure S3D to work?

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

How well did it work with PVA? I've been wondering about the temperature difference needed when using it.

Well, I am currently in the middle of a 25 hour print with PLA + PVA (eSun). The PLA is printing at 210 degrees with 3.5mm retraction and the PVA at 190 degrees with 4mm retraction.

The PVA is still very stringy, but it doesn't appear to be problematic.

Peter

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

I am very interested in multi-material printing, and in particular mixing flexible filaments with rigid

eSun PVA is extremely soft; about the same as the TPU I use occasionally. As long as the slicer settings are correct there should be no problem.

Simplify3D has fantastic color printing support (no post processing, etc.),

Well, that's fine if you use multiple nozzles, but using a single nozzle and unloading the filament at each tool change requires a very specific technique. There was previously S3D support in the post-processor and I am pretty sure that it will be present on release.

Peter

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

Has shipping begun?

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

I just received a shipping notification for my MM Upgrade order, placed 09/28/2016. The UPS system shows that a shipping label has been created, but no tracking info yet. Coming soon!

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTIMATERIAL - we are ready!

Same Same 🙂
I received an email with shipping info

Czech Republic 05/19/2017 9:55 (ET) Order Processed: Ready for UPS
Prague, Czech Republic 05/19/2017 18:36 Pickup Scan

Yes !!

Order date: 09/28/2016

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Does anyone know if the firmware updates in 3.0.11 are incorporated into the MM firmware release?

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Does anyone know if the firmware updates in 3.0.11 are incorporated into the MM firmware release?

Yes they are. There is now only one firmware version with a compile-time switch for the difference.

Peter