Printing a wide range of materials requires variable idler pressure and IR sensor sensitivity
I am printing from filaflex over PLA, PETG to Nylon. With great success. All my designs come out perfect.
But changing between the materials is each time a struggle. The MMU is not the cause of problems, but the extruder/IR-Sensor is.
In the I3 two quite different things
1) IR-Filament-Sensor
2) Idler-Tension
are steered within one single screw: The idler spring screw.
Looking at three materials:
PETG is in the middle regime. So let us have our PRUSA printing PETG perfect.
Nylon and clear PLA are quite slippery and need more tension for a better tracktion. Usually I need to add the tension about 1-2 rotations of the idler screw to fix this.
Filaflex does not like to be squeezed. So I have to release the tension about one rotation.
But since the IR-Sensor is coupled with the idler position things become complicated.
IMHO to get the MMU to really print different materials there is some research needed 🙂
1) The tension of the idler and the IR-Sensor has to be encoupled.
2) The tension of the idler, as well as the IR-Sensitivity has to become specific to the filament.
3) The tension has to be applied by the printer and not by a fixed screw.
This is no easy task. But I am willing to contribute. Already ordered a bunch of IR sensors to play with.
Cheers,
Volker