Comparing MMU2 and Palette+  

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

Some of the things I make have a cutout ‘text’ on the bottom few layers. I would like to have these ‘coloured’ in. This text would be no more than say 2mm thick, how much extra time would this take to print, they currently take roughly 2 hours. Also, how big would the purge block be?

It's going to depend somewhat on your settings, but a ballpark estimate is that the MMU2 adds 60-90 seconds per filament change, and the Palette2 adds about half that (30-45 seconds) per filament change.

Once you get your purge settings tuned, the MMU2 will consume on average around 0.5g of purge per change, and the Palette2 will consume around double that (~1g) per change.

Adding some color to the top or bottom layers of a print is pretty close to the ideal situation for minimizing tool changes. I've found that often I only need to color 0.5mm (2-3 layers, depending on settings) to get the effect I want. You can do a surprising amount with less than a dozen tool changes...

Thanks for that, that’s just what I was hoping to hear!

The main thing I like about my mk3 is that it’s so reliable – I pretty much make my products to order and I keep very little stock.

I guess adding extra complexity won’t help reliability, but would it still be possible to have a pretty dependable set-up with a Palette 2 and mk3?

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

Thanks for that, that’s just what I was hoping to hear!

The main thing I like about my mk3 is that it’s so reliable – I pretty much make my products to order and I keep very little stock.

I guess adding extra complexity won’t help reliability, but would it still be possible to have a pretty dependable set-up with a Palette 2 and mk3?

The Palette 2 has worked perfectly for me right out of the box. I had so much success that a friend of mine also purchased one and has had wonderful success with it was well. He currently owns 3 MK3s and is using one Palette 2 to actually make the all of the filament needed for one multi material print and is using the spliced filament on all 3 printers at one time with only one Palette.

He accomplished that by starting a multi material print on one printer and then kept pulling the filament out of the Palette during the beginning phase where the Palette makes the filament for the buffer tube. As you pull the filament it will hit the filament sensor in the buffer and make more filament. Rinse and repeat until you have all of the filament needed for the print. He does that 3 times and has all 3 printers going at one time.

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

He accomplished that by starting a multi material print on one printer and then kept pulling the filament out of the Palette during the beginning phase where the Palette makes the filament for the buffer tube. As you pull the filament it will hit the filament sensor in the buffer and make more filament. Rinse and repeat until you have all of the filament needed for the print. He does that 3 times and has all 3 printers going at one time.

I'm sorry, it's not clear to me. What's the benefit of producing the filament upfront and the feed it into the printer later?

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

He accomplished that by starting a multi material print on one printer and then kept pulling the filament out of the Palette during the beginning phase where the Palette makes the filament for the buffer tube. As you pull the filament it will hit the filament sensor in the buffer and make more filament. Rinse and repeat until you have all of the filament needed for the print. He does that 3 times and has all 3 printers going at one time.

I'm sorry, it's not clear to me. What's the benefit of producing the filament upfront and the feed it into the printer later?

You pre make the filament for multiple printers so you don’t have one Palette connected to 1 printer. He’s using the Palette to make the multi spliced filament and is feeding the filament into multiple printers.

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

You pre make the filament for multiple printers so you don’t have one Palette connected to 1 printer. He’s using the Palette to make the multi spliced filament and is feeding the filament into multiple printers.

hm... but still the same amount of time is required assuming that Palette is splicing with the regular print speed. My understanding is that it doesn't matter if you prepare the 3 filament rolls for 3 prints and then use 3 printers to print it at once. Or if one printer prints it three times sequentially.
Do I miss something?

Edit: Don't get me wrong. It's nice that this feature works with Palette. I only try to see a use case for that.

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

You pre make the filament for multiple printers so you don’t have one Palette connected to 1 printer. He’s using the Palette to make the multi spliced filament and is feeding the filament into multiple printers.

hm... but still the same amount of time is required assuming that Palette is splicing with the regular print speed. My understanding is that it doesn't matter if you prepare the 3 filament rolls for 3 prints and then use 3 printers to print it at once. Or if one printer prints it three times sequentially.
Do I miss something?

Edit: Don't get me wrong. It's nice that this feature works with Palette. I only try to see a use case for that.

It’s not actually a feature, is a hack my buddy figured out. You’d save a substantial amount of time by having the Palette make all of the filament at once instead of using the Palette normally where it would make the filament when needed during the print.

I guess this would have to be something you’d need to see in order to understand the benefit. Either that or I’m explaining it like crap

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

i get what you mean (i think) i wanted to get fancy with my mmu and have 1 "pre-palette" roll for 1 section of a bigger print.

Re: Comparing MMU2 and Palette+

Some of the things I make have a cutout ‘text’ on the bottom few layers. I would like to have these ‘coloured’ in. This text would be no more than say 2mm thick, how much extra time would this take to print, they currently take roughly 2 hours. Also, how big would the purge block be?

It's going to depend somewhat on your settings, but a ballpark estimate is that the MMU2 adds 60-90 seconds per filament change, and the Palette2 adds about half that (30-45 seconds) per filament change.

Once you get your purge settings tuned, the MMU2 will consume on average around 0.5g of purge per change, and the Palette2 will consume around double that (~1g) per change.

Adding some color to the top or bottom layers of a print is pretty close to the ideal situation for minimizing tool changes. I've found that often I only need to color 0.5mm (2-3 layers, depending on settings) to get the effect I want. You can do a surprising amount with less than a dozen tool changes...

I’m using P2PP plugin for Slic3r PE which makes my Palette 2.0 purge per change is as light as the Prusa MMU.