MMU3 and Prusa XL?  

RE:

Posted by: @radzimir

General question: is there a plan to adppt MMU3 to XL printers somewhere in the future? 

I have one with 2 heads and would like to use one head for soluable support and other for multiple colors ot the same filament type. 

Just imagine, if it would be possible to attach 5 MMUs to XL with 5 heads 😎 

 

OK, now you're getting into mad scientist mode.  I would think one would only consider adding an MMU after they already had maxed the native toolhead count at 5.  So then, you'd be looking at printing with up to 5 filaments of the same type on one head, and up to 4 other filaments/materials/diameters on the other heads. The reason I say this is that the MMU material swaps generate a lot of waste. So while you could add it to one of your 2 heads, it would likely not make as much sense as just adding more heads and gaining the flexibility of using more temps or diameters.

I can't even think of what crazy use case would need this, but I am 100% here for it if someone tries it.  As to your question though, I'd be shocked if Prusa spent any time thinking about this for at least another 1-2 years.  They have other things that need attention more urgently to fix up on the XL.

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

I am really interested on this topic as well. Not to have 25 colors, but to have the MMU3 on one toolhead.

Like this I could do color prints with 1 toolhead while using the other for other materials, like PETG or PVA for supports, or combine different materials while keepeing same type of material on head.

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

Feel free to connect the MMU3 there! That is, if you can do it. And can you explain to me why any of the developers from Prusa should be concerned with this? You can have 5 tool heads on the XL and that should probably be enough. That's why the five-head XL was made to eliminate the delay with the MMU and speed up printing.

RE:

If you can't see why one would want this, you are really lacking imagination!

Reason 1): Even more colors.

It is annoying to print a model with 5 different filaments, because it is very slow and because it creates a lot of waste. With the XL, annoyance #2 is adressed, it creates much less waste. This opens up the demand for even more colors. Especially in the case of models where the set of materials is different at different heights of the model. Then the MMU can do infrequent filament changes that happen only a few times in the print, while for materials that coexist in the same layer, different toolheads can be used.

Reason 2): Filament runout. 

The MMU is great for uninterrupted large prints by having the same material in multiple slots. The same goes for the XL and its toolheads, but if you already have them occupied with different materials, the MMU would re-add that capacity for you.

Reason 3): Loaded filament storage

If you fill all your 25 dryboxes that you have attached to your MMUs, it is more likely that you can just go ahead and print in whatever material(s) you want right away, without having to go through the trouble of finding and loading the right filament first!

Yeah, I'm interested in maxing out my setup like that eventually. I'll be a step up from the bambulab with 4 AMS!

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

I think its possibble with an external board but not going to be supported by prusa officially. I think itd actully be pretty easy to do if you had an extra control board to interface with the xl and mmu.

Posted by: @prusa3d-co-17

If you can't see why one would want this, you are really lacking imagination!

Reason 1): Even more colors.

It is annoying to print a model with 5 different filaments, because it is very slow and because it creates a lot of waste. With the XL, annoyance #2 is adressed, it creates much less waste. This opens up the demand for even more colors. Especially in the case of models where the set of materials is different at different heights of the model. Then the MMU can do infrequent filament changes that happen only a few times in the print, while for materials that coexist in the same layer, different toolheads can be used.

Reason 2): Filament runout. 

The MMU is great for uninterrupted large prints by having the same material in multiple slots. The same goes for the XL and its toolheads, but if you already have them occupied with different materials, the MMU would re-add that capacity for you.

Reason 3): Loaded filament storage

If you fill all your 25 dryboxes that you have attached to your MMUs, it is more likely that you can just go ahead and print in whatever material(s) you want right away, without having to go through the trouble of finding and loading the right filament first!

Yeah, I'm interested in maxing out my setup like that eventually. I'll be a step up from the bambulab with 4 AMS!

 

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

This is the only way I would buy the XL now. I use my printers as tools not toys, I use two colours during the first two layers for labeling; which only requires 3 colour changes. Since I believe the XL still can't handle multiple nozzle sizes, a second head for 3 colour changes seems overkill for my needs, and it's essentially a much more expensive but faster MMU. The benefit of printing parts quicker just isn't there when you can get two MK4's for the less than the price of 1 XL... Still want one though...  😅

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

@manuel-6 I completely agree with you. This would open new worlds of color- and multimaterial printing!

Just imagine: 

5 Heads, 2 AMS -> You could print a model with up to 10 colors without having to wait a single second for the filament to be changed. While printing with toolhead 1 you can color swap toolhead 2 and vice versa. Take toolhead 3 for the soluble support interface, 4 for TPU or such and (4+)5 for another nozzle-size.

This would be absolutely brilliant 😍 

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

Anyone with an xl intrested in a project? I reckon this truely could become a thing. Wish i had an xl id be already doing it lol

I reckon this truely could become a thing.

The thing in question being a nightmare.

Keeping track of multiple two-stage filament changes and then trying to reproduce them for a second print a few months  later ... no thanks.

If you need more than two or three colours it's far better to print monochrome and then paint it.

The great majority of my XL prints are single filament, sometimes larger than my Mk3 could handle.  Perhaps one in ten needs two filaments, maybe a TPU hinge for a PLA mechanism or perhaps labels and graticules.  I have used three heads on several occasions, four heads once and all five together - never.

So my standard setup has evolved to be 2x 0.6 brass nozzles, one 0.6 Obxidian and two 0.4 brass.  They all get used, just not simultaneously.

Cheerio,

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

I would love to see this, as I would really like to load in up to 5 colors on one head... giving a total of 9. I have a print right now were 6 would be very cool, and 7 would be better.

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

This is exactly the functionality I am wanting.

RE: MMU3 and Prusa XL?

I still think that developers have other concerns than dealing with this unique requirement. However, it is an OpenSource solution, so nothing prevents you from embarking on the solution. Maybe you'll even be famous..... 😀 😀 😀