New toolheads?
A couple of new features have been showing up in printers, one commercial and one homebrew, and I'm wondering if the ideas could be adapted to the XL multi-head as alternative heads...
1. A cutting laser, as in the new Bambu printer. This might require more than just the laser; a version of the cabinet including tinted material for eye protection might be needed, as well as a different bed.
2. Inkjet coloring. There is an open-source project called Polydye that looks somewhat promising, though it does have some limits. Integrating the colors looks difficult, and modifying the software to work with PrusaSlicer might be challenging. The project also uses an HP inkjet cartridge, which may have IP issues and the amount of ink in the cartridge may be limited.
Video showing much of the process w/ l.inks to resources -
RE: New toolheads?
I really don't understand the desire to have laser cutting printers. The bambu hd2 laser cutter is nothing special as far as laser cutters goes. But why it's cutting you can't print. For the same money or less you can buy a laser dedicated laser cutter that would be as good if not better depending on your timing with sales.
Adding ink to printers is nothing new. We had an idea of even using markers. At this point we do have a lot of MMU solutions and if all else fails paint.
RE: New toolheads?
Echoing that a laser is a TERRIBLE idea. Lasers produce a foul cloud of smoke, suet, and dust. They gum up laser cutters on a regular basis and you typically need 100-400CFM of dedicated ventilation to pull the crap out of the cutting chamber.
These two streams should not cross.