RE:
My prediction? Every (Chinese) printer manufacturer will have a tool changer by end of this year. At that time, the INDX will no longer be special and off people's radar.
I'm optimistic and if they play their cards right (and technology lives up to the hype) it will be an awesome, convenient, compact, flexible thing. Somewhere in the middle (cost and performance) where peoples' everyday needs are. Just not pushing the edge e.g. an inductive heating system will have a hard time competing with a dumb 70 W resistive heater and extra-long UHF hotend in volumetric flow. And another heater (and another one and another one ...) that keep the unused heads at temperature - if I choose so - so the delay from heating is zero, difficult to outperform.
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
Somewhere in the middle (cost and performance) where peoples' everyday needs are. Just not pushing the edge e.g. an inductive heating system will have a hard time competing with a dumb 70 W resistive heater and extra-long UHF hotend in volumetric flow. And another heater (and another one and another one ...) that keep the unused heads at temperature - if I choose so - so the delay from heating is zero, difficult to outperform.
No doubt BondTech will continue to innovate and carve out a niche for themselves. Especially given that this is theoretically adaptable to any CoreXY frame. Once it gets in the hands of real users and gets real-world experience, I'm curious to see how it stacks up to the U1, Creator 5 or BL Vortek.
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
I think Prusa will be fine. It will be a niche but I am confident they will continue to lead in customer service and as long as they do that, they will have a customer base.
As for the INDX and Vortek, I have seen both and the INDX is superior.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
I doubt it. Not everyone wants or needs a tool changer. 90-95% of the prints I print for myself or commercially are single color. Most there is simply no advantage or need to have in multiple colors.
INDX will always be a compromise but I foresee they would have a hard time competing outside the segment they worked so hard to introduce.
My prediction? Every (Chinese) printer manufacturer will have a tool changer by end of this year. At that time, the INDX will no longer be special and off people's radar.
--------------------
Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
I wouldn't be so sure!
I think the purchase for such systems is simply too high for many
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
It’s never about what people actually need. It’s about convincing them they if they don’t have it they are missing out. Same thing with 350 degree hot ends and heated chambers. 99% of buyers don’t need it, but convince themselves they have to have it and will go to a competing brand to get it.
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
Whether multicolor or even multimaterial is overrated remains to be seen but having 0.2 / 0.4 / 0.6mm nozzles dialed in all the time sure is convenient... That's what INDX will probably do for most, and let's hope slicer support catches up (infill combining across layers is standard already now so printing at different layer heights is feasible, as far as the printhead is concerned. The rest is software).
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
Dear Prusa, please make alternative nozzles an option upon purchase. For a thousand dollars I wish the option to have a couple different nozzle sizes would be available without an additional cost. I am factoring the CHT as part of the justification for the cost, I don't want to spend extra on a non-CHT nozzle for that variation. Hopefully as more units become available an there will be an option to buy a set that comes with six .4mm, one .2 and on and one .6. This would allow us to have quick infills and high level details where needed. I know this is a big ask to suggest a company do something that doesn't make them money, but I got a Prusa because they seemed like the least evil 3d printing company. Help me out Josef 🙂
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
Thanks for these links, @domble. The “description” section of these pages is especially interesting.
I hadn’t seen these before, nor considered getting non-CHT versions specifically for TPU/other flexibles. But now I might.
I bought the 8T upgrade (non-FE) but don’t really have a use for 8 identical CHT .4 mm nozzles, so I’d also prefer if we could swap some nozzle sizes and types around prior to delivery.
Shop pages on Bondtech seem to have been disabled for the Indx nozzles... links from my FE order -
https://www.bondtech.se/product/bondtech-indx-hardened-tool
https://www.bondtech.se/product/bondtech-indx-cht-hardened-tool
Presumably those same sizes will be available again.
RE:
Whether multicolor or even multimaterial is overrated remains to be seen but having 0.2 / 0.4 / 0.6mm nozzles dialed in all the time sure is convenient... That's what INDX will probably do for most, and let's hope slicer support catches up (infill combining across layers is standard already now so printing at different layer heights is feasible, as far as the printhead is concerned. The rest is software).
You described what I'm looking for with INDX. While many people have had good luck with the MMU3, I'm not one of them. My biggest gripe was always that it was a pain-in-the-butt to load reliably. This was especially true when you're down to the second half of the filament spool and there is a natural curve in the end of the filament that doesn't quite line up with the path it needs to feed through. With the filament buffers, you really didn't have a "just push it in until it gets picked-up and feeds itself" kind of setup. It was more like herding cats through a complex maze and hoping they wouldn't misbehave in the process.
RE: When will alternate nozzles be available for purchase?
So true...
while I'm reading this, two additional heads taking shape, short hotend and precision extruder gearing, ordered with 0.15 mm nozzles (besides stock 0.4).
Honestly, I have no sane project that would require six materials and @Diem's advice keeps ringing true - paint it if you want colors...
Instead, as the picture shows, I'm making sure there is minimal opening for the filament to absorb moisture, meaning I can - hopefully - leave spools loaded for a while and maybe purge a little extra. And if this still fails, design an ugly-but-functional removable TPU sock for each printhead stuffed full with silica gel bags.
HOWEVER all this is a great big hassle - INDX holds great promise. Convince me.