Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea. - Silicone tool

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

KC — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:22:06 +0000

Hi Henryhbk,

I am also looking forward to implementing silicone 3D model printing.

It's good to hear some positive feedback on what you saw.

Have you heard anything about when the extruder and material might be ready to ship?

Thanks,

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

Henryhbk — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 02:38:17 +0000

I saw the silicone head at Rapid+TCT yesterday. Worked really well. It’s around $85000 cheaper than the next silicone capable printer. I do a lot of silicone mold printing and then casting, so will be very useful, plus way less messy than mixing my own (the shop always gets some on some surface).

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

David Wood (dwuk3d) — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 15:31:53 +0000

Currently the point of contact between the carriage and the tools is very close to the linear rail. Adding another pick-up point to the other side of the carriage, significantly cantilevered away from the linear rail, seems ripe for adding play.

I thought using the same parts which fit the same distance from the rail carriage in the opposite direction would be ok - but I guess the forward facing pickup could be pulled back a bit - but might require a new part, rather than reusing the existing rear facing parts.

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

pcgeekesq — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:57:12 +0000

It looks like your "double-sided option" requires the carriage be able to pick up tool heads on both its front and back sides. Doing that with the required stability and repeatable precision would likely be very challenging.

Currently the point of contact between the carriage and the tools is very close to the linear rail. Adding another pick-up point to the other side of the carriage, significantly cantilevered away from the linear rail, seems ripe for adding play.

Also, add the required PTFE tubing to your models, and see if the double-sided option still seems attractive.

Posted by: @david-wood-dwuk3d
Finally got round to doing a mock up of some INDX + XL options - will do an animation too at some point.
i think I prefer the double sided option.

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

mgantner — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:39:24 +0000

INDX for traditional plastics and the tool heads for silicone, pick & place, and whatever else comes along. That would be quite the machine

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

David Wood (dwuk3d) — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 07:04:21 +0000

Finally got round to doing a mock up of some INDX + XL options - will do an animation too at some point.

i think I prefer the double sided option.

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

CQCoder — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:36:39 +0000

Yeah...I wish...pretty sure my 5T has been abandoned by Prusa.

RE: Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

mgantner — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 01:03:29 +0000

The whole silicone head thing seems a bit niche to me. I don't understand why they wouldn't focus on getting simple things done first, like Prusa designed nozzle wipers and the startup code to go with it. Or a power solution for the camera they released(and/or a camera designed specifically for the XL). Or a better belt tensioning system that can be reliably adjusted.

In other words, spend some time making what is already part of the XL better.

Filament2 Silicone Tool XL in combination with INDX idea.

David Wood (dwuk3d) — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 09:28:38 +0000

The silicone tool looks interesting - but I am also interested in how it could possibly work in conjunction with a Bondtech INDX based XL.

Thinking about the Filament2 Silicone Add on for the Prusa XL.

1. They first demonstrated it at Formnext 2024 on an A1 Mini.

2. Interesting possibility on an XL - 2 XL heads, - 1 Filament2 Silicone, 1 - Bondtech INDX. The two print heads should take up about 144mm - so leaving 216 - which is enough room for 7 INDX passive tools at the back - in place of the other 3 XL toolheads.

3. It looks like the Filament2 is an addon to the NextTruder - probably mainly using the drive power - so I wonder if they could instead make an INDX 'passive tool' version - that somehow gets its drive power from the INDX toolhead via some sort of gear engagement - or maybe they could slightly modify the INDX toolhead to have some sort 'power take off' - to allow probably a 10 INDX tools XL - with one of the Passive Tools a Filament2 Silicone Extruder.

4. Another XL suggestion that has been made to me - is to keep the full 5 tool XL setup as is - but as permanently mount an INDX toolhead one the front of the XL pickup carriage (plus make it active rather than passive).

Then mount 11 INDX Passive tools on the front of the XL - to make it 16 tools in total.

Short demo animation of INDX on XL - will make version with 2 heads and silicone tool next.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Bc44xUUht1A?si=f-sQOiYYez2HASQg