Hi,
i have build the printer, and after a while he made good-looking results.
Now i would like to “extend” the Printer, with a second extruder. Is it possible to get the Items of Bag 30 and 31. Costs of course will paid.
I think this would be a challenge
The control board can not run a second extruder
You would also need new firmware and a bigger frame
Maybe more than that
I think it could be possible to at a second extruder
- the existing extruder has to be replaced by 2 close to eachother. Such models exist at thingiverse so this is possible
- the temperature of the second extruder has to be controlled. For this propose it should be possible to use the connection for the headbed. This results that the temperature regulation of the headbed has to be independent of the controller board which could be realised.
- somehow an additional motor for the second extruder has controlled by the board, which is a problem because of the only 4 existing motor driver. It could be resolved by using one driver for the 2 motors of the extruder. Mostlikely, they are never in use at the sametime so it is possible to switch between them with a relay. The only thing is how to switch it. Maybe a solution here is the signal of the fan.
- the final big thing is an adaption of the firmware, which should be possible
So it is for sure a big project for upgrading the printer, but maybe worth to do it.
It is possible to attach a extension to the port of the Controller. Since the Controller is based on the Sanguinololu-Design. Little Firmware Patch…
Hi Michael,
I thought about upgrading the board to drive a second extruder, too. The wiki you mentioned lists some problems with the current design and (perhaps therefore?) the sources are not available. Nevertheless, this looks just like the thing to use for the task. Do you by any chance have any further information on that topic?
Cheers,
kuraasu