Ditto printing!
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:17 pm
There was a point in the middle of my "twin extruder" project that I realized that having two extruders running semi-independently on the X axis is exactly what you need to do "ditto printing", or printing multiple copies of the same object at the same time. After some thought, I also realized that the magnetic coupling idea was perfect for ditto printing, since the belt clamp isn't bolted to anything. So you can print a second magnetic belt clamp and slip it over the belt at any point, then slide the right extruder over to magnetically couple to it. That makes the distance between the two extruders for ditto printing completely adjustible, easily and quickly. And just as easy to take the second belt clamp off and go back to normal printing.
There was some firmware coding required, though, which is why it took an extra month to get around to working out how to do the ditto printing (that, and intervening holidays). I am using the Smoothieboard with the Smoothie firmware, so this doesn't immediately translate over to the Marlin firmware, unfortunately, and I don't have the capacity to test the setup with Marlin and the RAMBo. The ditto printing can be done without firmware changes, though, by connecting both extruder stepper motors in parallel (I think they also work connected in series) using a Y-connector cable. But as far as I know, mine is the first ditto printing setup for the M2 using software control to switch to and from the ditto printing mode.
The video can be found here: http://opencircuitdesign.com/~tim/videos/index.html (last video at the bottom of the page). Also, there is a link to the video from my "twin extruder" project page: http://opencircuitdesign.com/~tim/3d_pr ... index.html (also at the bottom).
There was some firmware coding required, though, which is why it took an extra month to get around to working out how to do the ditto printing (that, and intervening holidays). I am using the Smoothieboard with the Smoothie firmware, so this doesn't immediately translate over to the Marlin firmware, unfortunately, and I don't have the capacity to test the setup with Marlin and the RAMBo. The ditto printing can be done without firmware changes, though, by connecting both extruder stepper motors in parallel (I think they also work connected in series) using a Y-connector cable. But as far as I know, mine is the first ditto printing setup for the M2 using software control to switch to and from the ditto printing mode.
The video can be found here: http://opencircuitdesign.com/~tim/videos/index.html (last video at the bottom of the page). Also, there is a link to the video from my "twin extruder" project page: http://opencircuitdesign.com/~tim/3d_pr ... index.html (also at the bottom).