# 3D Printing > 3D Printer Parts, Filament & Materials >  Mosaic Manufacturing's New Single Extruder/Multiple Color 3D Printing Technique

## Brian_Krassenstein

3D printers seeking to use multiple colors of filament have, until now, had to rely on purchasing multiple extruders or using multi-colored filament, neither of which was really an ideal solution. Canada-based Mosaic Manufacturing has risen to this challenge with a novel response to the desire for multiple colors used in the same 3D printed objects. Their sole-extruder method uses a brand new device, a box featuring motors, a cutter, and a connector, that uses an algorithm to change the filament color in use based on the G-code. Users can change color as regularly as every 35mm of a print job. The box can be used with virtually any 3D printer, not requiring any reconfiguration or modifications. See more about this novel approach: http://3dprint.com/24581/mosaic-manufacturing-color-3d/


Below are some examples of multi-colored objects created via Mosaic Manufacturing's method:

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## Geoff

Finally, something clever. This is a great way to multi colour prints, but the fact the demo pieces there are only 2 colour leads me to believe they are still ironing the kinks out in printing in several colours in one print.

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## Feign

I may have _actually_ just thrown money at my screen while watching the video on their site.

I would love to see how well this handles with say, soluble support material as the second color, or combining flexible and rigid materials.  Both are situations where a "color blending hot end" would be useless, but this might be able to shine.  It seems like using colors/materials with too different a melting temperature would be asking for trouble.

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## repkid

Let's hope they go open source.

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## mcw

Well, if they can do it for two colours then it must be straightforward to do it for more. So straightforward that they would be wise to stick with two for now -- keep it as simple as possible until they're much closer to production.

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## Mjolinor

Clever but OMG that is one can full of potential problems for actually using it. 

There must be a filament splicer in there. I am thinking that it must take your SD card and use the USB to send to the printer in order to keep track of when to change the colour and your filament had better be pretty damned accurately made..

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## Brian_Krassenstein

With two innovative startups coming together with technology, Mosaic Manufacturing just produced a 3D printed flashlight by using Functionalize’s F-Electric filament, which is a thousand times more conductive than other filament, and opens up a whole new world to 3D printing enthusiasts who are interested in 3D printing with electronics. With F-Electric, Mosaic Manufacturing used their SEEM technology with a single extruder to 3D print the initial circuit part for the flashlight, and then added a battery and lighting source. Check out more details: http://3dprint.com/28858/mosaic-3d-prints-flashlight/ ‎

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## Feign

Well... Okay, wow, so that's actually really cool.  And demonstrates that it can definitely do multiple different materials.

I'm interested to see how much this costs compared to the difference between say a single-extruder delta and multi-extruder Cartesian.  Even if this is a little more than the difference, I could see it selling _very well_ thanks to it having some perks over a dual-extrusion setup.  (not to mention watching a Delta mysteriously printing in multiple colors would be much more interesting than the usual boxy printer.)

Also, it looks like it would be right at home next to a MOD-t.  :Wink:

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## Feign

Well! It looks like Mosaic Manufacturing just had an update.
To sum up their blog post:
 - They've more or less honed in on making the machine a consumer product (whatever exactly that means).
 - They are testing the thing with a whole lot of different printers (though no specific list yet).
 - Testing with soluble support/conductive/etc to see what works with what, again no specifics.
 - Next update in mid-February, probably about beta testing.
 - Crowdfunding campaign probably in March.

I kind of like the fact that they're not spending too much of their time blogging, but man, I was starting to forget they existed for a little bit.  Depending on their price (and their crowdfunding site choice*) I'll probably be throwing handfuls of my money at them.

*Totally off topic, but I have utterly lost faith in Indiegogo.  There _are_ a few good campaigns there, and I have high hopes for the projects I've contributed to in the past.  However,_ IGG itself_ has burned me now by being dodgy with my money and that loses my future business.

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## soofle616

I signed up for those updates as well. It's definitely a clever solution though i do have to wonder just how adjustable the thing is going to end up being. Given the HUGE array of printers out there there is simply no way they will be able to calibrate this thing to work with every possible machine. In order to not limit their market then, they will need to allow for adjustments to whatever parameters determine when to cut and fuse the different pieces. Documentation and support are going to be key here to make sure that people don't end up with an expensive piece of equipment that they can't get to work properly.

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## truly_bent

Call me a noob, but i don't understand what's to calibrate. It looks, from the vids, that the Mosaic box doesn't replace the extruder feed mechanism, so all they have to worry about is being able to stay one step ahead of that. Well, that's not all they have to worry about. They also have to be sure that the colours synchronize with the printer movements, but i'm sure they have that figured out.

What else is there to calibrate?

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## Feign

> What else is there to calibrate?


Well, the Mosaic machine needs to know exactly how far the hot end (more accurately the nozzle output) is from where it is splicing the filaments to know how far ahead in the G-Code it needs to look for the material change.  They can have a tube that keeps the filament at an exact length from the device to the printer, but the distance from the printer intake to the hot end is pretty variable, even on a direct drive extruder.  If this distance is off, then the distance the output color is wrong is magnified by the difference in the filament and nozzle areas.

For instance, say you are using 3mm filament (actually 2.98mm) and you have a 0.4mm output (about as far a difference as one would reasonably find).  The filament's cross sectional area is just under 14 times that of the output area.  So if there is an error in the distance between the Mosaic machine and the nozzle is off by 0.1mm, the output would have a offset error of around 1.4mm every time the color changes.

Most professional printers hold pretty tight standards, but home printers are pretty likely to have a tolerance of around 0.1mm in places, much more for a Bowden tube setup.  So it is absolutely essential to calibrate the distance for each individual printer, not even just for each model.  Though getting the intended dimensions of as many printers as possible is a good idea for making a _general range_ for calibration for each printer model.

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## mitchfrommosaic

> I signed up for those updates as well. It's definitely a clever solution though i do have to wonder just how adjustable the thing is going to end up being. Given the HUGE array of printers out there there is simply no way they will be able to calibrate this thing to work with every possible machine. In order to not limit their market then, they will need to allow for adjustments to whatever parameters determine when to cut and fuse the different pieces. Documentation and support are going to be key here to make sure that people don't end up with an expensive piece of equipment that they can't get to work properly.


@soofle616 Hi I'm Mitch one of the founders of the Mosaic Palette. You have a great point and I want to explain how we went about making the Palette work with a huge number of printers, while keeping the calibration process streamlined and simple. 

The Palette outputs 1.75mm filament just like most printers are designed to use which is what allows it to be such a universal solution. It also requires no modification (firmware or hardware) to the printer. The only thing you need to do to your printer is stick on a piece of Velcro (included with Palette) to which the scroll wheel will attach. The scroll wheel is a small measuring device that the filament passes through before entering the printer. It precisely measured the filament used by the printer and relays this information back to The Palette. This allows the Palette to keep track of the print job and even to make compensations if your printer's extruder skips steps, or is over/under extruding. The closed loop feedback system is what allows The Palette and your printer to stay in tune.

There are only 3 calibration constants required for any given printer to be used with The Palette. They are the extrusion constant (similar to extrusion multiplier), hot end transition volume constant, and Bowden distance constant. We have designed simple exercises that the Palette's on board LCD screen can guide you through to get each of these constants. We also plan to provide plenty of documentation to ensure this process goes smoothly for everyone. If you use The Palette with more then one of your printers, you will need to do this sequence for each of them once and then you will be set.

There are some more schematics and descriptions on the Kickstarter campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ed/description

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## mitchfrommosaic

Hi @Feign, I'm sorry I'm replying to your comment so late but yes knowing the exact position of the nozzle is critical. We have overcome this by implementing a closed loop feedback system that measured the filament consumption by the printer. There is a diagram in our Kickstarter campaign in the "staying in sync" section here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ed/description

With this set up, knowing the distance between the nozzle and the scroll wheel is critical. We have developed a very simple calibration sequence that uses the scroll wheel to determine this distance. Yes your correct the cross sectional area reduction will magnify any error but through the insertion of a transition buffer we have been able to mitigate this. The high precision scroll wheel keeps the print right on track and in sync allowing for fantastic quality output.

If you have any more questions, I'll be around.

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## curious aardvark

well you're looking $849 + post and import tax just for the earlybird kickstarter price. 

So final retail - what  somewhere north of $1000 ?

Yes it's clever - but at that price, just don't see it taking off commercially.

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