E3D Cyclops Extruder

[Brian_Krassenstein]

E3D, an England-based 3D printer manufacturer, has just released the initial test results for its forthcoming Cyclops dual hotend extruder. Overcoming traditional issues with 3D printing, including the inability to print in more than one or maybe two colors, the Cyclops is being designed to have interchangable nozzles at a lighterweight than current extruders, all in a small footprint. The Cyclops will soon be released on E3D's website in beta. Check out more details, and some test pictures, in the full article: http://3dprint.com/20697/e3d-cyclops-hotend/ ‎

Below is a photo of a test object printed using the Cyclops dual hotend extruder:

[Geoff]

E3D, an England-based 3D printer manufacturer, has just released the initial test results for its forthcoming Cyclops dual hotend extruder. Overcoming traditional issues with 3D printing, including the inability to print in more than one or maybe two colors, the Cyclops is being designed to have interchangable nozzles at a lighterweight than current extruders, all in a small footprint. The Cyclops will soon be released on E3D's website in beta. Check out more details, and some test pictures, in the full article: http://3dprint.com/20697/e3d-cyclops-hotend/ ‎

Below is a photo of a test object printed using the Cyclops dual hotend extruder:

Sorry, I have to be a pain in the backside and interject...

here is a dual colour print printed with a 2 year old Flashforge 3D.. it's never caused me real headaches printing in 2 colours and does a beautiful job.

Is there a specific difference to the weight versus printing speed versus quality in this that we can't see? I know it's not a great photo but I can see some blue blobbing in the yellow heart.

I can print super fast, but its more down the extruder for quality in my machine.. not so much the weight of the head.

I will print that dragon in the same colours today and post a bit later on... but for now.. I'm pretty happy with the dual extrusion I have. The retracts and everything I have setup for the v1.0 version of the firmware I can get to print this cleanly without having to mess around, and with proftweak you can easily print in 2 colours of PLA/ABS combined no worries.

[3dkarma]

One of the major issues with a dual head design is ooze from the inactive head, which it sound like you've solved with appropriate retraction and temperature settings. There's also the painful process of aligning the heads correctly and tuning the setup to get everything working right. Your print looks great, which means you've got ooze, temperature and alignment down pat, but I'm sure you went through a lot of pain to get it that way. I also see that your print does not use more than one colour on the same layer - are you getting as good results with more complex prints?

This is an educated guess, but the Cyclops solves this by printing multiple filaments through a single hot end. You print with one filament then, when you need to change, retract out of the hot end and switch to another filament, then extrude a set amount to force the remains of the previous filament out of the melt chamber and prime with the new (hence the mixed colour tower in the picture), then continue printing.

Chances are there are two remote extruders connected to a switching mechanism above the hot end. The mechanism may be driven by a servo (or probably something more clever) to switch from one extruder's bowden tube to another, probably by moving them along a single plane, back and forth above the hot end. Another way of accomplishing this is a train-tracks approached as per this blog post. I've tried the latter, but it introduces significant friction and makes it difficult to push the filament through.

One hot end means no alignment problems and no ooze problems (or at least the ooze is easier to fix with retraction settings).

[Geoff]

One of the major issues with a dual head design is ooze from the inactive head, which it sound like you've solved with appropriate retraction and temperature settings. There's also the painful process of aligning the heads correctly and tuning the setup to get everything working right. Your print looks great, which means you've got ooze, temperature and alignment down pat, but I'm sure you went through a lot of pain to get it that way. I also see that your print does not use more than one colour on the same layer - are you getting as good results with more complex prints?

This is an educated guess, but the Cyclops solves this by printing multiple filaments through a single hot end. You print with one filament then, when you need to change, retract out of the hot end and switch to another filament, then extrude a set amount to force the remains of the previous filament out of the melt chamber and prime with the new (hence the mixed colour tower in the picture), then continue printing.

Chances are there are two remote extruders connected to a switching mechanism above the hot end. The mechanism may be driven by a servo (or probably something more clever) to switch from one extruder's bowden tube to another, probably by moving them along a single plane, back and forth above the hot end. Another way of accomplishing this is a train-tracks approached as per this blog post. I've tried the latter, but it introduces significant friction and makes it difficult to push the filament through.

One hot end means no alignment problems and no ooze problems (or at least the ooze is easier to fix with retraction settings).

If it can do it from a single hot end with the same quality as I can from a dual head, I will throw my money at them.

[3dkarma]

If it can do it from a single hot end with the same quality as I can from a dual head, I will throw my money at them.

I'm hoping for at least the same quality, with significantly simpler setup.