Dual Extruder High Temperature 3D Printer
(Work in progress)
Overview
The ability to print complex geometries is one of the main benefits of 3D printing over more traditional manufacturing processes, but doing so often requires the use of removable supports. When printing engineering filaments such as nylon and other high-strength polymers, removing these supports can be difficult and often leaves poor surface finishes due to the high layer adhesion of the materials.
A solution to this is using a secondary filament that easily separates from the main part or can be dissolved in water, such as PVA. However, dual-extruder printers are often expensive and slow due to the heavy toolhead.
As a balance between the two, I set out to build a custom 3D printer based on the Voron Trident that features a lightweight dual-extruder printhead for fast print speeds, while also having a heated build chamber to improve print quality with engineering filaments and reduce part warping.
Direct-drive high flow main extruder for optimal main material printing performance
Bowden-fed secondary (support) extruder for weight reduction
Pivoting Dual Extruxer
Motorless nozzle switching alternates between two toolheads without a motor, the extruder pushes against a fixed point on the gantry to flip and magnetically lock the next nozzle in place
Water-cooled extruders eliminates need for fans and heat sinks, increasing reliability and eliminating heat creep in heated chamber
Beacon Surface Scanning contactless probing and mesh leveling of bed using eddy currents
High Temperature Capabilities
Aluminum Machined structural components for high-temperature resistance.
Insulated Enclosure chamber heated to 60–70 °C to minimize warping and improve layer adhesion.
Watercooled motors maintain stable operation during long prints, using custom aluminum cooling plates
SmCo Bed magnets to maintain printbed steel sheet hold at 100C+ bed temperatures