Anet A8 Dual Extrusion
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- This video is all about adding a second extruder to the Anet A8 3d-printer!
Dual-Extrusion allows the printer to use two different materials/colors in one print. This powerful technology enables "real" dual-color prints or prints with different materials. With a good slicer software like Cura, printing dual-color models is very easy!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them down below!
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Printer: Anet A8
Get it on Gearbest: www.gearbest.c...
Get 3d-Printers + Supplies: www.gearbest.c...
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Some links I promised to leave here:
-Model printing: www.thingivers...
Marlin Firmware: marlinfw.org/
--- GitHub: github.com/Mar...
Cura: ultimaker.com/...
Parts:
Dual E3D-V6 Carriage: www.thingivers...
Dual Extruder Motor Holder: www.thingivers...
X-Chain Adapter: www.thingivers...
X-Cable Chain: www.thingivers...
E3D-V6 Clone: www.aliexpress...
Limit Switch: www.aliexpress...
LM8UU Bearings: www.aliexpress...
RAMPS Fan Extender: www.aliexpress...
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Other videos:
Printing multi-color prints with a single-extruder printer: • Multi-Color Prints wit...
Install Marlin on Anet A8: • Anet A8 Marlin Firmware
Controller Upgrade (Arduino Mega + RAMPS 1.4 combo): • Anet A8 Controller Upg...
Filament Run-Out Sensor: • Filament Run-Out Senso...
E3D-V6 on Anet A8: • Anet A8 E3D-v6 & Cura ...
Very cool dual extrusion setup. A good idea to print with cheaper stuff on the infill. Probably not a lot of people think of that option. Nice video!
Thanks! I found that setting and thought that it might be a good thing to save money ;-)
if you can choose a different extruder for the inner wall then it will make it better , but cura doesn't
You can set a "Wall Extruder" and an "Inner Wall Extruder" in Cura 3.2.0.
There is a newer feats? didn't notice that. I wonder if you can use stronger material or different temp. to make prints better, for example a hotter hotend for more layer adhesion or stronger material for better strength with the outmost perimeter retaining the aesthetic printing quality
It might work, but I don't know how the hotter extruder might influence the "colder" material! Might be worth testing, with, for example, PLA and PETG.
Awesome video:) I have just converted mine but I'm having some issues.. Did you have to upgrade your power supply to cope with the extra load of another hot end ? Mine prints with nozzle 1 and then nozzle 2 but when it go's back to nozzle 1 it's having problems extruding and then the same for nozzle 2 . Wondering if the power supply isn't man enough
Thanks for your feedback!
The PSU should be strong enough if you have a fan to keep it cool.
I'm certain that these issues you're describing are from your slicer software. If you're using Cura, watch out for the Minimum and Maximum Extrusion Temperatures and the Nozzle Switch Retraction Length. In my case, PLA started to print at 175°C (which is too cold) and the extrusion length was over an inch! Obviously, with my cheap setup, the filament didn't find it's way back in... You'll find your perfect settings after a few trials.
I hope that I could help ya ;-)
@@Caverntwo I'm using slic3r not sure if that's good or not ?.. sounds like you might be right I does retract a lot.. I'll play around with the setting and see what happens :) thanks for your help :)
I can't really help you with slic3r as I'm quite a noob there... But, considering all the errors that I did since I upgraded to this dual-extrusion setup, about 80% of them were because of wrong settings (mainly wrong start/stop temperatures and too long retractions). And your error description sounds exactly to what I encountered most of the time.
Approaching it from the hardware side, does the nozzle heat up to the target temperature?
I hope that you can get working!
Can I just check one thing, there seems to be too much power going to the ramps... is this something you came across?
How much do you mean? The RAMPS takes a few amps to power the motors and the extruder. If you don't have a MOSFET module for the heated bed, which is also fed by the RAMPS, then it can be easily like 20A.
Just make sure that you don't have any short, which could/would destroy several components of the board. Also, get a fan for cooling.
Super Awesome mod, the only thing I didn't like is that you tied up the bearing with plastic ties that defeat the purpose of precision and aesthetics in my humble opinion, other than that you are extremely brilliant being able to pull up such an upgrade thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching. I'm glad that you liked it.
To be honest, all credits go to the designers on thingiverse, and they designed it that way. A few months after creating this video this setup still works perfectly, and the only thing of annoyance is that the two hot-ends have a different length, causing one to get unlevel when pulling/pushing the filament line. Other than that this was one of my best upgrades so far!
I've rewired everything using a new board... it all seems to be working... just one issue - question - how are the endstops supposed to be wired because mine are being unresponsive? Which pins of the actual endstops should be wired and where do they go exactly on the board? I mean I know about the + - thing where you shouldn't put them in the same lins etc....
First, each endstop connector has three pins, +, - and S. The Signal pin (S) is what gets the actual information to the controller.
On the board, you have 6 plugs, X,Y,Z in both MIN and MAX. As we're "homing" the printer and know the coordinates of the origin point (mostly 0,0,0 unless overridden), we'll just use the MIN pins. Obviously, the X limit switch goes to the X-MIN connector. the Y to the Y-MIN and the Z to the Z-MIN one.
Most of it depends on what you set in the firmware. You have basically two choices.
The Anet A8 and every other machine I have just uses the default limit switches, so it's pretty likely that you are also facing the black switches with three pins.
One of them is the Common (COM) pin, which is where one wire goes. The order doesn't matter. The NO pin is only connected to the COM when the switch is pressed, therefore it's "normally open" (in idle state). The NC pin is only connected to the COM when the switch is idle, therefore it's "normally closed". BTW. NO and NC are never connected to each other. Taking a multimeter to find out what pin is what is something I could recommend you to do, I once spent like 2 hours searching for why the filament-sensor didn't work because of this.
As all logic pins have the possibility to have pull-up resistors enabled by the software (in the case of the Arduino Mega), you want to switch the GND to the S pin and avoid the +. A pull up resistor tries to avoid the "floating" state, which is prone to errors and malfunctions, by connecting + to the pin via a large resistor. If you want to know more about this, it's commonly used and you'll find a lot of interesting articles on Google.
BTW, if you're wondering why there even is a + in the connector, there are more advanced endstops available (with improved de-bouncing circuit or even completely different ones, like optical ones), which just plug into the board.
The normal Marlin setup uses the COM and NC connections on the switch, meaing that the GND will be connected to the S pin every time the switch is idle, and the connection will be interrupted (and pulled to + internally) when the switch is pressed!
With the example configuration of the Anet A8, the switches are inverted, so they use the COM and the NO pin, connecting the GND to the S only when the limit is reached.
I went with the second setup, so I didn't need to rewire the switches!
See the configuration I was talking about: github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/0110faa717e642574ade9eb7aed250ee2840e942/Marlin/example_configurations/Anet/A8/Configuration.h#L508
I hope that I could clarify some of your questions, if not, just ask more closely.
@@Caverntwo That's great... so much detail 😳👍... it turns I connected to + instead of -... however not quite the last of my problems I've just found out. It seems that the cooling fan is not functioning... I'm using a fan extender just like you, but it seems not to be working... any ideas?
For the fan extender you need to do some additional configuration, which I showed in this or the other video.
@@Caverntwo Which video?
I'm not fully sure, as I'm just on my phone at work now, but I think it was this: ua-cam.com/video/g_AA72g_uXg/v-deo.html
Hi, maybe can help me with the z limit with servo in the marlin code??
Hello Friend,
already printed your pieces, thank you very much !!!
My problem is I can not configure.h for anet with two extruders so I can not load Marlin, can you help me? Thanks
Hi, thanks for your comment.
What's exactly the problem with your configuration.h file?
Normally you need to get the A8 preset and select two extruders, select the correct temperature sensor, assign the proper steps/mm and min/max temperatures. Also, to be able to get a parts cooling fan, you should get one of those fan-extender boards, which you need to configure as well.
my problem is that my Z axis is going up 20mm and it goes up 11mm, and I can't do the marlin up grade I'm in version 1.0.0
please help me friend !!! because it is with two extruders, these configuration h, for my model does not work
THANK YOU
Ok, I don't really understand your problem to be honest.
If your Z axis isn't going as much as it says, the steps/mm are configured wrongly.
What Marlin version are you trying to install and what controller do you have?
If you have an 8-bit controller (like Arduino Mega), go with 1.1.9.
With a new 32-bit controller, you'll go with the new 2.0 version.
cool setup, lots of details, thinking of going for dual extrusion on my anet also
Thanks! If you don't already have a dual-extrusion printer, this upgrade is really worth it!
I agree, it's pretty awesome
But takes a while to get up and running... If you don't have a second printer, print parts like the fan duct multiple times as they break easily!
Does this work with the auto leveling sensor my a8 has the leveling sensor my original mainboard does not take new firmware for some reason thx
Edit: around how much does this setup cost
Yes, most likely. However, I cannot verify this as I don't have the sensor. I'll do a sensor-setup video with a generic inductive sensor soon. You might want to watch one of the many videos about this topic on UA-cam in the meantime.
About the costs of the setup: it's not that expensive!
The main board setup costs like $25 with 2nd hot-end, extruder, motor and tube adding like another $20-30. Order from AliExpress if local stores are more expensive, but check for shipping and your country's import taxes.
I've made a dedicated video about the main board setup that I really recommend watching before. It should be linked in the description with all parts that I used (there might be some dead links though...).
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I'm happy that I can help ya!
@@Caverntwo thx if I have any questions I'll make sure ask
@@Caverntwo btw I'm subbed
@@Caverntwo hey again I'm trying to convince my dad to get this setup (I'm 13) but it uses Bowden and my dad refuses to use bowden.
Could you give me A list of reasons why Bowden is better than direct drive thx
Thanks for your interest in my videos. I really appreciate it. I find it pretty cool that you are interested in 3d printers at this age!
Bowden vs Direct is mostly a preference, like I prefer Bowden tbh. It allows for faster speeds as the hot-end is lighter. It also removed most wobbling on my A8 thanks to this reason. Second, the extruder is easier to reach and the tube can be removed easier than disassembling most direct-drives, in the event if something should be clogged.
On the contrary, there's a "delay" and flexing in the tube, which doesn't allow for extrusions as precise as with a direct drive. Normally, that shouldn't be a problem though. The only really negative thing about a Bowden in my opinion is that you always lose the tube length of filament per spool or if it breaks and that insertion/removal takes longer thanks to the increased length.
I hope that this should give you a good overview.
Hey, did you ever figure out a solution for hitting the limit switch? Im currently installing this modification myself and am running into the same problem
I have it still like this and it's still working. It's not a full hit, but the switch gets pressed every time. In the video I thought the that there might be the case that the switch doesn't get hit, but it turned out that this is not the case.
If you want, just import the model into Tinkercad and add a cube to this position. Shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes.
Awesome! I just did my first test print, I have the problem where my extruders are loose but no big problem. I have one issue, when printing my second hot end parks on top of the part that was just printing, and waits for like 30 seconds before continuing to print. This causes leaking in the model, any clue why this happens?
That's awesome to hear! I hope that you like your new setup!
Yeah, Cura doesn't know how long your second extruder takes to heat up and just takes some default values. You could adjust these curves anywhere in the files, but I also haven't done this. I disabled "Infill before Walls" to get the extruder to finish a layer in the infill, avoiding blobs at the wall. I don't really know why it doesn't move to the tower to switch the head, but well... Also, set the inactive temperatures to like 185°C for PLA, so there's only 10°C to the operating temperature. You'd need to play around with the values, but it's also no permanent solution.
It may be in your description somewhere, but what brand of soluble filament do you use?
Hi Ben,
Sorry, but I have not yet used soluble filament. In the video, I said that dual extrusion is the key to get soluble supports, as you can just assign the second extruder to the support in Cura. But as unorganized and especially lazy as I am, I have not yet managed to try it out.
However, I'll not use PVA but HIPS, which is much cheaper, but you have to use citronic acid to dissolve it. There is a high chance that I manage to do it this year, because of my new job.
How would i setup the fan extension board in marlin 2.0 and visual code. dont know how to find the pins
Hi Markus,
I'm not sure what board you have, but you have to go to the pins folder (in the Marlin directory), then open the pins file of your mainboard/mainboard type where you can edit the pins. If you look in your configuration.h file, you can find your mainboard name at the beginning of the file. There will be a pins file using that name.
If you have any questions or need some help, let me know.
@@Caverntwo would going to the root folder for be the same as finding pins in Visual code. And i forgot how to acces this from visual code.
@@markusgutendorff2684 Go to the Marlin folder in your file explorer and open the folder with visual studio code. Then you should see all files in the hierarchy.
@@Caverntwo Ramps 1.5 but is is a true 1.4 as far as pins go, but improoved mosfets for d8,d9,d10. Anyway.. I know what folder the root marlin folder is. And there i changed values for Pins-ramps.h and it worked. I run it on 24v, so i have taken away the fuse to power the board. Unfortunately the extender cannot take 24v som i have ordered new 12v fans. and the anet 24v print cooling fan is only running on 12v. I don't use filament break sensors yet. But if i solder extra pins on the extenderboard i should be able to connect it on pin 4. The anet a8 plus is a good machine, but no extra features on that board. Ordered 2 more fans so i will configure pin d11 too. to run on the other extruder. Can i controll the other pin d11 via the lcd as d6 ?
@@markusgutendorff2684 As far as I understand it, you can control a second fan by defining the FAN1_PIN. However, I don't know whether they just "automatically" work then or you need to configure via the M106 thing or somewhere else. I haven't played around with that yet.
When I created this video, I wanted to keep it simple, therefore I directly wired up the hotend fans.
For the filament sensor, you can (ab)use the one of the max endpoint pins.
Hast du auch Erfahrung in Umrüstung von größeren Druckern? Benötige unbedingt einen mit 30x30x40 Bauraum. LG
My largest printer (JGAurora A5) has a build volume of about 30x30x35cm. According to my knowledge (from other reviews), I'd check out the Creality CR-10 (www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_627175.html?wid=1433363&lkid=16561055) as it has a large build volume. It comes in different sizes.
I won't say that this is the only printer that works, but this is one where you'll find a lot of videos about.
I hope that I could help you, and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Have the printer all wired up ready to go... having turned everything on, I have a couple of issues: when any limit switch is pressed, the motherboard momentarily resets, The display seems to turn abright white colour as opposed to blue. Any ideas?
You probably have a short or something. You can count yourself lucky, as shorts can also destroy the board. Don't worry, I e also already shorted it once at least...
Check for the correct orientation of the limit switch plugs. The two wires should bridge + or - to the signal pin, ** NEVER ** + to -!
@@Caverntwo That's the problem I had indeed... I think that's sorted now... I also removed D1 which supposedly powers the MEGA, however the MEGA still gets power via the Ramps 🤔
Cool that you found it out!
You're right, D1 is not needed as the Mega gets power from the RAMPS' converter.
@@Caverntwo However somehow the Mega is still getting power from the Ramps despite D1 being removed (??)... also Q1 is heating up very quickly to very high temperatures...
Hmmm, the quick heating time is relatively normal, but check whether the temperature sensor works.
How does the arduino/computer boards interact with the motherboard... is any other software needed etc?
Normal PC to board communication (while printing) works using a default USB protocol (UART) and is implemented by the firmware, so there are some differences depending on the firmware. All you need to set is the correct baud-rate to be able to successfully communicate with the board. Software like PrintRun, octoprint or Cura send commands to the printer (using this protocol), so you can print without SD card.
For programming, you need to install the proper drivers for your board. The Arduino IDE comes with the drivers for the Arduino boards, so if you have a Mega with Ramps setup (or boards based on it like the MLS Base Gen l or similar ones), it should work right away.
For other boards, you need to install the corresponding driver. Check the manufacturers website or google it. I've showed that for the proprietary Anet board in my Marlin Firmware on Anet A8 video.
Some boards don't allow software upload via USB as they don't have a bootloader installed, so flashing a firmware on those is a little bit more tricky (requires a programmer board). I've also done a video on how to do it if you're interested.
@@Caverntwo I know this might be a bore but would it be possible if you could do a quick run down through the instructions for the whole procedure, start to finish? (Don't worry if not but I really want to implement a dual extruder into my CTC A8 and I'm fairly new to all of this)
So you mean like what you have to do to get the setup working or how the printer knows how to print?
I can do that, but not before the evening (I want to write longer things on the PC).
@@Caverntwo Yep, that'd be great... no rush as well.
Well, most of the things that the printer needs to get working (software-wise) are covered in this video. There's little to add without getting very complex.
But as you said that you are very new to the scene, I tried to explain the concept and process of "3d printing" a little bit more detailed.
For the print itself, there are basically two possibilities: 1st you can use an SD card containing gcode files and the second one is streaming the contents of the file from the PC. Actually, there's no real difference during the print other than the data source, as the contents of the file are streamed line-per-line from the PC or read line-per-line from the file on the SD card.
These files are just a list of instructions (one per line), telling the printer what to do. As an example, one line could tell the printer to "move the head 2mm in x direction, 1mm in y direction and extrude 0.5mm".
If you want to learn more about gcode, I've done a video covering the very basics already a while back.
To get the gcode from the original 3d model, you need to slice it using some slicer software like Cura. This slicing process is very complex, even more because the user is able to add preferred settings.
The printer itself isn't really intelligent, the "intelligence" comes from the slicing software. That allows the printer's mainboard to be very cheap, but the printer cannot intelligently react to errors/changes in the print as it doesn't know about the print! The concept of the "dumb" robot just following the instructions is likely going to change in the future when 3d printing becomes more intelligent (and probably "AI-Powered").
But back to the g-code of today:
One of those commands is the switch tool command, which tells the firmware to stop extruding from the first extruder and switch to the other one. Optionally, the firmware adds an offset when switching tools (like I showed in the video), but it's also possible to not set one in the firmware and let the slicer software manage it as well.
And that's basically it. There isn't anything "magical" or "complex" on a 3d printer, but rather it's a marvel of engineering (or better, the open-source community) that cheaply cloned hardware with huge tolerances, under-engineered and sometimes literally dangerously copied controllers, non-standardized communications (g-code has never been fully defined but rather cloned from the existing CNC world and so are some commands interpreted differently depending on the firmware), short-living trends and everything else somehow work together.
As an open-minded software developer, 3d printing is a good example of what's been missed in the 25 years of being patented, seeing what the community has shaped within just half of the time (12 years). (Just to add, 3d printing isn't the only field where you can see a good development like that)
Alright, I hope that I could explain you some basics, if you have any questions, make sure to ask right away.
(BTW, I should probably start writing technical articles because there's so much more to say about the topic.)
Will you release the cura gcode for start/end and if you have anything for extruder as well?
Hi, thanks for the question!
As far as I can remember, I let it all at default. Also, the offset is set to 0mm in Cura as Marlin handles it for me.
Hmmm i see.... I am using the firmware to control offsets as well. I have been attempting to get it dialed in but cannot get a decent print out of my setup and it just won't cooperate. I have used the different dual extrusion printers in cura for examples for script and just changed speed or x,y & z locations as needed buuuuut still no bueno. Anyways, thank you for the very quick response. I will try just using the basic script
What I can suggest is just playing around with different setups. In my case there was a bug in the Marlin firmware, causing it to not correct y-offsets (which was very small but there in my case). If you cannot get it configured, just set it to 0,0 in your firmware and use Cura to manage the offsets, it also works.
our display does not make a picture but if you push your head it makes as planned a sound. WHAT I CAN DO?????
sorry for my bad English i´m form German
So it just produces some sound and doesn't show anything? Then you probably mixed up the two connectors. Try plugging the two plugs in the back of the display in the opposite order.
No problem, my English isn't the best as well (I'm from Austria) ;-)
Is it possible to install an autolevel sensor on this dual extruder?
As far as I can remember, there was a sensor bracket available for the extruder mount. It gets mounted on the backside. Please check the model using the link in the description.
how much money have you spent on it?
Thanks for your comment!
Until this point and not considering material (filament), my own time and electricity costs, it will be around €250. Be aware that the printer cost me €169 two years ago and that I bought some stuff for spare (like fans and nozzles). Now the printer is significantly cheaper.
The most expensive part was the Anycubic Ultrabase with $25. The dual extrusion upgrade cost me like $40 in total. As you can see, the upgrades, especially cheap clones, don't break the budget.
I wonder if you had any problems with extrusion ?
No, I surprisingly didn't until the first dual-color print where the "Material Switch Retraction" value in Cura was way too high, so the filament didn't find it's way back into the extruder...
What's the exact problem?
Also, while editing the firmware, make sure to set the steps/mm for the second extruder (I think that I forgot to mention that, sorry). If you have the same motor setup like I do, just copy the values from the other.
@@Caverntwo okay... I'll check the steps per mm as well as the retraction. The issue was to do with the filament "coming loose" from the ev3 v6- quite possibly to do with retraction... had an issue also with soluble filament which wasnt rigid enough for stepper so would curl around motor... have fixed that though with a bit of rigid tubing in the stepper motor configuration.
Nice to hear that. One of my extruder isn't quite ready for softer filament yet too.
What soluble filament do you use?
@@Caverntwo Where would I find steps/mm settings in Marlin?
github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/0110faa717e642574ade9eb7aed250ee2840e942/Marlin/Configuration.h#L611
Where did you source the second stepper motor?
I've ordered the stepper motor, the E3D-V6 clone and the extruder-set on AliExpress.
Hi
Can you provide a link to Your ready Marlin configuration for Ramps 1.4 +full graphics display ?
Hi Irek,
That's a good question, but I'm afraid to tell you that I don't even have the files anymore (I forgot to back them up before reinstalling Windows).
Basically, you could follow every step of this video with a RAMPS 1.4 and the full graphics display, the only thing that you need to change is the display definition itself. Just uncomment the correct one and comment out the one I used.
I'd suggest that you just try it out, there isn't a lot that could go wrong if you follow my video.
If you run into trouble, just feel free to ask me (either here or by email), I can pretty surely help you. As a side effect, you'd have learned a lot of valuable knowledge ;-).
:-(
can i do the same on by diy 3d printer
Yes, you can!
Basically you need a second extruder, a way to mount it to your printer (depending on your design, there might even be some similar ones available), and of course a mainboard supporting a second extruder (both motor with gears and hot-end). Be aware that thanks to the second extruder and the larger carriage, the print size might be influenced.
The process is going to be similar to what I showed in the video. For the hardware and software I recommend getting a 32 bit board and installing Marlin 2 nowadays.
@@Caverntwo ThankYou so much helped me a lot!
@@____Potato_____ You're welcome!
Can you make a video on three colors one hotend? Or where can I find info to setting it on anet a8
I'm still thinking about installing such upgrade, but definitely not on the A8. You'll need to find some X-carriage to install the diamond hot-end. The software configuration is pretty similar to what I did here, but you might need to find a mainboard that supports triple extrusion by default (like the RUMBA). You need to raise the number of extruders to three and define SINGLENOZZLE but no offsets (as there is just one nozzle). Three extruders also need to be defined in Cura, and you might play around with the nozzle-switch retractions to get a proper color change. If you should get stuck, feel free to let me know. Maybe we can find a working solution ;-)
Друг, спасибо за видео!
I'm glad that you liked it!
Sir I want complete marlin codes of ANET A8 printer for ramps v1.4 plz send me
Hi, unfortunately I cannot do that as Marlin needs to be configured for each printer individually. Start with the example config for the Anet A8 printer, then adapt your mainboard and other things you might need. You can either use Arduino IDE or PlatformIO with your favorite code editor. As Ramps is an add-on controller for the Arduino Mega, maybe it's easier to use Arduino IDE.
Marlin devs have their configuration files pretty well documented and also share the docs for most features on their website.
Hola mia amigo, como se hace esto en una ramps 1.4 con Marlín
The process in the video works with an Arduino Mega + RAMPS 1.4 controller.
Could you please upload your folder for marlin with all of the configurations as I am going to be running the exact same setup but my Arduino keeps giving me error messages.
What error does it show you? It's far better trying to figure out the error than using a finished file that maybe doesn't do exactly what you expect. In this video I mention basically every change you need to do to get on the right track, and watching my controller upgrade video definitely helps too.
Caverntwo it keeps giving me an error with the avrdude. Sometimes it will do this but sometimes it won’t and it’s very intermittent. Also, I’m not sure how I could use the stock display on the ramps board because as I already have spent around $40 on this upgrade even before the second hot end and stepper, I’m trying to keep my costs down. What’s the correct programmer to use?
In my case it just worked with the default settings in the Arduino IDE. Try unplugging/replugging and restarting the IDE/PC. It helped in my case. When I click the upload button I have the board not yet connected as I wait for it to compile and plug it in just before it starts uploading.
You can use the stock display but you need to get an SD-card adapter (which plugs into one of the AUX headers). Therefore I chose to go with the Reprapdiscount Smart LCD (and it has the rotary knob which I prefer over the buttons). You'd need to define it in the LCD section of the configuration file (it's called ZONESTAR_LCD).
The controller upgrade cost me like $25 without the display, which is about $8.
If you should encounter any more errors or have some other question, feel free to ask.
I hope that you can get it to work as fast as possible ;-)
I finally got the program to upload properly as I was using the wrong type of programmer before but now I fixed it! I actually don't care much for having an sd card reader as I plan to hookup my raspberry pi zero W to it and run octoprint. how would I wire the stock anet display to the ramps board? The ramps has 18 pins in a row but the anet display connector has 2 rows of 5 pins
You'd need a custom adapter, but I do not know what pins connect to what tbh. I know that the Anet board display connector does something different than the EXP connectors found on other boards. The keys on the Anet display use an analog input as the different buttons just change the resistance and therefore the return voltage.
I actually confused the Anet 5-button display with the big Anet display, which is like the large reprapdiscount smart LCD but with a different wiring. It is possible to use the Anet 5-button LCD on an RAMPS with a lot of hardware understanding, but it might be far easier just buying a $8 Reprapdiscount small smart display.
can't you just take the ptfe tube out of the throat and it work without a "max" temp?
It would clog very soon, as there's no "heat break" (which is the only connection between hot and cold and needs to be as small as possible). You could use a all-metal heat break (the other one on the image), but the one I had didn't work out properly and also clogged about 5 mins in the print (heat creep issue). Therefore I stay with the PTFE inline heat breaks for now, with the price of a maximum temperature of ~240°C.
Excellent video. I'm planning on cheating.... I have a dual extruder 2 in 1 out, and I want to change to a 2 out hot end with minimum fuss. I think I can swap the 24V mixer hotend for a 12V dual, and attach the hot end wires from a single feed, using a buck converter to take the 24V down to 12V for each, then use Cura's "offset nozzle" so I don't have to mess with Marlin (which I know nothing about).
Anyone think this is a bad idea?
It basically sounds like it's going to work, however, I have some thoughts you might want to go thru.
Furthermore, I am not sure what you mean with the voltages. Do you have a 12V setup like I do or are you running on 24V?
If the latter is the case, you could theoretically wire two same 12V heaters in series and run them on 24V.
My biggest thought is actually what's going on with the unused tool. Let's say that you just print with the second extruder, then the first is also heated up and will drip filament out and possibly destroy the print. That's something that won't happen with a 2-in-1-out setup or an individually controlled dual-extrusion setup like mine, where the inactive tool cools down just as much (that's a setting in Cura) to stop most leaking.
Regarding the temperature sensor, if you don't want to configure Marlin, you could wire them parallelly to get a halfway acceptable reading (I hope that I am not telling you something wrong here though, high school is already 2 years past). However, you cannot detect fallen out heaters, which can be dangerous.
You can definitely use Cura's "offset" features, and they worked in the version I had when I created the video, as I tried it out.
Just make sure that, as you control both hot-ends at once, switch off the "idle" temperature settings or set them equal to the printing temperature, as they might interfere with what you want to achieve.
Don't forget that you just work on T1 (the first tool) then, so every temperature you set for the second (T2) is going to be ignored. But you have already used this or a similar setup with your 2-in-1-out hot-end anyways, so this shouldn't be a problem.
That's my quick thoughts on your idea. I hope that you found them at least somewhat helpful. If you have any question, just ask.
@@Caverntwo Thanks for the help, much appreciated, since I'm not expert ;)
The printer I have is a Geetech A10M which already came with the 1 in 1 out. The reason I want two hot ends is for running 2 filament types, so I can use PVA support material. It's a 24V power supply, so I'm guessing the single hot end is 24v, but I haven't checked yet. Not sure how to run the hot ends in series. Do you mean splitting the single wire to each? I need one extruder to be 190c and the other to be about 210c so was going to use a buck converter to throttle the volts of one extruder and measure the temp with my multimeter which has a thermometer. Good point about it always being on and dripping, I hadn't considered that. I guess in those instances when single extruding I could put an in-line switch in front of that extruder to simply turn it off?
Yes, those idle temp settings took me a while to figure out when switching extruders with a single extruder.
If you run both in series, they would be the same temperature (+/- a few degrees because of resistance inaccuracies), which seems not to be what you want.
I know that I came up with the idea, but more critical thinking lead me to realize that it's not that good and you shouldn't do it!
In theory, you could just turn it off, but then the circuit would be more complex to achieve this, as a series circuit would be disabled completely.
If you want to just set the temperatures once (with the converter), be aware that resistance might change when warm and over time, so it's never accurate. I wouldn't recommend having both hot-ends controlled by one output, it's just annoying. You'll basically limit your printer to only one case!
Maybe you want to print with PETG or something different in the future?
In theory, you could use a 24V heater with 12V (and most probably even vice versa, but don't quote me on that), it just draws twice as much amps, as the voltage is half!
From this point, again, **I do not recommend you to either connect both in series or use a hard-coded converter to set the temperatures!**
But:
Why can't you use PVA+PLA right now?
In Cura, you can set the printing temperatures anyways, and if the printer already came with the 2-in-1-out setup, the firmware is pretty surely properly flashed. Just setup your printer as a dual-extrusion machine and don't set any nozzle offsets.
You should be then able to control the temperatures individually by setting them correctly at both extruders.
If you print with 210°C and it's time to change the material, the nozzle will cool down to 190°C and it will print with the second. Just make sure to have a prime/purge tower to "clean" the nozzle of the old material.
I strongly recommend you trying it out with your current setup, and if you plan to upgrade to two individual hot-ends, do it properly by editing the firmware!
PS: If you succeed with your 2-in-1-out hot-end, let me know and share some experiences, as I'm interested in a 3-in-1-out hot-end for one of my machines!
In the end, it would have probably been better if I chose a 2-in-1-out hot-end as well for my A8, as I have a very very small offset currently that I still need to measure and correct!
@@Caverntwo Much of what you suggest has already been attempted. Let me explain it falls down:
My 2-in, 1-out setup has been working okay for mixing colours, however, to print PVA supports which require 190c, my tests and subsequent interactions with forums indicate that it's not a good idea on a single nozzle, since the prime tower has to be huge to purge all the material each layer of either PLA or PVA in order to get a clean layer put down of one or the other. Even with a prime tower 4X the usual volume, my test print was put into water, and 24 hours later, the PLA layers all pretty much fell apart after printing at 190c, and the PVA supports hadn't dissolved at all, so the cross contamination, however minor means that it just isn't practical. Aside from this, there was a lot of ooz from the PVA which dragged across the model on it's way to the prime tower, leaving lines of it across the PLA every layer. If that's not bad enough, the heating and cooling of the nozzle when I chose different temperatures is chosen in the Gcode to be done during the print at the end of a print layer, not on the prime tower, leaving a nice fat blob which the nozzle hits next time round. It's pretty much a non-starter.
Now, to explain the hot end that I have in mind, forget series, I am of the mind where both wires on the existing hot end wire on the head can be split into a Y (Parallel), so one pair carries on to one hot end, and the other split ends go into a buck converter then into the other hot end, where I turn the screw to lower the voltage slightly on this side and get lower amps fed to the other hot end. So the temperature sensor on the left side is used to control both, but as the right side has lower voltage, it consequently will have a lower temp. All I have to do is check the temperature manually, and turn the buck screw to get it roughly at a -10 to -20 degree difference while testing. I'm just not sure what would happen running a dual 12v hot end on a 24v board designed for one hot end (I didn't get my masters degree in burning the house down just yet ;)). I would also use the same cooling fan on both heat blocks since I've found a 2 in 2 out hot end online which would take up the same footprint as my existing single nozzle hot end.
BTW: What you propose in your own project is something that I would love to have, but not as a 3-in-1 out arrangment. If you have to have tri-colour I suggest a 2 in 1 out on one side, and a single nozzle on it's own, so a 3-in-2-out set up. This is so you can mix colours in all manner of ways (either with a template as in Geetech's own GCode modifying software: www.geeetech.com/forum/download/file.php?id=4660 or in real time) and then have support material or flexible or any other material in the separate extruder. The reason I'm not going down this route is because my understanding of Marlin is basic at best, and I suspect it takes heavy modifications of this to get it working, and then there's Cura settings. There is the Pallette Mosaic Plus for doing multi material so they got it to work somehow.
Oh, good that you mention it that it's not as perfect. Then a 2-in-2-out is definitely the better way to go, thanks for sharing your experience.
Ok, your plan sounds interesting and like it's going to work out just fine. Just to be on the safe side, get some 24V tested heaters. A tip from my side: try to get two equal hot-ends, unlike me!
I know the pain of switching the extruders just before going to the prime tower. It seems to be either a bug or this "feature" was never given a thought at all...
I can only encourage you trying to play around with Marlin. It's relatively easy as it's well documented. The only programming you need is how to uncomment a line and edit a value ;-)
If you know some software development basics, it's no deal at all!
Thanks for your idea of the 3-in-2-out setup. I'm really motivated about trying out something more or less unique. I'll do some research and I hope thst it's manageable effort-wise. But speaking of multi-extrusion things, I have actually not really done a lot so far (except normal dual-color prints). I really need to try HIPS or PVA as support!
Thanks for your input and keep me updated!
I want it so much on A6
It's pretty much the same process, except that you have to find a carriage for your printer. You also have to upgrade the mainboard to an Arduino Mega + RAMPS 1.4.
preety cool
Thanks, it is!
Nice!
That was fast!
yes lol + after watching full video :-) I like the upgrade! Not something for my kossel though :-)
Yeah, but the Kossel's controller can also support two extruders ;-) When I have my new printing-room set up, I might have some time looking into adding multi-extrusion to my Anycubic Kossel as well.
Well I'm (currently) not really thinking about adding an extra extruder to my kossel, but I did add the anycubic auto leveling sensor to my printer (I saw you didn't choose for such a sensor). It works just fine but isn't really mandatory though. What for me was mandatory though, was adding some bed clamps, because with the original bed mounts the bed wouldn't sit very stable. ( www.thingiverse.com/thing:2043958 ). And I added your 5050 fan upgrade, works really well, thanks! :-)
But I don't think this is the right place to talk about that really :-)
That bed clamps seem to be a lot better than the ones I used, I might do some change there as well.
I'm not a huge fan of auto-leveling, especially on Delta printers as the bed normally isn't adjustable. But I've never tried to add one to my Cartesian printers either... Nice to hear that your printer is working fine! Did you add a heated bed?
BTW, your thingiverse.com link has a ')' at the end and therefore results a 404.