Crazy Color Change Whistle

[mhackney]

My nephew turned 10 and wanted me to print him a whistle. Not just any whistle, but one with multiple colors of course! This one is 4 colors and was my 1st try. Mistimed the green and blue color change a bit but it's pretty close and looks good in person. Green 1st to orange on top.

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v38 ... 5309-3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v43 ... 9755-4.jpg[/img]

It was pretty easy to do. I cut the ends of the blue, yellow and orange filament square, ready to go. Then as the whistle was printing, I reached in with sharp nippers and clipped the current color about 2mm above the extruder rollers. Then I simply held the end of the new color against the clipped color - no fusing, just held it in place. The Steve's Extruder with its double roller makes feeding the new color really simple as does the new barrel design with the "funnel" at the top. The new color feeds in smoothly with no apparent gaps.

Now I have to order some red, indigo and violet filament to make a rainbow!

cheers,
Michael

[JTCUSTOMS]

Looking good Michael! My children are anxiously waiting for me to finish this darn thing so I can print some stuff for them in the glow in the dark.
Looks like you have a little bit of backlash to track down there. I am working on the heated bed today and am really trying to push through to squirt some plastic this weekend.

[mhackney]

Yes, in the Y direction - the whistle was printed long dimension on the Y. It leans back a little. This just appeared after I added the bearings to the idlers, it was fine before. I need to check everything and measure the backlash. The belt feels nice and tight now, tighter than before the bearings.

[michaellatif]

Very cool!

Two things I have kept in mind when changing color mid print is filament diameter inconsistency and the melt temperature of the colored filament.

For example
clear/natural filament average ~1.78mm diameter and extrudes at 202C
yellow filament average ~1.81mm diameter and extrudes at 206C
black filament average ~1.80mm diameter and extrudes at 210C

[mhackney]

That is definitely a challenge! I know these filaments have different diameters and optimal extrude temps. That green is AWESOME! It looks smooth and creamy and extrudes smooth and creamy. The orange is a PIA. They yellow is a lot like the green and the blue is, well, blue!

I love that green!

cheers,
Michael

[michaellatif]

That is definitely a challenge! I know these filaments have different diameters and optimal extrude temps. That green is AWESOME! It looks smooth and creamy and extrudes smooth and creamy. The orange is a PIA. They yellow is a lot like the green and the blue is, well, blue!

I love that green!

cheers,
Michael

Hey Michael,

Where did you get the green filament from and is this PLA or ABS?

[mhackney]

All ABS. 3DPrinterStuff. The 1.75mm is not on the web site, you need to email them. You can see the color though in the 3mm section.

[mhackney]

Interesting, the source of my Y backlash was the stock table warping! The hot bed throws off a lot of heat even though it is insulated underneath AND is mounted on 1/8" standoffs above the stock. The post that the belt is screwed to has bent backward due to the table warping. I guess it is time to removed the stock table and mount the hot bed directly to the bearing blocks on standoffs.

I just did some printing in white ABS. Wow, does it have a lower extruding temp. The green is right at 400°F but the white was 350°F and was still a bit to hot.

cheers,
Michael

[michaellatif]

Is there a guide on how to identify backlash in the H-1 axis and how to resolve it? This would be a great addition to the manual (if not already so).

[mhackney]

Not yet but it is planned for the Operations Manual. I feel like I should experience every conceivable problem so I can be more articulate writing about it!