E3D has released new hotends!

[redoverred]

Check out their homepage, one is a dual extruder with two nozzles (half a kraken with air cooling, basically) and the other is the advertised "cyclops" with two filaments going through one nozzle. I sure wish I hadn't bought a v6 single extruder just a few weeks ago!

[critical_limit]

yepp.

Already ordered a Legends Pack

[Eaglezsoar]

I have a feeling that those extruders are going to be big sellers for E3D.

[JFettig]

Already have one ordered

[bot]

As excited as I was for the cyclops, I'm going to be holding off. It isn't quite the design I would have hoped for. The chimera seems interesting, I suppose, but it's still the same old dual extrusion problems.

I think I'm going to end up with a single v6 with the Y attachment on the bowden, to feed two filaments with different extruder motors.

[gestalt73]

Just ordered the Cyclops.

Thanks for pointing it out! I wasn't even checking this weekend.

[rpress]

Thanks man, I just ordered the Cyclops. Already have the dual cold ends ready to go!

[Eaglezsoar]

Those hotends look like the cat's meow, I just need to save a few more dollars, I would like to buy the kit that has both types of dual extruders.
I just realized that the one with dual nozzles looks like half of a Kraken!

[Flateric]

The cyclops is exactly what a dual extrusion hotend evolution should be. It says experimental, but I'm in. No multinozzle calibration, proported quick media change on the fly.

This is going to be great stuff here, or the begining of it anyways.

[elmoret]

Available through Filastruder for folks in North America:

http://www.filastruder.com/products/chimera-cyclops

[bot]

The only problems I have with the cyclops design are that it requires two filament paths to be loaded, requires more force to extrude the filament, and isn't fully tested. I'm sure it'll work well enough for most people, but I'm worried that the EZstruder wouldn't be strong enough to push the filament through. I'm also not sure if having the second filament stream in the hot end is really such a great idea. I was actually hoping for the intersection of the two filament paths to be in the cold section, where the heat sink is, not in the heater block. I assume having the filament in the heater block allows quicker filament changes, but i'm not sure if the difference would be enough to warrant this approach over a simple Y connector at the end of the bowden tube. I bet they did it this way to allow filament colour mixing in the future, which to be honest sounds really stupid.

[elmoret]

I assume having the filament in the heater block allows quicker filament changes, but i'm not sure if the difference would be enough to warrant this approach over a simple Y connector at the end of the bowden tube. I bet they did it this way to allow filament colour mixing in the future, which to be honest sounds really stupid.

How would this work? You'd have to pull it way, way out of the path, like 30mm due to the melty tail that would result. You'd drag hot PLA all the way up, where it would melt and harden.

I just don't see how what you suggest is possible.

[Nylocke]

Ive seen it referred to as an Upsilon, and thats how it works. If your hotend design is good and you have a good extruder design they work quite nice from what I can tell. I'm a bit skeptical of the cyclops design as well. Not exactly sure of the filament path inside the heater block, but from what I can tell it probably won't be the best for retractions, if you can even retract at all. I think the color mixing aspect would be pretty cool, it wouldn't probably be a full blend, but it would probably result in a sort of wavy mix of the two colors. I'm waiting for E3d to release CAD drawings of the Cyclops heater block, really wanting to know what they've done.

[rpress]

The Upsilon is a great idea, but it didn't work for me. It was pretty unreliable because of the strings of the retracted filament causing jams.
Here is a printer with dual feed / mixing available now:
http://3dprinter4u.com/builder-dual-feed-3d-printer/

[gestalt73]

The Upsilon is a great idea, but it didn't work for me. It was pretty unreliable because of the strings of the retracted filament causing jams.
Here is a printer with dual feed / mixing available now:
http://3dprinter4u.com/builder-dual-feed-3d-printer/

This. You even see this effect if you swap filaments the wrong way with a single filament hotend. For ABS at least, if you're removing filament at a temp higher than about 180c, you pull strings of filament back up through the cold end, which makes loading the new filament a real chore. I'm not sure of the best temp for PLA yet.

[bot]

I could definitely see how the "Upsilon" approach leads to stringiness when retracting, and cause jams. Hmmm....

[Polygonhell]

Not exactly sure of the filament path inside the heater block,.

It's pretty clear from the images on the website, it's cross drilled and tapped, presumably for the same screw caps they use on the water cooled block of the kraken.
The 2 inputs and the output then are drilled at 90 degrees into that orifice.
The filament should be molten in that section, so it shouldn't matter, the additional volume really just becomes something additional to purge. a direct path isn't needed through the heater block, printing is more about pressure when you get into the molten filament bit.
I'd like to have seen a physically smaller heater block with more closely positioned inputs on the cyclops, but that would have mean't an entirely different heatsink design for the cyclops vs the chimera, which would have meant additional tooling/cost.

It's interesting.

[Nylocke]

Where were these images? I wasn't able to find them

[Eaglezsoar]

Where were these images? I wasn't able to find them

http://e3d-online.com/Multi-Extrusion

[Polygonhell]

Where were these images? I wasn't able to find them

There are some better shots on the filastruder page, you can clearly see the additional tapped hole where the plug would be inserted.
I'm Not sure how else you would do it by machining an aluminum piece. Casting the part and machining to finish would be too expensive I think.

[0110-m-p]

I'm ordering the legends pack now, but have a couple of questions I can't figure out.

Under compatibility it says "Volcano" and "Yes" for everything except the Cyclops....what is volcano?

Also, if the Cyclops doesn't use V6 tips, so that mean it uses Cyclops specific tips....and if so, what size tips come standard (I'm assuming 0.4mm like their other hotends)?

[Nylocke]

According to the page Eagle linked, they are developing water cooling for the V6 and the 2 legends hotends. Also, anyone know what the volcano is? Says the chimera, v6, and kraken support it, but the cyclops doesn't...

[Eaglezsoar]

These are some more links I have found for the E3D dual hotends.
Some may be duplicates for which I apologize.

http://e3d-online.com/index.php?route=e ... blog_id=27

http://3dprint.com/27722/e3d-cyclops-chimera-extruders/

http://e3d-online.com/blog/dual

I also contacted Josh at E3D and asked him what the volcano is.

[bot]

I thought I was an idiot for not knowing what volcano was. yay! I'm not as much of an idiot as I was yesterday!

[Eaglezsoar]

I thought I was an idiot for not knowing what volcano was. yay! I'm not as much of an idiot as I was yesterday!