So I’ve had a Bibo printer for a few months now. My decision to buy it over others in the same price range came down to it’s copy printing capability and it’s user rating. I guess this is also a good spot to add that I love my Bibo printer.
I use my printer to make custom parts for board games that I make. As long as your object is 33mm wide in 1 direction, you can print 2 at a time and basically save half the time. This feature has saved me so much time already it’s amazing. One game I’m making requires 100 of a certain per game so you can see why I really love this feature.
So… I started looking into getting a wider dual extruder but found nothing other than suggestions on how to try and custom build one. How is this not a thing already? With the biggest complaint for 3D printing being speed, this feature gives you 2 objects at the same time. I understand building plate sizes need to be considered yet 60mm would still be quite feasible.
Anyone else on here want to see more of an emphasis on copy printing?
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Garyg
2
Your volume of parts is quite large.
From what I’ve observed, people that need lots of parts usually purchase several or more 3d printers of the same family
or use a different strategy that would involve expensive tooling, but very much cheaper parts.
That would be injection molding.
Copy printing would be a good thing, but would be limiting as to how far apart your dual extruder is.
That would limit the size of the parts you wish to copy.
If you own more than 1 printer and you don’t need to copy, you could possible make 2 or more parts in the same time
that 1 printer could make those parts.
Hmmm!
JF Kansas sells a modification that allows for wide dual extrusion.
It basically cuts your build plate in half, so you can ditto print two items that are over 4" wide.
It is for replicator clones such as FF pro, etc.
http://store.wmdproducts.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63&product\_id=64
You should contact him directly about a solution for your printer.
I can do 50 mm wide parts in duplication mode with my printer. I have used it for a couple of orders, but most orders are for a single color and I generally only have backup spools of black and white.
I still think the best feature of a dual extruder printer is that you can just switch to the other hot end if you get a clog or feed issue, I hardly ever print with both extruders at the same time.
Agreed. I’ve already had extruder issues that required a quick switch up to the second extruder to keep my projects going. Definitely less frustrating than it could be.
50mm… that would be a game changer for me. One of my objects is 15mm wide so I do 2 side by side per extruder (with 1mm in between). 50 would basically let me do rows of 6. If only…
Did your printer come with this dual extruder?
This is great. 4" is much wider than I would expect to find.Thanks for the info!
The volume is indeed quite large per game. Plus the pic I posted is only 1 type of item for my game. IF my Kickstarter is successful, I was planning on purchasing 1 or 2 more printers. Based on my current satisfaction with my printer, I’d probably be doing as you recommended and sticking with the same family. Ideally I’d have different widths of dual extruders per printer based on the part needed…
Still I won’t pretend that I’m not worried of meeting my intended deadline if this project gets going.
Yes, for ditto printing, it is a dream come true.
