Dual extruder support material?

I would be interested to hear what types of support filament are available or proposed- particularly the possibility of desolvable material or perhaps something based on evaporation ?

PVA is the only one in familiar with

The other common soluble filament is HIPS, which dissolves in limonene (a common solvent made from citrus oil) and prints with ABS-like settings.

BTW Does the solvent (PVA or HIPS) have any side effects on the filament ?

I’m mainly using PLA, primarily wood PLA…

and occationally PETG…

Any betterer idea when the dual extruder is due for release?

On the other filament it’s paired with, you mean? In general, no.

The solvent for PVA is water, which is not a problem for most plastics. :upside_down_face:

ABS (which is what HIPS is usually used as support for) doesn’t react to limonene, as far as I know.

You can always test a short section of filament by soaking it, if you’re concerned.

Thanks

The filament Im really concerned with is wood/pla with approx 30% wood . Does the strength of the wood get reduced and should heat be avoided when drying out.?

The wood in those composites is sawdust, as far as I know—powder with no structural integrity of its own. It’s the plastic that holds it together. I would expect to need a pretty high sawdust-to-plastic ratio before swelling and splitting (or water staining) became an issue. If you want to be absolutely sure, print a calibration cube and test its mechanical properties after soaking it in a glass of water for an hour, but my guess is that you’re okay.

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Final question…

for now …

do you or anybody know if there is a beta test programme for the dual extruder?

parachvteSnapmaker Software Dev

6d

PS

Mar 15, 2022: v4.2.2

Brief changelog:

New features

  • Feature: Added Dual-extruder support.