Just pulled the trigger… like with the 10W laser they managed to get the pre-order price just right into the regime where I cringe and say: Argh, how expensive, but where my irrational brain parts say: But see, breakaway support is sooo cool…
Still, I really do not like the price regime Snapmaker heads for… For hobbyists this is not sustainable IMHO.
To kindof rationalize, here some thoughts:
Pro:
- Some mistakes made with the first print module seem to be avoided: Fan design looks OK, Extruder gear looks much better (and I have issues with extrusion with the single-printhead), Extruder wheels look exchangeable in case of wear (maybe I’m totally wrong here…), And it seems now it really is full metal, i.e. truly capable of high temp’s (or is it just the larger heat sink? hope not…)
- The overall implementation looks even clever in places - hope I am not disappointed in the end…
- The main usecase for me will most likely be easy-get-off support, not so much dual color, but perhaps I’ll surprise myself here
But support often has annoyed me and I damaged prints when removing it, so I hope for improvement here. - Supported not only by Luban - still can use Cura or PrusaSlicer.
Con:
- Price! It is too expensive!
- Price! The exchange-nozzles are way too expensive!!!
- Loss in print height: Why on earth did they place the mounting holes of the print head centrally? As a result, we loose 4 cm (!) in available print height! A simple offset of the mounting holes would have avoided that… What an oversight!
- Information available: Like always, the web page is nebulous about the actual improvements - it say improved this, optimized that, but nothing substantial on what really changed from the previous module
Neither Pro nor Con/Things I do not understand/I’m unsure about:
- Loss in Build volume X: Understandable - two nozzles need room.
- Loss in Build volume Y: Huh? Why? Mistake on the product page? Or are the nozzles offset to the front as compared to the single extrusion module? Not so nice then… But perhaps again understandable given the added functionality…
- Second spool holder included - nice! But where does it fit onto the enclosure? Well, we’ll see From the “parts included” pictures I infer that the spool holder is mounted to the horizontal rail of the enclosure like the stop button…
- Seems that bowden tubes are included for better filament guidance - nice! Also seems that there is some plug for the enclosure hole - let’s see how this works in reality. Could not yet find the Quick Start Guide as PDF, that should answer it.
- It seems they somehow changed the bed levelling sensor - curious how this plays out in the end… But I suppose they had to due to the glass bed of Artisan. “Optoelectric” sounds like infrared distance sensor - it would also explain why they claim the Z-height is no longer needs manual adjustment: If they can measure absolute distances, the software can do it all, provided that the nozzle-tip-to-sensor offset is stable and well known. If I’m right here, I can even envision a bed levelling procedure that is not a matrix of points, but a “line scanning” procedure, which would allow faster and more dense calibration patterns… (just dreaming…)
- Chipped exchange hotends: Good for automatic detection, not so good if you want to avoid buying the expensive exchange hotend modules but just replace the nozzle mechanically. But they say somewhere that it’s software-overridable, so that’s OK… Guess if you use a third party slicer it does not matter anyhow.
Things I am afraid of
- Precision: With the quick-swappable hotends: Will the two nozzles align well enough? In a repeatable way? Or is there a calibration procedure?
- Extruder wheel replacement: If it is possible at all to replace a worn filament gear, It still looks like a custom made thing, and that most likely will mean it is rediculously expensive to replace and potentially difficult to source…
A lot of speculation, forgive me.
Edit: Just found this: FAQs of Dual Extrusion 3D Printing Module for Snapmaker 2.0 - there’s still a PTFE liner in the hotend, but they claim it will stay at 60°C… hope they’re right…
Cheers
Hauke