My 6 input (5+1) mixing hot end

Wurstkarton

@Dougal1957 interesting. I was originally on slic3r&cura, but now switched to iceSL for having the possibility of coding parts of the slicing myself easily in lua.

How about kisslicer in this regard?

deckingman

@Dougal1957 said in My 6 input (5+1) mixing hot end:

@deckingman Kiss slicer supports applying colour via a bitmap image now and supports unto 12 extruders now

Kiss features

Wow, that's interesting! I really must try to find the time to start playing with it.

deckingman

Part 3 is out now for anyone who might be interested https://somei3deas.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/my-6-input-mixing-hot-end-v2-part-3/

deckingman

......and now part is out https://somei3deas.wordpress.com/2020/03/12/my-6-input-mixing-hot-end-part-4/

DaBit

Not much comment, but still reading!

Wurstkarton

Just had a look at your new posts. Congrats! Looks good!

Strangly, the sealing issue did not come to my mind during your previous articles. I also had issues with the Cyclops in this regard... Depending on how you want to tackle this, there is always the option of making a high temperature gasket - even though I do not really like this (you may destroy the gasket if you disassemble your parts and need to create a new one every time).

https://www.permatex.com/products/gasketing/gasket-makers/permatex-high-temp-red-rtv-silicone-gasket/

deckingman

@Wurstkarton I had thought that it might be necessary to use some sort of sealant between the plates which make up the mixing chamber which I simply assembled "dry". But now that I've been able to remove the hot end and inspect it, the problem was as I thought. Simply that the upper plate which the heat breaks screw into had distorted at the (unclamped) edges. There were no leaks from the area around the central heat breaks which are surrounded by screws. Nor were there any signs of leakage anywhere else - including the joints between the mixing chamber plates. I've taken those plates apart completely and can see that there is filament in all the slots and holes, but no seepage whatsoever. So I'm fairly confident that lapping the plates perfectly flat is a technique that works without the need for any sealant - (providing that the plate is clamped in such a way that there are no unsupported edges). But for sure, rtv silicone is always a possibility if all else fails. I also have some Boron Nitride paste that I could try if needs be.

deckingman

I'm up to part 7 of my journey now https://somei3deas.wordpress.com/2020/04/18/my-6-input-mixing-hot-end-part-7/.

I haven't been posting updates here, but this latest post might be of interest to some, as it contains details of how I use the nozzle as a Z probe/homing switch. This is an extract...

"I now have a Z probe / homing switch that is arguably as precise and repeatable as they come, has zero offset between the physical nozzle position and the switch trigger point in X, Y and Z, has no hysteresis, does not need any deployment mechanism, does not need any signal conditioning, and is self compensating in that the physical end stop is intrinsically linked to the electrical trigger point. Oh, and it was cheap"................

deckingman

I've just published part 8 of my journey https://somei3deas.wordpress.com/2020/04/28/my-6-input-mixing-hot-end-part-8/. There is a little YouTube video embedded in that post which shows my "nozzle as Z probe" (that I gave details of in part 7) in operation. I'm quite chuffed with the way that turned out.

deckingman

I'm now up to part 12 of this particular journey but I've moved over to doing updates via my YouTube channel rather than my blog. Link here if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl4DMXJHvnU

Phaedrux

@deckingman Does that signal the end of the written form entirely for you? No more blog posts?

deckingman

@Phaedrux said in My 6 input (5+1) mixing hot end:

@deckingman Does that signal the end of the written form entirely for you? No more blog posts?

Undecided but probably yes. There is a chance that I could make a small amount of money from YouTube. It would never be much as it's a bit of a niche market and I don't do reviews which is what drives a lot of traffic. But if I could get some income, however small that might be, it would help towards my development costs (although knowing me I'd likely spend it on photography gear).

There are two criteria one has to meet. The first is to get 1,000 subscribers and I've recently made that target. The second is to accumulate 4,000 public viewing hours in a 12 month period. I only have 1,600 or thereabouts. So I have some way to go with that.

But I'm always open to feedback. Which format do you prefer?

Phaedrux

I like both. Youtube more for entertainment/edutainment. It's good to see things in motion sometimes, but it's also nice to be able to read a long form description with technical details and study a still high quality photo.

arhi

@deckingman said in My 6 input (5+1) mixing hot end:

Which format do you prefer?

both

Phaedrux

If I HAD to choose, I'd prefer long form blog posts.

deckingman

Hmmmm. I'll give it some thought. Both formats take a surprisingly long amount of time to do.

Phaedrux

@deckingman said in My 6 input (5+1) mixing hot end:

Both formats take a surprisingly long amount of time to do.

I have no doubt.

dc42

@deckingman said in My 6 input (5+1) mixing hot end:

But I'm always open to feedback. Which format do you prefer?

I prefer blog posts because I can skim through them. But if you have financial reasons to prefer video then I'll try to add to your viewing figures.

PS - also I can more easily search for your blog posts. I recently needed to link to your work on moving the extruder gantry less than the print head, and it took me a long time to find the video. Maybe you could publish videos and also short blog summaries that link to them?

T3P3Tony

@deckingman personally prefer the blog posts as a reference. The videos are useful for illustration (easy to see the differential head movement on a video, would have taken more time to describe that). As David says, will continue to watch/read along either way!

deckingman

Well here is the thing. My blog has been running slightly longer than my YouTube channel (although there isn't much in it). Until recently, the only YouTube videos were those that were made in support of blog posts with links in the blog to the corresponding video. So there are actually less YouTube videos than Blog posts.

Stats for blog;

Total followers - 43
Views for October - 85

Stats for YouTube channel

Total subscribers - 1027
Views for October - 2522

So the YouTube channel reaches a lot more people than the blog.

I'm still learning a lot - standing in front of camera and talking to myself doesn't come easy (and I hate the sound of my own voice) . It's surprising how many times I clear my throat or say "um", which I wasn't aware that I did. I have to cut those bits out which is why the videos look "jerky".

Maybe I should write it all up on my blog, then use that as the script for the video. But that brings it's own problems in that I find it hard to read from a script without it sounding like that's exactly what I'm doing.

I've never given actors or film makers much thought, but I've started to develop a bit of an appreciation ...........