The Chimeric Printrbot Simple Metal: A complete dual extruder upgrade using E3D's Chimera compact dual v6 system
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Last Updated 8/31/2020. <I>Note #1: As Of The End Of December 2016, The Dual Extruder System Was Fully Operational And All Components Including Fan Shrouds Are Published. I Have Since Upgraded My Y Axis To 250Mm Along With The 250Mm X Axis And Nearly 250Mm Z Axis. This Will Be My Final Upgrade As Printrbot Has Now Gone Out Of Business. Unfortunately All The Sources I Found For Elxtrudrboards No Longer Sell Them. I Don'T Know Where To Find Them, And If Mine Breaks I Would Probably Have To Go With A Ramps Based System.</I> <I>Note #2: When I Started Looking At Dual Extruder Systems For The Printrbot Simple Metal, I Wished I Could Just Buy A Kit, As The Process Appeared Much More Difficult Than It Turned To Be. I Greatly Appreciated Those People Who Extensively Documented Their Work Because It Made My Project Much Easier. So I Am Trying To Do My Part To Make Things Easier For Those Who Come After Me. I Have Tried To Provide The Detail Needed So That Anyone Who Is Inclined To Build One Too Can (Hopefully) Replicate My Project Without Too Much Anguish. If You Have Any Questions About The Project, Message Or Post Questions Here And I Will Do What I Can To Answer.</I> <B>This Is The Latest Upgrade To My Early Model Printrbot Simple Metal: An E3D Chimera Dual Extruder System. </B> Having Already Installed A Heated Bed, And Upgraded The X And Z Axes From 6" To 10", I Had Been Using An Increasing Number Of 'Exotic Filaments Pushing The Limits Of The Ceramic Ubis Hot End. I Needed To Expand My Available Temperature Range With An All Metal Hot End. I Also Wanted To Print With Dissolving Supports Pretty Much From The Moment I Broke My First Print Trying To Remove Support Material. E3D'S V6 Based Chimera System Looked Prefect. It Was Highly Compact, Meaning That I Would Loose Very Little Build Space To The Second Extruder. The Small Aluminum Component Would Be Unlikely To Weigh The Y Arm Down. The Design Also Had A Fixed Distance Between Perfectly Parallel Extruders, Making The Usual Fiddly Adjustments That Come With Dual Extruder Printing Much Easier. The Basis Of The System Was The Respected All Metal E3D V6. Exactly What I Would Get If I Was Just Upgrading To A Single All Metal Hot End. And Finally, Being A Molecular Biologist Whose Last Work Was Building Conditional Transgenics, The Name Appealed To Me And Allowed Some Mol Bio Humor Wordplay. I Had Been Gathering Components As Genuine E3D Parts Came Down In Price With The Decline Of The Pound After The Brexit Vote. But The Real Push Was When The Heater Died On My Ceramic Ubis. I Wasn'T About Too Buy Another Hot End When I Had The Chimera In Hand. Only A Few Days Before The Ubis Died, I Found Out About Techyfiddler'S Bowden Extruder Mount For The Simple Metal (See Pictures Above And Http://Www.Thingiverse.Com/Make:260137), Which Solved The Problem Of Where To Place The Second Extruder While Allowing Me To Use The Existing Alu Extruder For The First Hot End. And With That, I Started Chimerizing My Printrbot, A Process Which Turned Out To Be Considerably Less Complicated And Difficult Than I Had Feared It Would Be. Although It Required Quite A Bit Of Searching, The Major Troubles I Faced Turned Out To Be Previously Encountered And Solved. I Hope These Instructions Will Make It Almost As Easy To Set Up A Chimera Dual Extruder On The Printrbot Simple Metal, As Attach One Of Printrbot'S Axis Or Heated Bed Upgrade Kits. Enough So That If You Can Do The Later, You Can Do The Former. Special Thanks Go To: **Techyfiddler** For His Attachment For A Bowen Mount Extruder For The Simple Metal. This Was The Solution To The Problem That Had Made Me Reluctant To Start The Modification. Without It, I Probably Would Not Have Started The Conversion Yet,Let Alone Be Finished. **Pin13** For His Sidewinder Fan Shroud And For Graciously Providing .Step Files And A Mirror Image Version. **Schusterconcepts** For The Y Axis Cable Guide I Use To Keep The Bowden Extruder Servo Wires Out Of The Way. **Joeydaphish** For His Y Extension, Likely My Next Project And How I Will Not Only Recover The 18Mm Of Y Space I'M Loosing But Will Grab More **Cporto** For The Idea On Modifying The Fan Shroud Tip For Better Cooling Of The Print And Less Of The Hot End.. And Reprap.Me For Still Selling Extrudrboards
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