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Coaxial8or R2
Coaxial8or R0
4-in-1-out Coaxial Hotend
Inspiration and/or examples of working principle
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Preface
[2024 - Jan 11]
FFF 3D printing, in general, is looking like it is near the ceiling in terms of possible features. (Do note that this perception is coming from someone that believes that the #SecSavr Suspense [gd0105] can be engineered into this reality.)
However, there was and still is a specific project that I wanted to pursue even before I owned my first printer (the late 2016 CR-10) which was to upgrade it to become a multi-colour 3D printer. I had bought a diamond nozzle kit along with the printer, but it was so large that I never got around to mounting it and setting it up. Since then, I transitioned from a volcano heatblock to the NF THC-01, a 3-in-1-out switching hotend.
Because I was thinking that I was going to be printing in PETG and PBT more in the future, and there was some PTFE present in the hotend, I decided to start designing the #Revolving Hotend [gd0012], of which I just decided to drop development one day; maybe the glamour of the project finally lost against the scepticism of the design. In all this time, my CR-10 has been in the longest update cycle to date and hasn't printed since probably late 2019.
It also seemed like hope was lost when Deckingman, one of the few remaining hobbyist experimenters for multi-material printing, announced that he was moving on from his 6-in-1-out hotend project.
Fast forward to the start of 2023 when I'm researching the difference between MGN9 and MGN12 rails and I see this:
Me: Hmm? Why are there so many upvotes?
*Sees wall is the exact same colour throughout*
Me: They said it couldn't be done.
At the time of writing, I currently don't have a multi-material printer, and quite a few of my designs (such as #Teti [gd0022]) are dual colour prints. Conveniently, I bought loads of white filament, and it would be great to just buy 3 more spools to get any specific shade I want, such as the elusive milky green (#b2bcac).
I started the project once Nozzleboss/Heinz provided more details in his project, which was sometime in April 2023.
[2024 - Feb 20] After spending months and finally sending off the heatblock to be printed, I thought of "coaxial8or" as the name for it. Beforehand, this project was called the "Coaxial Hotend".
[2024 - Mar 22] Also look at #Printer Repair [gd0137] for progress updates on the CR600S itself.