I see the benefits of dual nozzle, and I think it is an amazing technology, but for me personally, I do not have a lot of use for it along with Vortek. But Vortek would be interesting for faster changes and reducing purge between multiple filaments.
My ideal Vortek printer would have the nozzle changer but keep the light single toolhead of the H2S. From the demos, H2C is dual nozzle, but I was wondering if anyone else would prefer a single nozzle Vortek, for example, with upgrading the H2S with Vortek.
That would definitely be interesting…
However, some things must be taken into account for an H2S Vortek changer.
1st, the H2D’s right nozzle is much closer to the edge of the toolhead than the H2S’s nozzle, which is directly in the center of the toolhead. When the H2S’s toolhead is all the way to the right of the gantry, the nozzle won’t reach as far right as the H2D’s nozzle. This means that the arms that replace the nozzle will have to be longer, this might actually lead to some issues with the spacing from the wall of the printer to the heatbed since the nozzles might collide with the heatbed.
2nd, the whole reason the H2D needs a stationary nozzle is to print carbon/glass fiber filaments or just softer TPEs since it lessens the chance of snapping/stretching/deformation. If the H2S was to be turned into a Vortek changer, it wouldn’t have a stationary nozzle to print those filaments with UNLESS you are ONLY using that filament. Thats kinda a bummer since the whole dual-nozzle spiel was intended not just for multi-color, but multi-material as well.
Lastly, it clearly seems as if the Vortek system for an H2S would have to be completely redesigned due to all the size issues because of the H2S’s toolhead and this just seems like an inconvenience to Bambu labs itself to have to make 2 different products that do the exact same thing for two printers that are in the same series. This just doesn’t seem like something Bambu would do.
Isn’t the Vortek changer on the right nozzle for H2C (and probably H2D upgrade) as well? which would be the fixed nozzle and leaves the left moving nozzle which has the downside you mentioned?
I think Vortek will be able to handle those materials otherwise H2C wouldn’t be able to.
Offset of the single nozzle of H2S to the edge of H2S toolhead seems to be the same as H2D right nozzle to the edge, because the toolhead is narrower.
That said, I didn’t mean this as looking at feasibility although that’s an interesting discussion. Mainly curious to see if anyone else would prefer a single nozzle Vortek.
I’m sure it’s something they’d love to sell you
This mechanism is gonna cost probably $1000 of the ticket price of the bambu printer it’s jammed in, idk, it feels cursed to become a niche unless literally all of these supporting elements become mainstream. [induction in general, electronics in your disposable nozzle like a 2000-era Hewlett Packard, the wonky plate size, etc] It’s not THAT special.
If Vortek proves successful then I think we will see a single printhead version in the future, probably on a smaller x1c size printer first I suspect.
Personally though I am quite happy with the dual version coming to the h2c firstly due as previously stated that TPU will be easier on the left up/down nozzle if they route it to avoid the buffer, and secondly a left-right nozzle switch will still be a fair bit faster than a vortek switch.
Yeah, I think they’ll switch it to the right one being stationary (keyword: THINK) mainly bc it makes more sense for the nozzle that moves up and down to be the one that can be swappable, since it sticks out of the toolhead more so its easier to pluck out.
I own an H2D and an A1, I’m just going off of what I know about what people say the H2S is like. The space from the nozzle to the edge of the toolhead is greater than that of the H2D’s and if what people are saying is right and that the toolhead of both the A1 and H2S are the same shape, then the H2S has a larger gap from the nozzle to the edge of the gantry when its all the way as right as it can go. This also makes sense since the H2S’s full build size is 240mm wide, but the H2D’s combined size is 250mm wide. Although the toolhead of the H2S is far more narrow than that of the H2D’s, it still must be taken to account the H2D has TWO nozzles on the same toolhead, each of which are closer to the edge of the toolhead than the H2S’s nozzle to its own.
All the junk in the nozzle is probably one of the biggest things that will prevent me from buying an h2c.
The upgrade kit will probably be ~$700-800 usd. But if a H2D .4 HF nozzle is 50 bucks, these things will probably be $100-150 each. Very pricey for a wear part going through a ton of heat cycles. Plus it won’t be as easy for companies to make compatible alternatives, not to also consider Bambu may include DRM in the nozzle.