I didn’t see any requests for a new Bambu printer that included a tool changer, so am adding to this to the product- request area. I have 3 Bambu printers already and really want a multi-head multi-material printer similar to the Prusa XL. I was willing to pay the price for a 5 head XL, and as far out as they are backordered (currently pre-orders from August 2021), I’m guessing their’d be many other folks out there that would also pay a reasonable amount for a Bambu tool changer. To clarify I’m asking for just Extruders, no CNC or laser heads.
I agree - what I would like to see if a multi hot end capability - with the ability to automatically switch between 2-5 hot ends - to speed up colour changes and eliminate a lot of waste in prints with a small number of colours.
Also the ability to mix nozzle sizes would be useful too.
I don’t personally need the additional cost and complexity of swapping the whole extruder.
I am hoping the A1 hot end design is a stepping stone towards this kind of capability in the X2.
For me the perfect solution would be a larger build plate, idex, with hot end swapping on both of the extruders.
I’m on board with this idea.
Have a look at the Snapmaker Artisan 3 in 1 dual hot ends
Try taking this idea, rotating it 90 degrees and adding another print head back to back, and you have an instant 4 hotend print head
Oh, and, at the same time:
It wouldn’t be bambu lab if they did something like that. If they give you snap in parts and components, you can print your own and they can’t charge you 35 dollars for a full nozzle+hotend assembly. This is the same way they do the RFID filament spools and locked firmwares that prevent makers from doing any improvements to the machines. If they give you a machine with 4 hot ends, its not going to be easy, your going to pay for it in multiple ways, cause now they can charge you for 4 hot end assemblies instead of one when you want easy nozzle swapping.
I was doing some calculations the other day snd worked out that for the price of a 5 head tool changer from another company you could buy about 14 A1 Minis,
Now if there was a way in later versions of the A1 or P1 to somehow combine multiple printers together to make a larger and/or faster ‘virtual printer’ that would be a massive step forward.
Especially if more than one of the ‘component’ printers could be printing parts of each layer (either in the same or different colours) at the same time.
Idex printers can do a little bit of what I am proposing with their ‘duplicate’ or ‘mirror’ modes - but the two print heads are limited to only one dimension of difference, If you could push this up to 2 or even 3 dimensions it could be a game changer.
Plus for the printer manufacturers it would be a really good way of them selling many more individual printers to the same customers.
+1 for me. A Bambu Tool changer would be awesome.
And even better, a tool changer that could also use the AMS. So you could have a 4, 5 or 6 head printer, and each head could select a filament from the AMS if needed. Provides fast tool change and therefore print times, only wastes material if absolutely essential, changes docked tool head filament while another head is printing and has the facility to access all 16x head filaments giving maybe 16x6=96 colours/materials.
You’ll want to also increase the size of the print area a bit, 350 cubed would probably do it.