So with 3.0, there is a lot of progress toward making a good dual extrusion print. I'm still not getting as good of results as I do with makerbot software though.
I was wanting to query what you're all doing that maybe I can do better.
* Reasons I still look to Makerbot sometimes ( "+"=Makerbot good "-"=S3D difficulty)
+ prime wall has a purge bucket so that when tool change retraction is reversed it doesn't matter too much what the offset is. It just purges into the bucket and afterward creates the next layer of the purge bucket/wall.
- S3D purges onto the prime tower corner or ooze shield spot. If you don't get the retract settings good you get no material for a bit or too much material. You might argue that someone should just get the setting right and then not worry but it isn't so simple.
a) sometimes the amount of ooze depends on the length of time you were using the other extruder and that depends on the model you're printing and the layer you're on.
b) the setting isn't the same for both extruders so you either have to make another process which is more complicated or you have to just hope the setting works. I notice particular problems when printing things like PVA on one extruder and something else for the other where the material is not very similar.
+ purge bucket wall is unique for each extruder.
- In S3D you can do a purge bucket with both extruders but then it prints them on top of each other. Not that good of results if the materials don't print so well every other layer (I'm thinking of the PVA/PLA problem again the pva sticks to itself, the pla sticks to itself or pva ok, but pva on top of pla not so great.) So again, are you supposed to make a 2nd process if you want two purge towers in different locations? Annoying
- Ooze shield weirdness. If I select 2 ooze shield outlines and select both extruders, it looks like in the preview it prints both ooze shield outlines on top of each other instead of having 4 rings. Compare with the skirt/brim... if I select both extruders there and select 2 outlines, I end up with 4 unique outlines. The disadvantage of just using that instead is that the outlines alternate (left, right, left, right extruder) so you end up with 4 tool changes instead of one one when you want to go to the next layer/extruder.
I haven't tested the temperature bug between layers yet. That's a plus for S3D if you can get it to work. The idea is if I only need support material for 1/3 of the model I really really really want to turn the heat off on that support extruder after the 1/3. I was doing that OK in 2.x but with 3.0 if I want to do that and I use one of the purge/ooze shield features I can no longer turn the temperature off after I don't need it.
Anyone have any S3D tips that mitigate or solve these issues?