Feature request Dual extruder control

[davew_tx]

Can we get some more resolution for dual head extruders?

Each having separate temperatures, materials, filament diameters, nozzle diameters, E-speeds, prime/suck/wipe, etc.
Each spool I buy seems to respond uniquely.

Also, an offset field so that we can define the dimensional difference between the nozzles, in x,y,and z.

maybe a purge/brush area that is off the build volume? this may be something that is Gcode defined and not host.?

[Simplify3D]

Lucky for you, I think a few of these ideas are already in there! If you go to the Extruder tab of any FFF Settings window, you can use the "Add Extruder" button in the bottom left to add as many extruders as your firmware supports. Clicking between the different extruders in the listbox above the Add Extruder button will bring up the settings specific to that extruder. As you suggested, each one can have different diameters, extrusion multipliers, retractions settings, etc. The toolhead number will be used when issuing the toolchange command to the firmware. So for example, if "Tool 1" is selected for your secondary extruder, when you want to use it, Creator will use a T1 command to tell the firmware to switch over to it.

The actual offsets for the new extruder are stored in the firmware. I believe you can also set these manually using a M206 command (see here: http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Gcode#M206:_set_home_offset).

Hope that helps!

[davew_tx]

I've looked at that, and still don't think it controls each well.

the material button doesn't save for each extruder, it just stays on one, so I can't know if it is tracking PVA in T0 and ABS in T1.
On the OTHER tab, there is only one diameter for filament, so if I have a 3mm PVA and a 1.75 ABS, what are my options.

I can't find a script custom gcode field to add a routine at each tool change. I see layer change, but not tool change.
I'm trying to integrate a purge bucket with a brush.

There are not different temperature controls in the control panel.
There are not plots for each material.

There are not E jog for T1 and T0.
how can I jog T1 to load filament.

The more I read, the more I see dual heads and control of them is still far off. Firmware, slicers and hosts all lack coordination and refinement.

I believe the slicer software should apply the nozzle offsets, and not the firmware. It's a simple distance to apply when outputting.

[bubbasnow]

Currently the filament diameter is still located on the last tab of the "Processess" -->"others".

it is still not clear what diameter is being used for what extruder in a multi-extuder setup.

This option would be better placed in the first tab "Extruder" so we can select the correct diameter that is being fed.