He3D DTL 600 is essentially a Kossel.
I would go for a Kossel XL and buy one of these: Chimera+ – E3D Online 194
I own a Kossel XL and after some small upgrades (a spool holder on top and some right angle brackets to make the frame stiffer) I get very good quality prints. My next upgrade will be to add an acrylic box around it and then I will experiment with the Chimera.
Since these are both kits I’m going to assume you don’t mind tinkering…which is a very good thing if you decide to take on the upgrade yourself
It depends more on your ability to manipulate the firmware associated with your printer you decide to buy. If it’s running Marlin it’s pretty easy to add the second extruder. If it’s running something else the difficultly level could go up and make the He3D DTL 600 more attractive. I would start there, the results could make that choice for you.
If changing firmware is not an issue you could buy Kossel Xl, play with it for a while and decide if *dual extruders are really something you need/want!?!?
As far as the mechanical accepts of it, do a little research, see if there are effectors already designed to accommodate the Hotends and printers of your choice. Speaking of Hotends, I run the E3D Chimera/Cyclop Hotend, it is by far the most compact and user friendly dual Hotend I’ve used…so easy to set Hotend hieght!! The fact you’ll be running Bowden extruders makes this a bit easier as well, just pick which every one you like adn print one, or two I prefer the belt drive extruders, much quieter and no gears to wear out…the belt a pulleys seems to last forever.
*Also consider why you want a dual extruder in the first place…do you want to run dual color prints, run dissimilar materials (ABS-PLA-Nijaflex), run a dissolvable (sp) support material??? All of these varying aspects could change your mind about the DE. I thought I would love it, but it can a bit more of a pain than it’s worth sometimes. Now I find myself either runnign a single or when running dual I use most often run two size nozzles, a .3mm and a .8mm. I can use the .8mm nozzle to really speed up prints that require less detail, and the .3mm when the detail matters. Run a slicer like Simplify3D and you can change the setting throughout the print.
These are of coarse just one man’s opinions gained from his own experiences…others my think very differently, ultimately the choice is yours…either way you will love 3D Printing
Sonny
I can’t say I have an opinion on your dual extruder problem (though all repraps should, in theory, be upgrade-able), but if you’re looking for a big delta, then have you considered the Rostock Max? It is certainly more expensive than what you were looking at, but it has a WAY larger print volume (28cmx28cmx37.5cm, over the Kossel XL’s 17.5x17.5x30). I’ve also heard that some people have been able to push the print speed to 1000mm/s by sacrificing the print quality, and pushing the stepper drivers.
My initial question is why do you want a Delta? I pondered the question as well for quite a while before I bought my first printer but ended up getting a dual extruder Prusa i3 and so far I think I made the right decision. By going with a lower cost printer (about $300 US) it has allowed me to learn about 3D printing without investing a lot of money. The build plate is bigger than any Delta that I can afford and the quality of print is adequate and is fun to research how to improve. I have made a few improvements already and plan a few more in the near future.
As I mentioned, I purchased a dual extruder but since then I have removed one of the extruders to simplify things. It seems there is a lot to learn about just printing in general before getting fancy (i.e. learn to walk before you run). I think most printers can be easily upgraded from single to dual extruder since it’s mostly a matter of adding the hardware and adjusting the BIOS (Marlin in my case). If you buy a single extruder printer you are not locked in. Happy printing!
Dual extrusion on a Delta? Why would you do that? Most people who want large deltas also find that to fill that volume, they need to print fast. And fast means less weight. Have you checked out thews’ big Delta?
You are looking at the cheap chinese kit, he3d. There are some forum posts and build logs out there. It may or may not be worth buying a more expensive kit depending on how much time and effort you want to throw at it and how serious you are about getting print results. Whatever you do, get something with a solid frame, and a decent linear motion system. On a side note the He3d’s dual extruder is placed so far away from the effector you may see backlash going around corners. From here I’d go read some reviews and make a decision with them in mind.
Thank you guys so much for all the input. This definitely gives me a lot of insight and plenty to consider.
I like the delta partially out of personal preference to the alien/insect nature of the machine, and partly because it’s supposed to have better detail.
As for the dual extrusion preference, I hope to use it for printing more complex devices composed of various materials, such as rubber gaskets, grippers, treads. Or possibly with conductive filament to print circuit boards or devices with printed-in wires.
Have you thought about the calibration involved with a delta machine? It is quiet tricky and can be very time consuming. The kossel Xl’s don’t have fantastic frame rigidity so I would recommend bracing the frame. You can get by without it but I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re throwing more weight around with a second hotend on the print head.
Have you read up on the limitations of running a delta from an Arduino? (or any other electronics which use the Atmel2560 chip). Delta’s offer a large build area for the price and very good speed (given a good frame or else you lose accuracy). The catch with delta’s is calibration, and the load on the microcontroller which has to process all the motor steps to a non linear coordinate system, which will lead to slow downs unless you get something faster, eg a smoothieboard which has an 32 bit ARM processor that runs at 120MHz. Much faster than the arduino’s 8 bit Atmel2560 processor with its 16kb of ram at 16MHz.
Alternatively you could build an prusa i3 type machine. They are very easy to calibrate and rather easy to put more hotends onto.
I agree on the visual part, Delta’s look way cooler than cartesians! None of the jerky back and forth movement, all just smooth travel around the bed.
It doesn’t matter, just get in on the ground floor and start printing . I have two MakerBot Fifth Gens, and two self made Deltas. I learn a lot from both, not to mention the others ive played and experimented with.
