Can't Figure Out Two Color Printing

[JonC]

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to 3d Printing. I just bought a FlashForge Dreamer which ships with FlashPrint. When I installed it immediately updated to 3.8.x

I’ve had a 3d file professionally created which is a very simple polygon base and some text in the middle. The designer selected different materials for the base and text and set the colors. However there is absolutely no way, that I can see, to get FlashPrint to recognize that a single model has different attributes. It is not picking up those attributes when I load the 3d files(had designer try multiple versions like STL and so on) in order to print color.

Instead, it seams you have to produce separate models and manually set the left/right extruder per model/object? This is a nightmare!!! What if I wanted the base orange, the text orange, and polygon border black? That is three models I then have to attempt to align properly in the software?

My designer has also told me that text is an extrusion of the polygon, and cannot be produced individually in SolidWorks. So what am I to? Are there more advanced 3d printing programs I might be able to buy that are compatible with this printer? It seems that the default program is not very good at all. I’m disappointed because when I buy a 3d printer with two colors, I don’t want to have to be a CAD expert in order to produce these models and then align them properly.

Any help is appreciated!

Jon

[Dhin]

Okay print with dual extruders is fairly simple (but not always straight forward). You need two(2) stl files, one for each extruder (left and right). All you do then is compile them into gcode together and the printer will handle it. (Provided you have calibrated your nozzle offsets right.)

* If you use Simplify3D, you set this up by assigning a different process to each STL object when you import them.

* For Slic3r double click and set the extruder’s number from default to which ever you need per STL object.

* In RepG you press ctrl-D or click “GCode>Merge .stl for DualExtrustion” then specify your left and right files and where the output file should be and its name. Then you should be good to go.

I hope this helps.

[DavidBoyle]

Hi Jon,

Using Simplify3D you can print some models in multiple colours even if your printer only has a single head. In your Process you go to the Advanced tab - Layer Modifications and use the “Start/Stop printing at height…” settings.

For example, if your base was 10mm high and the text then protruded another 3mm, you would make the following settings:

start printing at 0mm

stop printing at 10mm

Generate the toolpaths and print in the base colour.

Change the filament to the text colour.

start printing at 10mm

stop printing at 13mm

Generate the toolpaths and print in the text colour.

If you look at the pics on my profile page that is how the Spider’s Web Coaster were done on my FF Dreamer.

Hope that helps!

Dave

[JonC]

Thank you both for your comments, I do not have the knowledge to take apart STL files in order to print in two colors.

I will end up giving this printer away as a gift and continue using my Up Plus 2.

[saprototyping]

Please email me saprototyping@gmail.com ill be happy to assist in making the model so it xan be printed by dual extrusion

[twiesner]

I have the Chinese version of the flashforge dreamer. It is recommended for most FDM dual extrusion printers to split the design up based on the material/color you want to use for certain portions of the design. In a 3D program, aligning each portion of the design’s pivot or moving the entire design to the origin (0,0,0) will make aligning each portion in a slicer program hassle free. Make sure any automatic centering features in your slicer of choice is off helps with alignment too.

If you want to modify your current file, you can use Blender (free 3d software) or something similar. Once you learn the interface of Blender it is very easy to use to design your own files or modify existing ones fairly quick. Don’t need to be a modeling expert to use the program and there are plenty of quick start guides online to get you up and running.

I do recommend, like the others, to use Simplify3d but only after you get your printer up and running properly doing dual extrusion prints. Though having the software that a printer ships with is nice to have, it doesn’t always give you advance control settings that become useful once one understands the pros and cons of a printer.

[Len_1]

Jon,

You are correct how FlashPrint works. You need to set each STL file for whether it is the left or right extruder. There are two solutions that can help:

1) I have connected the different letters together (for instance placing a rectangle connected to the bottom of the letters and doing a boolean combine operation) to make them a single STL file. The connector can be buried internally in the part so you can’t see it.

2) Buy a copy of Simplify3D. It is not free but will make your life much easier. For instance, you can group multiple models (STL files) together. You can also align the origins of multiple models.

I have been running Simplfy3D with my Dreamer Pro - it will make your life much easier.

Hope that helps.

Len

[av8rt0m]

As others have mentioned, Simplify3D is the way to go. It’s expensive but worth every penny. Then take your individual .stl files and assign extruders. Easy as pie.

[Paxy]

This might be helpful.

Use MeshLab to split model in multiple files and prepare it for multi extruder prints.