The last month and a bit have seen a lot of new things. Bambu announced a tool changer (vortek), Snapmaker has a new tool changer announced (U1), Bondtech also has a new tool changer (indx) and Prusa looks like there is some indx add on for the core one that is only a tease at this moment.
It is hard to know what is going to happen, does the Bambu H2C replace the H2D? Is the Core one indx (maybe?) an add on or stand alone or both? Will the U1 work well? There is still the Prusa XL on top. I don’t know.
It all is exciting. What are your thoughts? I have used a Snapmaker in the past, I after a long pause kickstartered one. I hope I will not regret that…
Do any of you have your eyes on a tool changer?
They are trying to out do each other to keep their market share. 3D Printing has become very competitive. Most filament changers still waste a lot of filament and take a long time to print. The swap able print head printers are serious dollars. Cheaper to use paint.
That’s not my experience with a tool changer. I just sliced a small two color file for work on the xl is is going to be 17 min and for curiosity I sliced it for my P1S same two colors and it is over an hour (1:18) it’s only around 60 changes. The xl runs just a single line for nozzle prime the Bambu well let’s not talk about the waste it’s daft.
I think the tool changer is going to be the future. They are faster and so much more efficient it’s not even a comparison. The Bambu thing is as far as I can figure still using a single Bowden tube so it will still cut and purge? It makes no sense. The bondtech system makes more sense but never having seen one that’s a guess. The U1 is curious it’s not expensive so let’s hope it works.
it is primed to shark everything up again. Or has I guess the mad scramble seems to have begun. Sad for anyone with an H2D it looks obsolete before it got going
I haven’t payed much attention to this since I don’t do much artistic work, mostly practical stuff but what I have seen is it is still expensive to get into the multi tool head machines which should be fast and with less waste. Maybe competition will bring the price down.