Nautilus Development - May 2018 Update
New tool head and removable hotend
The new tool head is the most compact and simplest version I've designed yet. In addition, to being much quicker and easier to print, it also features a much simpler magnetic couple between the tool head gantry and the hotend. It was challenging to devise a belt clamping mechanism in this new quite confined space, but I've got something that has been working well so far.
This reduction in size has increased the print area by about 5mm in the x and y directions and about 20mm in z height.
Purge Bucket
That's right, say goodbye to prime towers eating up your usable print area. The purge bucket I have designed also features a wire brush to clean the nozzle after each purge. The other main reason for the purge bucket is that Cura currently does not support prime towers for more than 2 extruders/materials. Since the system for multi-material I plan to use uses five materilas and requires purging at each filament change, a workaround was needed. So, two for one!
More Rigid Frame
I have been working on the second iteration of my frame/enclosure design which will provide more rigidity. Not that I have really been having problems with rigidity on the current design, but I felt I could still do better. The new frame will have the x,y, and z-axis all mounted to the same frame component, greatly increasing squareness and perpendicularity.
