3D Printed Neon Signs

I thought this video was cool.

One thing I noticed I hadn't seen before: TWO extruders and TWO hot-ends, feeding into one nozzle!

I've seen lots of ways people get more filament heated and flowing, but this one was definitely new to me!

.... wait, maybe I'm wrong? Is that a dual-color (one more translucent than the other) vs. mix of the same color?

I don't see a purge-tower or similar for color-swapping, but it looks like the print does have different materials in different layers.

Two hotends, Nifty ? I see only one, fed by two Bowden extruders.
Do they use this setup to get more output or just to be able to mix different colors, if needed ? Your guess is as good as mine.

I wonder which kind of filament is this. As you can see, there’s no print fan, so it must be a stuff that doesn’t needs cooling. That excludes PLA or similar.

It shows us some brilliant 3D printers at work, but it tell us nothing, like what filament they are using and how it works, even the software package is all new, it’s like looking at the last page of a magazine with no follow up.

The duel input is a great set up but the down side of the printer been used is it can only print something 90mm high, so no good for garden lamps.. ?
The storage of their filament leaves a lot to be desired..

Nice one Nifty..

Artur5 said:

Two hotends, Nifty ? I see only one, fed by two Bowden extruders.

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Ah, thanks for the correction. I got my terminology wrong. Yes, two extruders.

Artur5 said:

I wonder which kind of filament is this. As you can see, there’s no print fan, so it must be a stuff that doesn’t needs cooling.

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Ya, really odd there isn't any direct print cooling (that I can see)... but clearly it's working well for them and giving really good prints.

Artur5 said:

Do they use this setup to get more output or just to be able to mix different colors, if needed ?

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I'm definitely thinking the latter, especially the closer I look:

On the setup behind him, it's black and white loaded up in the same fashion:


... and the colors look slightly different here:

Many high temp. filaments as PC, ABS or PA, use little or no cooling fan, but those filaments are usually printed inside an enclosure to deal with warping. They also tend to be very sensitive to humidity so is not a good idea to keep the spools lying around, exposed to air moisture. The filament in the video is printed without cooling, in the open and works fine, apparently.
It’s not clear if the glass bed is heated not but, as the operator removes the plates wearing only latex gloves, my guess is that it’s a cold bed.

It must be a filament formulation specifically made for that kind of stuff.

Artur5 said:

It’s not clear if the glass bed is heated not but, as the operator removes the plates wearing only latex gloves, my guess is that it’s a cold bed.

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It also looks like they have a solvent on the glass bed to assist with adhesion.

An explanation would be worth a thousand videos..

Artur5 said:

It’s not clear if the glass bed is heated not but, as the operator removes the plates wearing only latex gloves, my guess is that it’s a cold bed.

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The bed is not heated, it has several fans below keeping it cool.

Nifty said:

It also looks like they have a solvent on the glass bed to assist with adhesion.

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The base has some sort of adhesive on it, (Pritt glue stick) dissolves in water, and the base itself is 15mm thick, so it must be Perspex, because glass would be too heavy for one guy to lift..

The Hat said:

The bed is not heated, it has several fans below keeping it cool.

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I noticed that too!

Part of me was wondering why they would need to keep the area below the glass cool... didn't make any sense.

... then I got to wondering if there might be some heater somewhere in there and the fans are to move the hot-air around under the glass to keep it evenly heated?

Nifty said:

then I got to wondering if there might be some heater somewhere in there and the fans are to move the hot-air around under the glass to keep it evenly heated?

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Your probably right, but these guys keep us guessing..