This is the final part of Designing BAFS.
Now that all considered, except Part 4, the splitter problem came after I build BAFS, we need to connect BAFS to the printer. I didn't want to make a heavy modification to the printer or the firmware.
There are some options to have multi filament printing such as MMU series, ERCF, SMuFF, Mosaic Palette, etc.. They all share one major common problem. They are too complicated for me and expensive. Well, that's my problem, not theirs, but I want something much simpler. They all offers features I don't even know what it is. I am a beginner after all.
Before BAFS, I already tried dual extrusion. Marlin natively support it. It is simple enough to configure. I wanted something like that.
But it turned out that Marlin 2.1.2 only supports switching extruder with 2 filaments per servo motor, and for each servo it needs an additional stepper. This is the main problem to use BAFS with Marlin.
After some readings, my conclusion is, there's no other way than to mod Marlin. The other option is to build a complicated electronics and firmware like the others (MMUs, SMuFF, etc.), so no, I just wanted to print with some colors.
I won't talk about the modification here, I did make it and it works with some tests, but I will not say it's ready for "production" or daily use.
If you're want the modification, please purchase it from my shop. Please be aware it's only an example on modifying or adding functionality to Marlin. It's not meant to be used as a daily usage or anything other than learning.
Thank you. See you on my next post.