Last week we released a head with an additional blower fan attached to the side – there is a blog here to read about it. To make this work, we made software and firmware changes so that the fans could be independently controlled and be used together to cool parts as they print. What we didn’t do is show any results on why you may want to use one of these printheads. Over the weekend we printed 3 parts to show the difference.
The images below show the same part printed with the same material – those on the left were printed with our single material QuickFill Head(RBX01-S2) and those on the right with the NEW SingleLite Head (RBXDV-S3). You can clearly see that the addition of a blower fan to ensure that the material is solidified before the next layer is deposited over the top, resulting in much improved bridging and overhangs.
The Standard Benchy that seems to have become the torture test of choice.
This is the PolyMaker ‘PolyPearl Tower Torture Test‘ – we use it to test multiple small islands and then finally at the top, continuous printing on to a single small island. The most striking difference is the small bridging is on the middle of the tower, but also of interest is the missing detail on the last few spheres at the top.
Surprisingly the ‘Bridging test‘ didn’t show a great deal of difference on the bottom where you would expect to see low hanging strands, but the difference is apparent on the top of the part. The minor droop of the bridge means the top layer isn’t the correct thickness and thus the extrusion isn’t bonding together correctly.
