Hypercube Tool Changer/Multi Material Parking Extruders

thingiverse

# HyperCube Parking Extruders I've been experimenting with multi-material designs for a while now, and after several failed attempts, I finally got it working. The HyperCube parking extruders allow you to switch between two extruders on the fly, which is super useful for printing complex objects. The design consists of two parking hooks that hold the extruders in place when not in use. When you want to switch to a different extruder, simply move the hook out of the way and let the new extruder drop down into position. It's really slick! To make this work, I had to write some custom G-code to control the parking hooks. Here it is: ### Tool Change Gcode ``` ; Tool Change to [next_extruder] start G91 ; relative mode G1 Z1 ; drop bed for tool change G90 ; absolute mode G1 E-1 ; retract G92 E0 ``` This code retracts the filament and drops the bed down to make room for the new extruder. ### Parking Gcode ``` {if next_extruder == 0} T0 G0 X205 Y0 F5000 ; move close to T1 G0 Y-40 ; move closer G92 E0 G1 X235 E4 ; park T1 G92 E0 G0 Y0 F3000 ; unhook T1 G0 X122 Y0 F5000 ; move close to T0 G0 Y-40 ; catch T0 G0 X90 ; slide T0 off the hook G0 Y0 ; move back to print area M290 P0 Z-0.25 ; fine tune first extruder height {elif next_extruder == 1} T1 G0 X90 Y0 F5000; move close to T0 G0 Y-40 ; move closer G92 E0 G1 X122 E4 ; park T0 G92 E0 G0 Y0 F3000 ; unhook T0 G0 X235 Y0 F5000 ; move close to T1 G0 Y-40 ; catch T1 G0 X205 ; slide T1 off the hook G0 Y0 ; move back to print area M290 P0 Z0.25 ; fine tune second extruder height {endif} ``` This code moves the parking hooks out of the way and lets the new extruder drop down into position. ### End Gcode ``` M104 S0 T0 ; extruder heater off M104 S0 T1 ; extruder heater off M140 S0 ; heated bed heater off (if you have it) G91 ;relative positioning G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure G1 Z+0.5 E-2 X-20 Y-20 F9000 ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more G90 ;absolute positioning {if current_extruder == 0} G0 X90 Y0 F5000; move close to T0 G0 Y-40 ; move closer G92 E0 G1 X122 E4 ; park T0 G92 E0 G0 Y0 F3000 ; unhook T0 {endif} {if current_extruder == 1} G0 X205 Y0 F5000 ; move close to T1 G0 Y-40 ; move closer G92 E0 G1 X235 E4 ; park T1 G92 E0 G0 Y0 F3000 ; unhook T1 {endif} M84 ;steppers off ``` This code retracts the filament and turns off the heaters. It also moves the parking hooks back into place to hold the extruders in position. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions or need further clarification.