Fighting with computers

  While single extruder performance with BCN3D Epsilon W50 was not fast (around 20% slower than a Prusa MK3) its printing volume is significantly larger. So we put that to some u se, packing several large parts into the print bed.  If some of these parts are similar (either equal or mirrored) the use of IDEX can help here. So what is IDEX? IDEX is the acronym of independent dual extruders, which may not explain much yet.  These are 3d printers that have two print heads instead of one. Each one of these two print heads has its own extruder that can be operated independently from the other. This is quite a different thing than these other printers that can handle different filaments in the sense that here two extruders can operate at the same time, so two hotends can be pushing plastic onto the bed to create two different parts. Not very different as if you were able to write or draw with a pen on each one of your hands, but with a little catch here: although we can draw t...

Before the summer holidays, we were approached by a Spanish company ( Sicnova )  that wanted to help us with our research project about modular 3D printed beams . So after some talks, we borrowed a brand new BCN3D Epsilon W50 3D printer.  Contrary to other printers and similar to an industrial robot, the machine was delivered over a wooden pallet that needed a manual forklift to move it to our lab. Overall volume was not very different from a washing machine or dishwasher. I went to the lab for unpacking it but returned empty-handed: the instructions called for two people for the unboxing procedure. So I had to return the next day with a colleague so we could remove the packaging and rise the printer to the workbench where it will live. Once the printer was powered on, we noticed the nice touch-sensitive display on the bottom-right corner, that greeted us and guide us through the setup procedure.  The printer has a USB, Ethernet, and WiFi connectivity, but we were not pr...