TO TRIDEX OR NOT. Trident 300 "upgrade"

[mvdveer]

My reliable and trustworthy Trident 300 decided that it had enough of it's current toolhead combination:

• Stealthburner
• Voron Revo
• Clockwork 2 extruder
• SB2040 canboard
• Beacon H probe

It stopped feeding filament. And rather than troubleshooting a relatively old built toolhead (October 2023), let's upgrade.

So, I have to rebuild the toolhead. What is definite, is that it would be a complete change of toolhead:

• XOL/Mantis (because I like the look of it  ) - from what I read, cooling will be sufficient for my purposes. I can always switch to CPAP like I have on the VZBot and Mercury 1 AWD if I'm not happy with the performance.
• Rapido ACE UHF hotend with hardened nozzle (because I have 4 of them from a previously aborted project)
• Orbitool O2S toolboard
• Orbiter 2 extruder (Again I have 4 spare from a previously aborted project)
• Orbiter 2 runout sensor
• Mellow Fly LLL Filament buffer (already build, just did not have time to fit it)

For those wondering which project I'm referring to - the Lineux Toolchanger project that was supposed to be built with the Ender 5 Plus conversion to Mercury One AWD. (Just had to much issues for my OCD to be satisfied)

In my original build diary of this machine (Trident 300), I intended to build the Tridex. In my own words:

Quote

Had a project in mind and prepared for it by acquiring all the hardware in the form of a Trident 300mm Formbot kit. Printed all the parts for a Trident morphing into a  Tridex . Started the build of what I thought would be a Tridex. But Alas --  Not gonna happen due to a comedy of errors

Thus the question - to TRIDEX or NOT? 

Will start stripping the toolhead, Print the XOL and build the new toolhead, whilst my mind whirls around with the question of should I or shouldn't I ? Why fix something that aint broke ? - Right ?  But then - what's the fun in that.

I realise I will be loosing build space, as I am not going to alter the frame, but that does not bother me as I have enough large printers to compensate for this. (VZBOT 330, Voron 2.4 350, Voron 2.4 300 (all enclosed) and the Mercury one 370mm.)

From this:

 

to ???????????

Going to start building the toolhead whilst the conversation in my mind continues..................

[lawson.brian]

Width wise you would be better with the 350 sized dimensions in the Y to not loose too much bed space. I brought a 350 trident that was in the form of a Tridex with a 300 bed and that gave enough space not to lose too much of the bed either side - alas it was converted back to a standard Trident. You could do the 'mad max' conversion - 2 head tool changer that is built for the Trident style machines which may be a bit more space efficient.

It sits under the mad-max toolchanger section on the Doomcube discord server.

zruncho3d/madmax: MadMax - the crazy-simple toolchanger conversion for your CoreXY printer

(Sorry, that should say in the X, not Y)

 

Edited March 14 by lawson.brian

[NikosSprocket]

Bondtech INDX maybe?

 

They just released the 1.11 CAD file!

[mvdveer]

2 hours ago, lawson.brian said:

It sits under the mad-max toolchanger section on the Doomcube discord server.

Don't want to go toolchanger at this stage. Had a look at the mad max earlier in the piece, but decided against a toolchanger. (Still have nightmares from the Lineux build). 

Asa I said, not worried about loosing some build volume. The build will be more for the challenge than anything else.

[mvdveer]

1 hour ago, NikosSprocket said:

Bondtech INDX maybe?

Would certainly consider if I decide to go a toolchanger - will be on another printer though. This one will either just get a new toolhead and extruder or Tridex. 

[lawson.brian]

Roger. The IDEX setup is actually pretty cool if done correctly (the one I purchased was dropping apart) - the additional hardware is not that much from what i have sitting in a draw here - 4 x NEMA 14's and a spare carriage for a 400mm MGN12 Hiwin. Standard mainboard generally has enough driver sockets.

Choose the slimmest and lightest toolhead you can (you lose this plus a margin each side) of the printer.

If you have the appetite for it then increase the width of the frame to at least a 350 size. You will lose very little off each side of a 300 bed with that width and you have to replace the X rail anyway .... that would be 4 tapped extrusions for top and bottom, two on your clicky clack door, your top, back, door and bottom panels.

Once you are done then start bugging the devs for the MMU software to support two independent toolheads  with a MMU each.

 

Edited March 14 by lawson.brian

[polyneutron]

I went with a jabberwocky as it uses a Chonch hot end which is the same as the Bambo. It is simple to take it out. Unsnap the side and open the hinge to remove the top. Slide out the bearing and short tube and then take out the conch. I heard they are working with a spider variant or something, but I am happy with the conch X1 as it is a work horse. Now they have an aftermarket for the hot end where you can take out and/or replace the nozzle. Smaller footprint than the stealth

[mvdveer]

11 hours ago, lawson.brian said:

Once you are done then start bugging the devs for the MMU software to support two independent toolheads  with a MMU each.

Why didn't I think of that 

[polyneutron]

That's why people use canrrf. Klipper is a graphical user interface for g-code. If you are using klipper, look for misschsnger lines for your printer.cfg. Some are avaliable on klipper. Good luck!

[polyneutron]

Just now, polyneutron said:

That's why people use canrrf. Klipper is a graphical user interface for g-code. If you are using klipper, look for misschsnger lines for your printer.cfg. Some are avaliable on klipper. Good luck!

Ment to say, github. Most utube users include configuration files.

[mvdveer]

Well, decided to bite the bullet - Tridex it is.

[polyneutron]

Trident has a lot of excellent reviews. I think you will be very happy with your decision. I converted a Creality Ender 5 plus to a Core XY but it still has the two screw drives for the Z axis. I plan to give the printer to the kids but if I kept it I would change the bottom end to be similar to the Trident. Trident is a much stronger build than the ender 5 mods could ever produce. The guys that design these are exceptional and there build quality is among the best.

[mvdveer]

4 hours ago, polyneutron said:

Trident has a lot of excellent reviews. I think you will be very happy with your decision. I converted a Creality Ender 5 plus to a Core XY but it still has the two screw drives for the Z axis. I plan to give the printer to the kids but if I kept it I would change the bottom end to be similar to the Trident. Trident is a much stronger build than the ender 5 mods could ever produce. The guys that design these are exceptional and there build quality is among the best.

I already have built two tridents, just converting one to Tridex

 

[Joegeeks]

Hi MVDeer,  I'm glad to see your giving the Rapido UHF a try.  I'm very interested in your opinion of the Rapido over your Revo.  I ran a Revo in my Trident 350, and switched to the Rapido HF after my second Revo fused (Couldn't Unscrew the nozzle without destroying the sink.) I build a 2.4 and used the Rapido HF as well.  

What I noticed was better flow, but the filament loading was sticky.  It really doesn't  like curved filament when loading.  Any how, I'll keep an eye out for your posts.  Thank you for the greats posts.    You inspired me to build my Armor Turtle and upgrade my V2.4 to CAN and Filamatrix in the process.  Man, I really bit off more than I could chew.  It's going slow, but making forward progress. 

 

[mvdveer]

39 minutes ago, Joegeeks said:

I'm very interested in your opinion of the Rapido over your Revo.

I have the Mercury One with a Rapido V2 UHF hotted and cannot fault it. Have no issues with it at all. But then, the revo vorons I have running on 7 other machines have been performing well. But the combination of orbiter extruder and Rapido UHF is a winner in my books. The VZBot has a Goliath UHF with a hextrudort extruder which will be swapped to the Orbiter Rapido combination as well.

[polyneutron]

When I had a creality cr10s pro v2 I put a spider on it that lasted for two years and could have gone longer. Now I run the conch h1 and only downside is heating at 330 consistently. Even with a sock ceramic heat is only on one side. Like the revo but pulls are inconsistent. It was on a orbiter v3 revo. Gave up on it for the jabberwockey. Conch is used on the bambo printer as well. Thought out hot end. Now there are aftermarket.  The conch works for their color changer.

[PFarm]

1 hour ago, mvdveer said:

The combination of orbiter extruder and Rapido UHF is a winner in my books. 

Totally agree, best setup I've had on my Voron printer!

[polyneutron]

I have voron 2.4 mounts for orbiter v3 on thinkiverse. The jabberwockey belt mount was pure brilliance. Good start for any hot end as well. Jabberwockey stl parts are on line all I suggest is the voron xy belt tensioner.