I always thought the original stevehaines set was a great candidate for multi-material printing, but could never find a way to split the models acceptably. So, I
...Show more broke down and began a from scratch effort to create a set of my own using his for inspiration.
The pawn and rook are complete and posted. As you can see from the pictures, my plan was to have the bottom of the base and "G" on the overalls change to differentiate between white and black. But, many other options are available.
Supports are only required for the following:
1. Goggles on all pieces require support, but only from the top of the overalls upwards.
2. Pieces in which the hands are not holding something will require support for the hands.
3. Rook hat prints better if you generate support for the bricks, but they are only needed from the goggle strap upwards.
I have printed these using three different multi-material solutions.
Slic3r PE to MMU2.0: support enforcers are included for each piece and I recommend you enable custom supports and use them.
Canvas to Palette 2 Pro: will end up with a lot of supports to chip away due to lack of support customization.
Simplify3D and Chroma to Palette 2 Pro: recommend using the variable settings wizard to split the process for the goggles at the top of the overalls, only enabling support generation for the higher portion. Can save many splices if you are careful about which .stl files you put into a process together, what order you put the processes in, and by using additional process splits.
The pictured prints all came from the Simplify3D, Chroma, Palette 2 Pro tool flow. I found a method to insert pauses before the filament is created (cut and spliced in) for any feature on any layer. On the pause, I swap filament colors on the Palette's input and then resume.
The pawn is a 6 color print with a blue I had on hand, but which is too light. The rook is an eight color print made a few days later with a darker and more appropriate blue.
The remainder of the pieces will be posted over the coming weeks.
