BioPrinting Dual Extruder

This project was a biological extruder for 3D printing, made alongside Berkeley 3D BioPrinting Club. This specific extruder takes two bio-ink inputs and converts them - through a series of channels and switches - to either a single mixed bio-ink output or two separate outputs of unmixed bio-inks. This is used to create specific, intentional bio-ink concentrations and mixtures that can vary seamlessly throughout a part. The extruder connects directly to the rest of our RepRap converted BioPrinter printer. It is designed for a linear actuator to attach above to move the rack and control the feed channels.

Some further modification for watertight fits need to be made before we can proceed with hooking it up to our printer. The main concern is cleaning feasibility (working with bio-materials requires that everything is completely sterilized between each use). I am currently working on another project that will allow multiple different extruder configurations to be swapped in and out of our RepRap 3D printer. This would allow us to test multiple different bioprinting head setups without having to remake the printer. This would also allow us to easily exchange the bioprinting head for the original plastic extruder to fabricate parts for prototyping. This is currently under testing.