8 in 4 out filament adapter for Flashforge AD5X

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I have chosen to abandon this design in favor of another approach. With that being said - I believe this design will be fine to use if (a) you leave a decent amount of length (at least 100mm) of tube between the 4-in-1 and this piece, and (b) you feed all incoming filaments from the same side (not half/half left and right).

After several attempts to connect an 8-in-1 adapter to the Flashforge AD5X, the consistent problem I was running into was the connection from the adapter to the extruder - at the end of the tube, filament would fail to clear the entrance. A chamfered tip on the PTFE tube helped, but it didn't completely fix the solution.

So - my next thought was, why not just hijack Flashforge's official adapter?

This adapter consists of four 2-in-1s, built together into a single solid piece and with the outlets lined up with the spacing of the AD5X's connector's four tubes - essentially connecting every pair of inputs to one tube on the official connector.

Print with ABS or ASA - you can try PETG if you want but I don't know if it will hold the tubes properly. Print with the 8-way end down. The main body should be printed with very thin layer heights (I used 0.08mm); the caps are fine with normal layer heights. Paint manual supports - use the fill tool, no need for intricate manual painting - on the overhangs in the cap clips (at both ends), as well as on the bottom surface around the tube entrance holes. Do not have supports inside the intake holes (unless you are using a soluble support filament).

Install the Flashforge end first. It's ideal if you can insert the tubes into this first (make sure to cut them to equal length), and then into your 4-in-1 adapter; but those aren't easy to remove. So, cut the tubes in your 4-in-1 a bit shorter - disregard what some of the photos show, make them not too short or it’ll put too much strain on the 4 in 1 head (this lead to damage on mine). This is especially important if you are using third-party tubes; the Flashforge tubes are significantly more flexible. If you are using custom tubes, make an internal chamfer on the intake side of them; this is not necessary with the stock Flashforge tubes but you still can if you like. Aim for all four tubes to be quite close in length; a small difference (1mm or so) is okay unless they're very short (which they shouldn't be). Place the smaller cap around these tubes, then insert them into the adapter. Push them all the way in, then push the cap on and twist it into place (it only turns about 22.5 degrees; and you will likely need a towel or similar for grip). Insert your 8 tubes at the other end, again making sure to insert them all the way, then slide the larger cap over these tubes, and twist it into place (same deal as the smaller one - this one is even harder to twist into place).

If you are using this with less than the full four / eight tubes on each end, you must insert placeholder tubes into any unused slots; the clamp mechanism relies on all tubes being present to work properly.

FreeCAD source file provided. Note that the FreeCAD source file doesn't include the cap for the 8-tube end; this is because I designed this to use the same cap as my previous 8-in-1 adapter, so you can find the cap in that one's source file. (This also means if you're switching from that design, you can keep the existing cap.)

Need a way to actually use 8 colors on your AD5X? Build yourself an IFS Jacker!