As 2024 draws to a close, 3D printing industry news website All3DP has selected the best multi/dual extruder 3D printers of 2024 across 5 categories, including:
IDEX, single nozzle, tool changer mechanisms, and related dual nozzle printers.
Dual extrusion (or multi-extrusion) 3D printing is a game-changer for many manufacturers.
For some, it's the possibility of printing multi-color objects, reducing post-processing and finishing work after printing.
For others, it's a way to achieve more complex prints using soluble or breakaway support materials – something that's not possible with typical single-extruder 3D printers.
Quick Overview
| Model | Features Overview | Brand |
| Bambu Lab A1 Mini + AMS Lite | Compact, networked mini printer, ideal for color printing. | Bambu Lab |
| Bambu Lab P1S + AMS | Better filament protection and increased multi-color print volume. | Bambu Lab |
| Ultimaker S5 | Scalable, professional-grade printing with reliable software. | Ultimaker |
| Snapmaker J1s | Compact, heavy-duty printer with print modes to increase productivity. | |
| Original Prusa XL | Scalable independent toolhead mechanism that expands to your needs. | Original Prusa |
How to Choose a Dual Extrusion 3D Printer
The considerations for dual extrusion 3D printers are not particularly complex.
Ultimately, it's all about the type of 3D prints you want to achieve and how cleanly the printer accomplishes that print.
While two extruders feeding material into a single nozzle carry the risk of material cross-contamination and require more rigorous nozzle purging for clean prints, IDEX or tool changer 3D printers use completely independent nozzles for each material, minimizing contamination but at the cost of increased complexity in motion systems and calibration.
Physical or software offsets may be needed to properly align IDEX nozzles, so printers that reliably automate this process are crucial for a good multi-color or multi-material printing experience.
There are also dual nozzle printers, which have only one print head but two independently extruded nozzles. They are more flexible than single nozzle 3D printers and allow for faster multi-material printing. They are faster because there is less time spent switching filaments, and more versatile because separate nozzles allow printing with different nozzle diameters in a single print.
Each type of system has some advantages over the others.
Single nozzle systems reduce complexity and can often provide a rock-solid basic printing experience with fewer calibration considerations.
Meanwhile, tool changer devices excel in material flexibility and minimizing waste.
When choosing a multi-extrusion 3D printer, consider what you want to achieve.
If you simply want to print in multiple colors, a single nozzle system might be the most affordable and minimize maintenance costs.
If you want to print with soluble supports or different nozzle sizes, then you must consider a multi-nozzle system, whether it's IDEX, dual nozzle, or a tool changer mechanism.
【Ultra Low Budget】Bambu Lab A1 Mini + AMS Lite
Fast with self-calibrating intelligence
Highly uniform prints
Beginner-centric pleasant experience
Despite its mini size and name, the Bambu Lab A1 Mini is a surprisingly complete 3D printer, offering the full, smooth, connected, and efficient experience provided by other more premium 3D printers in Bambu Lab's lineup, all in a compact and sleek form factor.
Therefore, we see it as a low-cost entry point into multi-color printing.
This cantilever 3D printer boasts a build volume of 180 x 180 x 180 mm, automatic calibration, flow compensation, motor noise compensation, and a self-monitoring system that can alert you to issues and remedies.
All of this indicates that it is a smart little machine. When needed, you can quickly change nozzles (tool-free) – this is just one of many reasons we recommend the A1 Mini, and multi-material and multi-color are why we're here, so let's get started.
The Bambu Lab A1 Mini uses a companion device for multi-filament printing. This device, called the AMS Lite, sits next to the printer and feeds filament into a buffer located at the top of the print head via a series of tubes. The AMS Lite is powered directly by the printer and connected via a single data/power cable.
Using Bambu Lab's own materials provides the smoothest experience in terms of filament settings, as the company's spools include RFID tags that the AMS Lite can read to obtain spool details, which are then transmitted to your computer.
The A1 Mini and AMS Lite combined allow you to combine up to four different spools of filament in a single print job, whether it's multiple colors of the same material or different materials to a limited extent.
The A1 Mini printer is only suitable for lower-temperature materials such as PLA, PETG, PVA, and TPU.
【Single Nozzle】Bambu Lab P1S + AMS
Temperature-controlled enclosed volume
Fast, high-quality printing and effective cooling
Smooth, interconnected software ecosystem
The Bambu Lab P1S is the successor to the company's budget-focused P1P, and when combined with AMS, its price aligns with the P1P.
This single-extrusion 3D printer is designed for speed, capable of producing high-quality prints in a fraction of the time of many other printers on the market.
On its own, it's not a multi-color or multi-material 3D printer. However, when combined with Bambu Lab's Automatic Material System (AMS) – a standalone box that holds four spools – the P1S enhances the printer's capabilities by allowing it to use up to four spools in a single print, making it a truly versatile multi-color (or multi-material) machine.
A key difference between Bambu Lab's AMS and AMS Lite is that the standard AMS can cluster up to four units at a time.
This machine benefits from a reliable software and user experience, supported by the Bambu Studio slicer and the Bambu Handy companion app.
Conveniently, you don't even need to split models for multi-color printing here – you can paint colors in the slicer software, allowing you to dynamically configure multi-color prints from a single model.
It's important to note that for a system printing multiple filaments, its advantage lies in using the same type of material. Temperature jumps between different material types will increase print time.
Other than that, it's a very high-quality 3D printer, and you can effortlessly print beautiful pieces.
【Independent Dual Nozzle】Ultimaker S5
Powerful printer management software
Streamlined printing experience
Print Core system simplifies nozzle changes
As a simple and efficient machine, the UltiMaker S5 allows you to easily print dual-material prints.
The UltiMaker S5 3D printer has a build volume of 330 x 240 x 300 mm and achieves dual extrusion 3D printing through UltiMaker's swappable "Print Cores".
These compact hotends can be quickly swapped in and out of the printer, with each hotend tailored for specific materials and print types; from PVA soluble support-specific cores to large-bore hardened nozzles best suited for filling abrasive polymers.
These Print Cores can be mixed for printing, giving you great freedom in your prints to achieve specific printing strategies.
To fully leverage the S5's advantages, you must enhance its ecosystem by adding an enclosure and air filtration system through bundle upgrades, as well as a Material Station for extended continuous printing.
UltiMaker's software ecosystem begins with the free and open Cura slicing software, which has a simple UI through which you can choose from a long list of materials and look up more in the company's online database (or create your own material library), evolving into the enterprise-focused UltiMaker Platform, which includes model management, printer management, online support, software plugins, and educational materials and certifications.
【IDEX】Snapmaker J1s
Premium look and feel
Well-guided calibration methods
Productivity-boosting IDEX print modes
There aren't many consumer-friendly priced IDEX-style 3D printers. Even fewer can pass the market's rigorous tests, but the Snapmaker J1s can.
The J1s excels in the key areas where IDEX calibration is needed. Snapmaker's system avoids a completely manual process, automatically performing X and Y axis offsets and visually guiding you through it on its gorgeous 5-inch touch display.
Furthermore, it boasts premium-feeling hardware. Its die-cast frame and stamped metal side panels, covers, and base all feel high-quality, and the heavy-duty motion system operates on linear rails. From almost every angle, the J1 looks like a tank.
You can use the 320 x 200 x 200 mm build area, with two quick-swappable nozzles whizzing through this volume. Additionally, these nozzles can be upgraded to different nozzle sizes.
In terms of general printing, the J1s offers a thoroughly modern printing experience with vibration compensation and linear advance to quickly resolve extrusion artifacts.
Being IDEX means the J1s has independent nozzles that can operate in multiple productivity-boosting modes.
This also means that filament waste and downtime between material changes are minimized, and depending on the material used, there are only short heating phases between extruder changes.
Snapmaker's Luban slicer software (which the J1s shares with the company's 3-in-1 CNC and laser engraver) does its job, but offers fewer options for fine-tuning prints compared to many other popular slicers today.
However, you can still use other slicer software you prefer, such as Orca Slicer, PrusaSlicer, ideaMaker, or Cura.
Snapmaker provides a profile for Cura, so for beginners, this might be the best place to start.
【Tool Changer Mechanism】Original Prusa XL
Immense material flexibility
Scales to your print size
Fast, high-quality printing experience
Prusa Research's 360 x 360 x 360 mm build volume XL does an excellent job of carving out a useful niche in the multi-material space that few other machines can.
With the ability to equip a full five independent nozzles, it offers material versatility, making the Prusa XL an excellent machine.
It has the advantage of fully independent nozzles, meaning materials do not share a nozzle, thus eliminating the risk of clogging due to variations in viscosity, fillers, and temperature.
Each nozzle can reach temperatures up to 290 °C, and the heated bed up to 120 °C, which means reliable performance is achievable even with tough filaments like polycarbonate.
Downtime between extrusions is also minimized, as each active nozzle can be at a ready-to-use temperature.
The tool changer mechanism is fast and stable in performance. Therefore, the printer's actual printing uptime is much longer than single nozzle systems.
The XL's heated bed is divided into 16 individual segments that can be heated independently, depending on the location and quantity you use.
The Prusa XL effectively adapts to your prints, both in terms of material and scale, and minimizes waste as much as possible.
The line between tool changer and IDEX is a bit blurry, and both have many of the same advantages compared to single nozzle systems.
Of course, this comes at the cost of more moving parts and more potential points of failure, but in the case of the XL, Original Prusa has a good track record of strict quality control and new features.
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