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 means a lot to many manufacturers.
For some, it's the possibility of printing multi-color objects, reducing post-processing and finishing work after printing parts.
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 | Feature Overview | Brand |
| Bambu Lab A1 Mini + AMS Lite | Compact, networked mini printer, perfect for color printing. | Bambu Lab |
| Bambu Lab P1S + AMS | Better filament protection and expanded multi-color printing volume. | Bambu Lab |
| Ultimaker S5 | Scalable, professional-grade printing with reliable software. | Ultimaker |
| Snapmaker J1s | Compact, heavy-duty printer with print modes that boost productivity. | |
| Original Prusa XL | Scalable independent nozzle mechanism that expands according to your needs. | Original Prusa |
How to Choose a Dual Extruder 3D Printer
The considerations for dual extruder 3D printers are not particularly complex.
Ultimately, it's all about the type of 3D print 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 aggressive nozzle purging for a clean print, 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 that have only one print head but two independently extruded nozzles. Compared to single nozzle 3D printers, they are more flexible and can perform multi-material printing faster. They are faster because there is less filament switching time, and more versatile because separate nozzles allow printing with different nozzle diameters in a single print.
Each type of system offers 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 changers 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 is likely the most affordable and keeps maintenance costs to a minimum.
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-calibration intelligence
High uniformity printing
A pleasant experience focused on beginners
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 slender form factor.
Therefore, we consider it a low-cost entry point for 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 it's a smart little machine. You can quickly change nozzles when needed (no tools required) – and that's just one of many reasons we recommend the A1 Mini. Multi-material and multi-color are why we're here, so let's get to it.
The Bambu Lab A1 Mini uses an accompanying device for multi-filament printing. This device, called AMS Lite, sits next to the printer and feeds filament through a series of tubes into a buffer located at the top of the print head. The AMS Lite is powered directly by the printer and connects via a single data/power cable.
Using Bambu Lab's own materials provides the smoothest experience in terms of filament setup, as the company's spools contain RFID tags that the AMS Lite can read to retrieve spool details, which are then transmitted to your computer.
The A1 Mini and AMS Lite combined allow you to combine up to four different filament spools 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 cost-conscious P1P, and paired with AMS, its price also matches the P1P.
This single-extrusion 3D printer is designed for speed, 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 separate box that holds four spools – the P1S enhances the printer's capabilities by allowing up to four spools in a single print, making it a truly versatile multi-color (or multi-material) machine.
A core difference between Bambu Lab's AMS and AMS Lite is that the standard AMS can cluster up to four units at once.
The machine benefits from a reliable software and user experience underpinned by the Bambu Studio slicer and Bambu Handy companion app.
Conveniently, you don't even need to split models for multi-color printing here – you can paint colors directly in the slicing software, allowing you to dynamically configure multi-color prints from single-piece models.
It's worth noting that as a system for printing multiple filaments, its strength lies in using the same type of material. Temperature jumps between different material types will increase print time.
Beyond that, it's a very high-quality 3D printer that allows you to effortlessly print beautiful creations.
【Independent Dual Nozzle】Ultimaker S5
Powerful printer management software
Streamlined printing experience
Print Core system simplifies nozzle changes
As a simple, 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 replaceable "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 abrasive polymers.
These Print Cores can be mixed for printing, giving you great freedom in your prints to achieve specific printing strategies.
To get the most out of the S5, you'll want to 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), and evolves into the enterprise-focused UltiMaker Platform, encompassing model management, printer management, online support, software plugins, and educational materials and certifications.
【IDEX】Snapmaker J1s
Premium look and feel
Well-guided calibration method
Productivity-boosting IDEX print modes
There aren't many IDEX-style 3D printers with consumer-friendly prices. Even fewer can pass the rigorous tests of the market, but the Snapmaker J1s can.
The J1s excels in the main areas where IDEX calibration is needed. Snapmaker's system avoids a completely manual process, automatically performing X and Y axis offsets, and intuitively guiding you through it on its gorgeous 5-inch touch display.
In addition, it boasts high-quality hardware. Its die-cast frame and stamped metal side panels, covers, and base all convey a sense of quality, and the heavy-duty motion system operates on linear rails. From almost every angle, the J1 looks like a tank.
You can use a build area of 320 x 200 x 200 mm, with two quick-swap nozzles zipping through this volume. Furthermore, 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 address extrusion artifacts.
Being IDEX means the J1s has independent nozzles that can operate in multiple productivity-enhancing 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 slicers you prefer, such as Orca Slicer, PrusaSlicer, ideaMaker, or Cura.
Snapmaker provides profiles for Cura, so for beginners, this might be the best starting point.
【Tool Changer Mechanism】Original Prusa XL
Huge material flexibility
Scales with your print size
Fast, high-quality printing experience
Prusa Research's 360 x 360 x 360 mm build volume XL does an excellent job, carving out a useful niche in the multi-material space that few other machines can.
With the ability to be equipped with a full five independent nozzles, it offers material versatility that makes the Prusa XL an excellent machine.
It benefits from completely independent nozzles, meaning materials do not share nozzles, thus avoiding the risk of clogs due to changes in viscosity, infill, and temperature.
Each nozzle can reach temperatures up to 290 °C, and the heated bed up to 120 °C, meaning reliable performance can be achieved even with tough filaments like polycarbonate.
Downtime between extrusions is also minimized, as each active nozzle can be at the ready-to-use temperature.
The tool changer mechanism is fast and stable in performance. As a result, the printer's actual print uptime is much longer than with single nozzle systems.
The XL's heated bed is divided into 16 individual blocks that can be heated independently, depending on the position and quantity you are using.
The Prusa XL effectively adapts to your prints, whether in material or scale, and minimizes waste as much as possible.
The line between tool changers and IDEX is a bit blurry, and both share many of the same advantages compared to single nozzle systems.
Of course, this comes at the cost of more moving parts and more points of failure, but in the case of the XL, Original Prusa has a good track record in terms of strict quality control and new features.
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