Multiple filament printers

General
1

I need some insight into the pros & cons of buying & using a printer that has the capability to use different spools while printing.

Example: Flashforge AD5X

to clarify:
(1)Do these types of printers have several nozzles that lay down the filament, or just one nozzle and the filament just retracts and a different one loads automatically?

(2) do these printers use Boolean tubes or direct feed into the hot end?

(3)are there insidious complications that arise while using these printers that the companies don’t disclose?

(4) are the actual print speeds fast (comparatively speaking)?

I can see some advantages such as not having to wait for the printer bed and hot end to come back to temperature when changing filaments.

My current machine is a Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro.

Thinking of giving myself an early Christmas gift.

TIA

Smitty

2

Most of the printers in the < $1500 range, use a single extruder, so to change filaments, they have to retract, thread in the new color, purge, then continue printing.

There is a new printer - the Snapmaker U1 - that switches just the nozzle out, which (I think) eliminates the purging and is much faster when printing multicolor because of that. I’m not sure if it’s out of the kickstarter phase yet, though. I think Bambu Lab has something similar in mind to be released later this year.

1 Like
3

I have the Creality Hi with two CFS units which allows for 8 colors.The default bundle has one CFS for 4 colors. This is working well for my needs.

This is a single nozzle printer.

Color printing requires a very steep learning curve. Designing for color is much more difficult so that you do not have too many color changes that add a lot of printing time and materials waste. It is best to have color changes at layer boundaries otherwise you could have 10’s to hundreds of changes.

It is best to use fresh Creality PLA to avoid jams and breaks.

I use Creality slicer because it has the correct profiles and handles color well with this printer. Other slicers can be used but it’s not worth my time to get those to work for my needs.

4

You have some good questions, you should gather advice from sites like this and do your own research. Many reviews on You Tube for all of the 3D printers you are interested in. I have two multi-color - multi- material printers. A Bambu X1C and Prusa XL, and have a Snapmaker U1 on order.

Some printers use a single nozzle - most Bambu with an AMS system. These require the filament to be rewound to allow the new to be loaded from another spool. This is a cost effective design, and works OK for limited color swaps. The advantage is it is much simpler to have one nozzle and extruder. This requires a purge of the old filament and then the new to make sure the nozzle is cleared and the new is loaded. My Bambu X1C uses that method.

My Prusa XL has 5 toolheads with 5 filament paths. It does not need to unload any filament between changes it swaps heads and purges a small amount to make sure the old filament has be replaced with fresh, very little waste and usually much faster than a single head at swapping filament. The downside is the complexity and cost. The current price for a Prusa XL with 5 heads is over $4000.

I’m excited about the U1 because of the much lower purchase price. I ordered it last weekend and was well under $1000 delivered. It won’t be shipped until March 2026 at the earliest. I checked and orders can be cancelled for a full refund before they ship. The first production units were sent to content creators and have been getting good reviews. Bambu just released a nozzle changing printer which is getting reviews. It has some good points, but also some areas of concern. Check out videos on both.

I think the future is tool changers, companies are making progress in designing and building them, I expect more to be released.

To my knowledge all use bowden tubes in some fashion.
Complications on all - they have unique parts for almost all of the print process, nozzles, extruders - etc. The days of swapping an Ender extruder and hot end for a new 3rd party have become limited.

The print speeds are all better than trying to swap manually, The multiple tool heads are typically faster than the AMS systems.

2026 will be a year of many changes in how multi filament printers work and cost.

If you want something to get your feet wet, probably the best would be a Bambu A1 or mini, they are also dumping the older X1 and P1 models.

Hope this helps - but seriously look at videos to get more information

5

thks for the reply & yeah $4000 is way out of my league for a printer.

I still have a hard time justifying spending more for stuff (whatever it is) that cost more than my 1st car. Maybe I’m just too damn cheap. Or just too damn old.

seriously, thanks for the look ahead to 2026. Maybe it might be prudent to wait a bit.