The 9 Best Dual Extruder 3D Printers for Multi Material Printing

The Snapmaker J1, or J1s, is the company’s newest and first duel extruder 3D printer. It’s big, sturdy, and produces excellent results with its independent dual extruder system.

As we covered in our Snapmaker J1s review, the J1 and J1s are practically the same machine. The only difference between them is the large cooling fan of the -s model, which is also available separately to upgrade the J1 with.

All of the J1’s features, including the IDEX system, are top-notch and reliable. Snapmaker has coded the printer so that the idle hot end is preheated and kept at printing temperature while the active hot end prints. This makes sure that the material switch happens near instantaneously, saving you extra time while printing.

Both of the hot ends on the J1 can heat up to 300°C, giving you a lot of options for the materials you can use. The direct extruder setup improves print quality even more and makes it easy to print with flexible filaments.

When we tested the Snapmaker J1, most of its features surprised us positively. The PEI-coated glass bed, easy calibration process, brilliant touchscreen display, and fast printing speeds were all notable and impressive in their own ways.

The J1s does have shortcomings, however. Its maximum print height is only 20 mm high, and its cantilevered bed design raised questions for us. The print bed experiences Z-wobble at high speeds, impacting print quality. Not what you want from a self-proclaimed fast 3D printer.

Still, the Snapmaker J1/J1s is amongst the best dual extruder 3D printers we have seen. Even though it has its drawbacks, the general print quality, the ability to print with different materials, and the user experience are all top-notch for its price and category.

The Sovol SV04 3D printer is an improvement over the previous SV02 in many ways. The most notable is its larger print area.

With a print space of 300 x 300 x 400 mm, it helps you make the most of the printer’s two extruders. You get plenty of space to print two larger models at once, taking full advantage of the duplication and mirroring print modes on the printer.

Both extruders have a Titan-style direct drive system that helps them work with a wide range of materials. For a dual extruder 3D printer that costs less than $500, the print quality is impressive.

You also get automatic bed leveling, quiet TMC stepper drivers, filament run-out sensors, and a flexible build plate. These features improve the general user experience and help you get better printing results. However, while printing in dual-extrusion mode, the secondary hot end takes a while to heat up, which can be an inconvenience if you are time-pressed.

All things considered, the Sovol SV04 is a great deal for what it costs. It’s a good machine for beginners and hobbyists on a tighter budget that still wish to enjoy the advantages of dual-extruder 3D printing.

The Flashforge Dreamer is one of the most popular dual extruder 3D printers in the market that comes with some elegant features for easy multi-material 3D printing. It comes fully assembled, and you can get started with 3D printing on it within 30 minutes of unboxing the printer.

With the Dreamer, you get two print heads with a direct-drive setup that can help you print a wide variety of materials with ease. The fully enclosed design prevents any harmful 3D printer fumes from leaving the printer and aids considerably with printing ABS. It includes an aluminum heated print bed for a more even heat distribution on the print surface.

The dual extruder design does result in a reduction in the build volume of the 3D printer, however, and as a result, it has a relatively small print area for the price. Some users also find the bundled FlashPrint slicing software limiting in terms of features.

Nonetheless, considering that the Dreamer is primarily aimed at beginners, it does an excellent job in the user convenience and accessibility department. It is a good choice for educational institutes and amateur 3D printer users who want a plug-and-play solution for their multi-color and multi-material printing needs.

While the aforementioned Flashforge Dreamer is suited for beginners and amateur users, the Flashforge Creator Pro 2 is aimed more toward the professional user base. The Creator Pro 2 is a fully enclosed 3D printer with a similar level of user convenience, but now with an upgraded independent dual extruder system (IDEX).

The Flashforge Creator Pro 2 has multiple printing modes that let you print mirrored designs, duplicate your models for faster 3D printing, and even print with soluble support materials for complex and intricate 3D designs. The heated print bed and the enclosed design further expand the material compatibility of the printer, letting you print with PLA, ABS, HIPS, and PVA.

The Flashforge Creator Pro 2 is a superb dual extruder 3D printer for industry professionals and hobbyists alike. You get a robust build quality, an IDEX system, ease of use, and excellent printing, all for a relatively low cost. In our book, it’s the best dual extruder 3D printer under $1000.

The QIDI Tech i-Fast is not for the masses and is instead more positioned as a premium 3D printer for prosumers. For almost $2300, you get a printer that comes with many high-end features and a large build volume (uncommon in dual-extruder 3d printers) to accommodate a wide variety of 3D designs.

Its heated print chamber measures 330 x 250 x 320 mm and is fully enclosed. For better printing with high-end materials like Nylon, Polycarbonate, Carbon fiber, and PolyPropylene, it can be heated up to 60°C. The motion system is fully supported with high-quality precision linear rails, and it has a dual Z-axis setup for increased accuracy.

The QIDI Tech i-Fast is a feature-packed dual extruder 3D printer for professional use case scenarios and printing high-end prototypes. Despite its high price, it still offers excellent value compared to similar printers in this price range. If you’re planning on adding an industrial machine to your workflow, the i-Fast is likely to be a perfect choice for your prototyping needs.

The Ultimaker S3 is feature-packed and one of the best dual extruder 3D printers by Ultimaker. It is for professional users who want a high-quality, compact printer that consistently delivers excellent print quality.

With the Ultimaker S3, you get a modest build volume of 230 x 190 x 200 mm. This is enough for most typical 3D prints but can be a limitation if you have multi-material or multi-color printing needs.

The dual extruders on the Ultimaker S3 have swappable print cores that let you print with advanced materials if you need to. Over 200 materials are tried and tested on the S3, making it one of the most compatible dual extruder printers in terms of filaments.

Additional features include a 4.3-inch touchscreen with an easy-to-use UI, an onboard camera for remote monitoring, and an automatic bed leveling system to give you perfect bed adhesion and first layers every time.

The Ultimaker S3 is a premium 3D printer, and at a price point of over $4000, it is undoubtedly not for primary hobby purposes. The features it provides and the materials it supports are more geared toward industrial prototyping and end-component solutions for industries. If you’re someone who fits in that bracket, the S3 is a good choice for your 3D printing needs.

The Raise3D Pro 3 is one of the flagship 3D printers by the Raise3D team. It builds upon the previous generation of the Pro 2 series of industrial 3D printers. Its improvements lie with its new dual extruder setup, interchangeable hot end, and airflow system to give you great 3D printing results every time.

The Pro 3 comes with a large build volume of 300 x 300 x 300mm. That volume is fully enclosed to isolate the print area from the external environment. Additionally, it includes a HEPA filtration system to keep away potentially unhealthy 3D printer fumes.

Its automatic bed leveling minimizes the calibration time required, resulting in improved productivity. The built-in ‘EVE intelligent assistant’, too, is a unique feature with the Pro 3 designed to locate and resolve any issues and give helpful feedback to the user.

The Raise 3D Pro 3 is for professional users who need a robust, large-sized 3D printer that lets you execute multi-material 3D printing on an industrial scale. You can use it to carry out batch 3D printing with advanced materials and end-use components without hassles.

The Ultimaker S5 is the bigger brother of the Ultimaker S3, but with a larger build volume to utilize the benefits of dual extrusion 3D printing fully. It is similar to the S3 in many aspects, but the additional upgrades and add-ons make it an automated industrial-level 3D printer.

The S5’s large build volume of 330 x 240 x 300 mm is suitable for big-sized objects, and it can be fully enclosed with an optional air management system to maintain a stable temperature in the printing area. This makes it more suitable as a Nylon 3D printer or to work with other high-temperature filaments.

To expand this 3D printer further, you can add a material station that takes up to six materials and automatically choose the required material for the current print without any user intervention.

The swappable print cores, retracting nozzles, and automatic bed leveling are the same as the S3, delivering a predictable and high-quality 3D printing experience each time.

The Ultimaker S5 is an excellent printer for industrial environments and can be upgraded to fulfill even more complex needs. It is our top pick for the best dual extruder 3D printer for professionals.