Multi color 3d printer extruder

Multicolor VS Full Color 3D Printers

I want to start with a pretty important distinction when talking about 3D printers that can print in multiple colors. 

Sometimes “full color” is a term used to describe these printers.  

And while this is technically true, “full color” more often describes industrial-grade printers that are able to produce intricate color scaling and manipulation (I included one of these on the list – the XRize Rize – for comparison’s sake).

On the other hand…

… we’re going to be mostly looking at multicolor 3D printers, which can usually handle only a small number of different colors, but which tend to fall under the “personal 3D printer” umbrella. 

They’re smaller and much, much less expensive.

All that said, multicolor printing is still a very experimental field – much less established than its industrial counterparts. 

Given the scarcity of personal 3D printers that can handle multiple colors, I’m going to be looking at every option on the market today, including dual-extruder printers where each extruder can print a separate color and multi-color printer upgrades.

So let’s take a look at the best multicolor 3D printers!

Can 3D Printers Do Multiple Colors?

3D printers can do multiple colors! However, the method varies between printers. Single-extruder printers rely on a method of manually switching out spools of filament, while multi-color printers do this process for you.

What is a Multi-Color 3D Printer?

A multi-color 3D printer is a device that 3D prints different filaments using multiple extruders and nozzles.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Multi-Color 3D Printer

The obvious advantages of a multi-color 3D printer: you get awesome multi-colored prints without having to manually swap filaments. Also, such printers are compatible with water-soluble filaments for easy support removal. 

The disadvantages: twice the extruders, twice the maintenance. Hot end assemblies can run into any number of issues — and dealing with two of them can be a hassle. Also, it’s much more expensive than a single-extruder printer. 

How Do You Print Two Colors?

If you have a single-extruder printer, you can pause and swap. 

What does this mean? 

Well, whenever you want to change colors in a print, you just stop the print and swap the filament. This can be a major chore, however, and with multi-color printers the process is much easier. 

First, you load your two spools onto the spool holder, and then you feed the filament into the printer. Then you just let it do its multi-colored magic!

Can You Paint 3D Printed Objects?

Yes, you definitely can! 

Acrylic and enamel paints are best for 3D printed surfaces. However, you’ll have to sand your 3D printed part first. This gets rid of visible layer lines and helps the paint stick better to the surface. 

A Few Final Thoughts…

So there you have it – a fairly comprehensive guide to multi-color 3D printing, the best (affordable) multicolor 3D printers out there, one crazy-expensive one, and an alternative option altogether!

When it comes to choosing your best color 3D printer, there are plenty of factors to keep in mind.

When making your decision, you should always consider what specific projects you have in mind and tailor your choice to fit. After all, if you’re looking to upgrade towards multicolor 3D printing, you probably have a couple of exciting ideas in the bag already.

Some of these 3D printers excel at color combining.

For color control, the Da Vinci provides an entirely different system from anything else on the list (besides the XRize) but does so at a higher price point and with a few concerning bugs.

Some color 3D printers come packed with excellent side features, like the Lotmaax Shark V3.

And others have an ingenious design that comes with other exciting applications, like the dual-nozzle design of the TenLog.

Anyway, your preferences will determine your best color 3D printer, so I’ll hand over the baton to you to make your choice.

You’ll be churning out those colorful 3D prints before you know it.

Our pick

LOTMAXX Shark V3

Great 3D printer for beginners

This printer cranked out quality prints right out of the box in our test. Comes with excellent, all-metal nozzle and extruder and many more features makes this the best value.

Check Price from Amazon

So this was kind of an underdog story for me. When I first started looking for the best color 3D printer, the Lotmaxx wasn’t even on my radar.

Yet the more I learned about this 3D printer, the more I was impressed – both by its original design and by its execution. Not to mention that it’s a Kickstarter success and really demonstrates the best aspects of grassroots ingenuity coming out of the color 3D printing field.

Not only is the Lotmaxx an excellent base 3D printer capable of color 3D printing, but it also comes with some innovative features that I haven’t seen in a single other color 3D printer.

The laser engraving upgrade opens up new doors in creative design. The auto bed-leveling works pretty well, and the handheld removable touch-screen is something I haven’t seen in any other 3D printers, no matter what price point.

And to speak on the price… all of this costs less than $500.

Typically, when I review 3D printers by newly-launched companies or Kickstarter campaigns, I’m overwhelmed by a sea of mechanical, software, and assembly issues. I had none of these with the Lotmaxx.

In fact, the only persistent issue I had with this color 3D printer came from the build plate adhesion.

In some cases, my recent prints would require a lot of elbow grease and some light chiseling to remove the prints from the plate. This is one of the most straightforward issues to remedy, though, so it’s not even something worth criticizing.

So there you have it!

Whether you choose the Shark or some other color 3D printer on the list (XRize, anyone?), multicolor 3D printing opens up many new avenues for you and your creations.

In a field where companies and creators are innovating every day, I can’t wait to see what new color 3D printer awaits us! Until then, thanks for reading, and happy printing!

Multicolor 3D Printing with a Single Extruder – Clever Creations

One of the best ways to create eye-catching 3D prints is to print them in multiple colors. This is often referred to as multicolor printing. It is a great way to add extra color to your prints without having to resort to post-processing techniques like painting.

Dual extruder 3D printers that allow for printing in multiple colors at the same time have been around for a while. Most of our hobbyist printers only come with a single extruder however. Luckily, there are also methods to multicolor print with only one extruder.

In this article I will show you the most common methods for multicolor printing with a single extruder, along with their advantages and disadvantages.

Let’s take a closer look.

One of the most common ways to 3D print with multiple colors is to pause the print and to manually swap out the filament with filament of a different color. Often this is done when the printer increases its Z position to move to a new layer. It is often referred to as the pause at height or pause at layer method.

You are not limited to swapping filament colors only once, it is possible to swap filaments many times during a single print to create cool visuals.

You can either pause the 3D printer by hand, or edit the G-code so that the 3D printer pauses automatically at specific points during the print.

Manually pausing the print

If the exact point you want to swap out the filament is not very important, you can simply manually pause the print using the printer’s host software, or by using the printer’s control panel. You will need to keep an eye on your printer to identify the approximate moment you want to swap out the filament.

Edit G-code to pause the print

If you need more precise control, for example, if you want to swap filament on a layer change, it is best to edit the G-code of the print. This causes the printer to automatically interrupt the print and enter a pause state.

One advantage of this method is that there is no need to monitor the 3D printer. Once the printer reaches a specific layer that you want to swap the filament at, it does the pausing without any human input.

Editing the G-code involves inserting pause commands. You can do this by hand, or you can have the slicer software do it for you.

How to manually edit G-code to pause a print

To manually edit G-code to set up a 3D print for automatic pausing, you can do the following:

1. First, find in your slicing software the exact layer(s) you want to swap colors at.

2. Generate the regular G-code for the print and open it in a text editor like Notepad.

3. Edit the G-code by adding pause commands. For example, the G-code I add to pause the print is as follows:

G91 ; set relative positioning
 G1 Z10 F4000 ; move Z up 10mm
 G90 ; set absolute positioning
 M600 ; suspend/pause

This moves the nozzle up 10mm, and then pauses the print. I let the hotend move upwards first so that any filament that oozes out of the nozzle will be in mid-air instead of oozing on the print.

In the example from before, where I want to pause the print at Z2.20, the resulting section of G-code would look something like this:

G92 E0.0000
 G1 E-1.7000 F3000
 ; layer 11, Z = 2.200
 G91 ; set relative positioning
 G1 Z10 F4000 ; move Z up 10mm
 G90 ; set absolute positioning
 M600 ; suspend/pause
 ; feature outer perimeter
 G1 Z2.200 F300
 G1 X-2.589 Y3.860 F12000

So what I did there was insert the pause G-code right before the command that moves the 3D printer to Z2. 20 (G1 Z2.200 F300).

How to automatically insert pause commands in G-code

Aside from manually editing G-code, it is also possible to have the slicer software automatically insert pause commands when the G-code for the print is generated. This saves quite a bit of time and effort when you want to pause a print several times.

Slicers usually do this by running a post-processing script after generating the G-code. This script inserts the pause commands at the relevant locations.

Inserting pause commands with post-processing in Simplify3D

In Simplify3D it is possible to automatically insert the pause commands when the G-code is generated. You can do this by going to Edit Process Settings -> Scripts and then finding the “Additional terminal commands for post-processing” section at the bottom.

In the corresponding text box you can enter a script that inserts the pause G-code. For the example where I want to automatically pause at layer 11 @ Z2. 20, I would add the following:

{REPLACE "; layer 11, Z = 2.200" "; layer 11, Z = 2.200\nG91\nG1 Z10 F4000\nG90\nM600"}

What this does is that it finds the G-code comment that announces the new layer ( ; layer 11, Z = 2.200 ) and replaces that line with itself + the additional pause G-code on the next lines. The \n in the script signals the start of a new line. You can compare it with pressing Enter on your keyboard.

It is also possible to use multiple replace commands at once, for example when you want to pause the print multiple times to swap filament. That would look something like this:

{REPLACE "; layer 11, Z = 2.200" "; layer 11, Z = 2.200\nG91\nG1 Z10 F4000\nG90\nM600"}
 {REPLACE "; layer 13, Z = 2.600" "; layer 11, Z = 2.200\nG91\nG1 Z10 F4000\nG90\nM600"}
 {REPLACE "; layer 15, Z = 3.000" "; layer 11, Z = 2.200\nG91\nG1 Z10 F4000\nG90\nM600"}
 

You can find more information on the post-processing feature in Simplify3D on this page.

Post-processing in other slicers

Other slicers have their own implementation of post-processing scripts. For example, Cura has a built-in post-processing script for pausing at specific heights, whereas Slic3r supports external post-processing scripts in a variety of languages such as Perl, Python, Ruby and Bash.

In short, you need to insert the right post-processing script in your slicer, and make sure that the G-code in the script is correct for your specific 3D printer. In many cases you will be able to find an example pause at layer height script online for your 3D printer that you can use. After setting the right layer heights in the script, you will be able to pause 3D prints at the exact height you want.

How to change filament colors after pausing the print

After pausing the print, whichever method you used, the next step is to change to a different filament color. Let’s see how to do that.

To unload the old filament, press the extruder lever to disengage the drive gear, and use your other hand to pull the filament out.

Once the color of the extruded filament is the same as the filament going into the hotend, you can resume the print. Make sure to remove any strings of extruded filament from the nozzle with a pair of tweezers first.

To resume the print, once again use the printer’s control panel or the host software. For my printer’s Smoothieboard electronics I need to send the M601 command to resume the print, but for other 3D printer electronics this can be a different command. Make sure to check!

Additional considerations

• Make sure to keep the hotend hot during pausing. This allows you to pull all of the old filament out.
• The same goes for the heated bed. If you are using one, make sure that it does not cool down while the printer is paused. This can cause the part(s) to release, ruining your print.
• It is also important to keep the stepper motors of your 3D printer on/engaged while the print is paused, so that the hotend can resume printing from the exact X/Y coordinates it paused at. Turning the stepper motors off makes it possible for the extruder carriage to move. If it moves, the print will shift on the next layer after resuming.
• You can often set the pause behavior for the three above items in the printer’s firmware. That way you don’t need to set them manually every time you pause a print.

Pros

• Works with every printer.
• Easy to set up.

Cons

• Only lets you print one color per layer.
• Labour intensive if filament has to be swapped many times.

Virtual Extruders

Another method to multicolor print with a single 3D printer extruder is to create virtual extruders in your slicer. This essentially means telling your slicer that your 3D printer has multiple extruders with different color filaments. In reality, you will be swapping out filament in your only extruder each time the printer is supposed to change extruders.

The big advantage of this is that it gives you the opportunity to print with multiple colors on a single layer, just as you could do with multiple real extruders. This is something that isn’t possible when you swap filament on a layer change.

Virtual extruders come in handy when you have a model that you want to print in multiple colors, but that needs to be perfectly flat without additional colors that stick out (say for something like a coaster).

A downside of this method is that you need a multibody 3D model to print, as each virtual extruder prints one body in a specific color.

Multibody 3D models can take more time to design, and there are less available to download on sites like Thingiverse, compared to singlebody 3D models.

Here you can find a tutorial on setting up virtual extruders in Simplify3D.

Pros

• Allows for 3D printing with multiple colors on one layer.

Cons

• Needs multibody 3D models.
• Can be time-consuming to set up in slicer.

Multicolor filament

Aside from swapping out filament to add additional color to your 3D prints, it is also possible to print with multicolor filament. Multicolor filament is filament that has multiple colors on one spool. It usually gradually transitions from one color into another. Some spools have two or three colors, whereas others cover the entire rainbow.

Multicolor filament is especially useful for large, aesthetically pleasing prints like vases. The gradual color changes really make these sorts of prints stand out.

Not all of these spools work well for smaller prints, because prints can be too small to have the color transitions show up. So if you want to make the best of a spool of multicolor filament, pay attention to this.

Making your own multicolor filament

Besides buying multicolor filament, it is also possible to create your own. This is done by splicing multiple colors of filament and joining them together. You won’t have any gradients, but you will be able to control the exact colors and number of color changes.

Here you can find a tutorial on fusing filament together yourself.

Pros

• No need to swap filaments.
• No need to modify G-code.

Cons

• Impossible to control placement of colors.
• Significant color transitions are often only visible in large prints.

Recommended:

The 10 Best PLA Filaments for 3D Printing

Conclusion

You have learned:

• How to use the pause at height method to switch filaments on Z change.
• How to manually insert pause commands in G-code.
• How to use Simplify3D’s post-processing function to automatically insert pause commands in your G-code.
• What a virtual extruder is, and its advantages and disadvantages.
• What multicolor filament is, and its benefits and drawbacks.

Multi-color 3D printing with one extruder, in one layer

3D printing

extruder.

As usual, by creating new problems. :)

The material is difficult, not everyone can handle it.

Short video describing the method here:

First, I will talk about the traditional method of multi-color printing with a single extruder, as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

The traditional printing method allows you to create multi-color printouts by replacing plastic of one color with plastic of a different color after printing a certain layer of a part.

i.e. each layer of a different color is stacked on top of the previous layers.

Everyone does it and doesn't seem to complain, it's a quick and easy to implement method to create color prints with a single extruder.

However, the method creates a number of problems (which, of course, I invented myself and rushed to solve it myself :D): Each new color forces us to increase the thickness of the part, creating a relief that is not always necessary.

The impossibility of using an even first layer to apply a pattern or an inscription, which in turn leads to the next problem.

Double-sided color patterns and lettering cannot be printed.

Unable to blend multiple colors into one layer

There may be other problems not mentioned by me, you can describe them in the comments.

Solution:

The solution is not simple, and will require a special approach already at the design stage of the model, and editing the G-code. As I said above, not everyone can do it. The solution is still limited to flat parts, but allows you to use any adequate number of colors and materials in the project.

So let's get started:

Step 1: Modeling

Each layer of the new color should be placed above the previous layer.

Literally - when modeling, place layers of different colors on top of each other, so that they seem to be inserted into each other, without intersecting. Look at the finished model, it should be clearer.

Free space can be created by cutting the lower layer in the shape of the layers above, or by creating a relief, as in traditional printing.

Contours of different colors must not intersect.

Step 2: Slicing

Slicing is carried out as usual

Step 3: Editing the G-code

Editing the code is to fool the printer at a certain point and make it lower the overlying layer to the print height of the previous one. Thus, combining two or more layers in one, with the subsequent replacement of the filament.

This is done by inserting into the code, before a layer of a different color, the following commands:

• G92 ZHeightReplacementLayer
• M600 - or similar script for replacing plastic

For example:

to change the plastic and print two colors in one layer, we must insert the code

• G92 Z0.4 - making the printer think that it has already raised the extruder to a height of 0.4 mm
• M600 - to replace the plastic.

As a result of executing these commands, the black layer will be printed at the same height as the white layer - i.e. 0.2 mm.

And that's all for me, I wish everyone successful printouts. To be continued.

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