Dual extrusion module. Worth it?

Thinking about getting one to keep from having to manually remove supports. How do they hold up? Is Cura capable of handling the slicing job? Any “Gotcha’s” to worry about? Can I use the quick swap plate on the A350? How fast can I print?

EDIT: I didn’t realize SM had stopped production of their 3-1 machines. Are they going to continue supplying hot ends and parts for the 2.0 line? If not how many additional hot-ends should I get? Do they leak like the regular nozzles do?

The sm2.0 have the advantage that it uses normal mk8 nozzles. So you can always Just clean the hotend and replace just the nozzles. For sure the other parts of the hotend can be damaged to, for that i have 5 hotends as spare parts. I would suggest to buy a hand full as soon as you can buy some.

Yes. Left is extruder 0, Right is extruder 1, everything else is a “standard” multi-extruder job as far as Cura is concerned.

I guess the real question is, Is it worth the $700 all up price for the print head and assorted nozzles or would I be better served purchasing a dedicated dual extruder 3d printer?

Never worth it. Buy a U1 for the money :face_with_peeking_eye:

My prints were better with dual extruder, pva and Support pla are printed as all other filaments with a lot of stringing and uneven quality. There are worlds between U1/Bambu and the dual extruder.

I just use it because snapmaker did not implemented the single head for the artisan and sometimes I have to print bigger parts.

I’ve had the dual extrusion module for couple of years now. It’s a bit hit and miss.

Its auto calibration never worked for me and it’s painful to get both sides leveled manually. The print quality is okay, but never matched other dedicated 3D printers’ implementation.

One notable thing is that it’s a very large piece of hardware. I assume it was meant for the Artisan but was backported to 2.0, where it sits in a bit awkward place and takes quite a bit of Z axis space.

I use mine with vanilla Orca, works fine. I wouldn’t buy it nowdays for the full price, you can get a decent whole printer for the price that’s faster and has better quality.

Thanks for your input guys. I think I’m going to opt for the U1. reviewers seem to put it at the top of their short list of multihead printers.