I just found out about Mosaic’s new Pallette 3 Pro, which is an 8-colour filament splicer: Palette 3 Pro – Mosaic Manufacturing
Here’s an overview I found on youtube: 8 Colors At Once! // First Look at the Mosaic Palette 3! - YouTube
I’m assuming this would work with the SM 2.0, and that it’ll work similar to any other USB/Serial connected device to control the printer.
Any guesses on how much the dual extruder module will be? I’m assuming $200-$300 (given that a replacement print head was running people $150), so maybe this isn’t a bad idea.
1 Like
There are some posts about using the mosaic palette (previous version) on the forum. I think this is the most elaborate topic: Snapmaker 2 + Octoprint on Docker via Wifi + Palette 2S
There are some things to think about:
- will you always be printing just using different colors but similar filaments, if you want to mix different materials, for example to have little rubber feet to some parts, having multiple extruders is easier
- My heart bleeds every time I see the
waste"transition"-tower used on every color change. It’s sometimes even bigger than the actual object you’re printing 
A “wiper” mechanism vs the transition tower would be more efficient. Not sure if it’s a standard feature by now.
Prusa also has an alternative solution (Original Prusa i3 Multi Material 2.0 - Prusa3D - 3D Printers from Josef Průša). They are also experimenting with features to use the infill as the place to use for transition. Most likely Mosaic will come with similar features in the future. (Don’t know if the Prusa solution is compatible with other printers at all)
I’m sure there are great uses for it, but it depends on your use case. The Palette & Prusa solution are great in some cases, a multi-extruder will have other advantages, most likely less waste and better support for mixing materials. So it depends on your use case.
First time I heard about the Palette my first idea was “I need this”. And then I saw the amount of waste and that changed my mind immediately.
Ah, I see how that works. When I saw the “transition tower” in the youtube video, I thought that was a calibration thing, but if it’s wasting that much material…ouch. I was wondering if it’d support multiple materials though (at least something like one of them being dissolvable for supports), which is where you’d have to be able to alter the print temperature mid-print (not to mention have points close enough to be able to splice the filaments).
Theoretically it can support multiple materials, the question is however, how well that works in practice and for which combinations of materials.
Also, from a gcode perspective, there’s nothing stopping a slicer changing the nozzle temperature at any point in the print.
I love the idea of the product, but so far I’m not entirely impressed with results I can find on youtube or other places.