Most of the multi color printers out there are AMS/MMU or similar, and there are many DIY options, like Armored Turtle or ECF.

They are an evolutionary dead end. Slow, wasteful, expensive to run.

The Prusa XL, or the Snapmaker U1 are the future direction.

Also a good CoreXY machine like vorons/sovols/ratrigs/VZ, etc can be upgraded with the Bondtech INDX tool changer.

We are talking 5x lower print times, 5x lower material costs.

There is going to be a glut of used Bambus and other multi material unit printers, when print farms unload them, since the tool changers will massively boost their bottom line.

Comments?

  • Bronzie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    I disagree, but not just to disagree.

    AMS is still very useful for having hazzle free filament swaps, keeping the filament dry and with the AMS 2 even drying the filament.
    If all you do is multimaterial or multicolour, then sure, INDX/Snapmaker/Vortek is amazing for time and cost saving, but most people at home will never ever be able to reach a volume of poop where it makes financial sense to pay the premium.
    The Snapmaker is obviously an exception, but it sacrifices both build volume and a heated chamber to achieve the <1k price.

    95% of what I do is mono colour, so the ocational toy for the kids with 200g of poop for a 50g part is worth the trade.

    People also severely underestimate the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) for many of us. If my missus has to tinker more than 15 seconds before a print, I recieve the brunt if her frustration. It’s quite probable that all these tool-/hotend-swap systems will require some love as well. RatRig’s IDEX and Prusa XL have had many experienced people giving up.

    I think this topic is highly subjective and personally just ordered the H2S. Quick math showed me I needed >75 rolls of pure poop before the H2D would make sense, and H2C will cost even more. I’d rather look at these systems down the line when more quirks have been ironed out.