Hi Guys. I am looking for a plug and play 3D printer to print my own custom made materials. I would need a version with a dual or triple extruder. Since I will be using various materials heated bed is a must. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I don’t think there is a plug and play solution with your wish list. There are printers that are plug and play, but expensive and the materials are locked. A huge part of the “plug and play” functionality is due to the fact that you can only use specified materials.
As for your other requests, there is the soon to be released kraken that has 4 nozzles, and an electronics board that works with it (forgive me I forget what it is called) but it hasn’t been fully tested yet, and it doesn’t ship on any printers. Many printers can hold the kraken, it is just a mess to control (4 filament tubes, 8 heater wires,8 thermistor wires 2 water hoses)
Edit: remember 3 times the print heads, 3 times the problems.
Thanks Camerin! The multi materials thing is a must for me. What is the option with the least assembling?
Speaking as someone who has a beta Kraken, it is actually pretty reliable and problem free, although time consuming to initially set up. Cable and tube management are pretty straight forward, the up side of having 4 of everything is that if one fails, you can keep on printing, not many things require 4 nozzles simultaneously.
WRT to printers that support it. If you want to build a kit, Mendel90 or Prusa I3 are good starting points, Mendel90 in particular is very well supported and under active development by it’s creator. Off the shelf machines are a bit more of a horses for courses deal and there are very few out there in the consumer price band that support more than 2 nozzles.
What is your price range and are yo happy to build a kit.
If you are an adventurous type, I have a machine I’m working on called Ingentis that shows promise but is still under active development and lacks mature documentation. On the up side it has a large build volume, can be very easily scaled and already supports Kraken.
@Tim_Rastall would know much more then I would. As not only has he used the kraken he has gotten really nice prints out of it.
No printer is really “plug and play.” Expensive industrial 3D printers are riddled with proprietary parts & cumbersome software, while open source software is relatively easy to use. Open source printers usually start as kits and require building first, but can yield better results in the FDM production. Makerbots are still rated at 100 microns I believe, but some DIY printers can achieve 20 microns. My suggestion is to find a local makerspace, or even a local 3D print enthusiast, to guide (even build) you towards ownership of the printer that meets your exacts demands. So far, nothing I know out of the box supports more than two materials through FDM. I could be wrong though, I don’t dabble much with the pre-build market.
@Tim_Rastall thanks! I will look into it more deeply. I want to work as less as possible on building a kit however I will do it if I have no choice. I am very much into the materials with more than 10 years of experience in thermoplastic polymers so developing new materials for 3D is more my thing. My budget is 3-4 K. What is the time frame needed to build a descent kit?
@Ben_Van_Den_Broeck thanks! I will use your advice to find some local enthusiasts.
The coming Printrbot plus 2.3 will be around $1800 assembled / $1500 kit and do 3 materials. Our Ubis hotend has no problem with higher temp materials. It could be a good fit. Kits or assembled. Plug and print? No. 
I’d almost say that if you have absolutely zero interest in actually learning how the machine works, fund a local maker to do it with your needs in mind. Even a shoutout on this community requesting makers in your area could be a good start. You may have to be patient, but a dedicated person with minimal engineering skills can learn. Just don’t expect the process to be perfect. It IS rapid prototyping after all!
Far better than buying a pre-build bot and leaving it on a shelf to collect dust.
Thanks. I have ton of experience with dealing with extrudes. And I do want on investigating the machine parameters and all. I want to spend as low time as possible on assembling and changing parts.
@jenia_zelikman , you list me at “I want to spend as little time as possible on selling and changing parts”. Unfortunately printers in the consumer/prosumer range still require tweaking. Ultimakers and Mendel 90s seem to have great repeatability, but neither have 3 extruder out of the box. 3d systems makes a prosumer printer with 3 extruder, but forgot the name and never great rave reviews about it. If you Adee trying to do true extruder experiments while removing other variables, you may want to just mount an extender on a single linear stage. This will be the best bet if you are trying to be truly scientific. Good luck
Thanks @Eric_Moy !
Take a look at the Cubify line from 3D Systems.
http://cubify.com/products/index.aspx
@Chris_Graham Thanks! However as far as I know these printers only work with materials supplied by 3D Systems, or am I mistaken?
That is correct, but I have heard of users refilling the proprietary cartridges or changing the supply lines to an alternate feed. Both may void the warranty. The line just seems like the most “plug and play” on the market to date.
You can take a look at our Cartesio machines at http://www.mauk.cc
You can just add tools(extruders) as you progress
@Jos_Scheepers thank you for the information.
Flashforge creator. Love mine!