The time is now! Dual- and Multiextrusion have always been around, but never really caught on. This year, we’re going to see a whole lot more of it and more sophisticated solutions, too!
Have you been using dual extrusion and if so, which system do you prefer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvY2XfAWelk
I think I need to get a pair of geared motors.
how about the Cyclops from E3d, i want ABS + Hips for drones, can you do a review plz??
Currently using an Independent dual extrusion system. I got used to design parts that are easily printable on one extruder without the need of soluable support so the second print had is unused most of the time. Maybe that will change over time but quality and the size of the printing bed are more important to me at the moment.
Thx right now iam planing on chimera! What a coincidence lol
Oh oh we got to have a test run of that that
I print lots of inlaid lettering with a cyclops, mostly in PLA. Also do some longer prints of multiple parts where each part is solid color, but a mix of both colors on the build plate, that way instead of two print cycles I only need one (useful for starting a print before heading out to work)
@Zeno_Le_Hericy_Z-Inv
how about ABS and other materials? have you ever used Hips or nylon?
I am using a diamond hotend and I find it difficult to get the quality I want. There is a lot of oozing which is hard to compensate for with temperature and retractions settings. When you get it slightly wrong it clogs up. And removing a clog takes quite some time.
Never used hips or nylon on my current setup, but planning to get a second cyclops to dedicate to abs. Definitely no Carbon / metal filled filament in the cyclops though! It would shred the heat block!
Well, of course I’ve been using dual extrusion for more than one year now 
My experience tells me that you either need a nozzle lifting system or independent heads with a tiny z offset like my magnetic tool changer. And I consider firmware-controlled z-offset management a must-have feature. https://plus.google.com/116850909992233145832/posts/CaiachLr9bq, https://plus.google.com/116850909992233145832/posts/aRWvj8WKiGG
The way @Markus_Seidt is going is the better one. This way you can mount bowden and/or direct-extruder in different numbers all in one printer with ease. I already use his concept with 3 bowden and one direct-extruder for flexibles since a couple months. It works flawlessly… And it brings so much more benefits than just dual extrusion. Maintanence, accessability and colorchanging are really easy this way!
I don’t (yet) buy that there’s going to be be a surge of interest in dual extrusion in the next few months. It will take more than that. The work flows have improved but model creation is still very cumbersome. Also, I suspect that the acrylic extruder bodies will have to be replaced in short order.
Quality hardware for dual extrusion has been available for a while now.
Software is slowly catching up.
But the killer here will be materials. Nobody cares about 2 color prints. But mixing flexible and stiff materials? Soluble support?
If you can do those, reliably, and with proper software support. That’s when you have dual extrusion that will sell.
Who has tried polysupport?
@Markus_Seidt some in your post are complaining about the price. Well. Seems pva is more expensive in germany… Did you get it to work with PET? Would be nice
@VolksTrieb , 40 € for 500 gr is not exactly cheap I’d say. But with advanced slicers like new Cura, you might use it only for the interface layers between the part and support. PET and support is still on the list. But with PET I sometimes see the nozzle dragging junk over the print and leaving a brown lump every now and then. Want so solve this issue first.
@Markus_Seidt pva is allmost 50€/0.5kg