Help me pick a dual extruder printer

At work I design parts and I hate supports. I have a Prusa MK2 and MK3 that I have printed thousand of parts with. I just don't have the time to clean up supports and some designs simply can't be cleaned up of the supports. So now I'm looking for a 3D printer that has dual extruders to user a soluble support material.

I purchased the Prusa multi-material upgrades kit and it was rubbish. Never been able to get a single print with that abomination. Wasted many hours with disassembly, reassembly, recalibration, etc. I don't have the time to keep messing with it. (I'm very good at assembling things so I believe it just has issues.)

I was toying with the idea of a desktop SLS but that is going to run $10K and the mess and hassle is probably not worth it as I'm probably fine with a lower cost solution such as using a dual extruder 3D printer.

This is what I'm looking for:

Build size at least 9.5" in one dimension (229 mm).
Reliable quality printer that does not require constant tinkering
Preferably self leveling heatbed
Removable heatbed

Thanks for any recommendations!

my favourite budget idex printer: https://www.formbot3d.com/formbot-la...ize_p0018.html

second favourite: https://www.bcn3dtechnologies.com/en...r/bcn3d-sigma/

best non-idex dual extruder that (just !) hits your build size: https://www.amazon.com/QIDI-TECHNOLO...y&sr=8-2-spell

My all time favourite idex printer. Probably a bit pricey - but it's just an awesome bit of kit: https://www.lpfrg.com/products/leapfrog-bolt-pro/

Check out makergears offings.. they have independent dual options, build volume is 8x10x8, Made in the USA
https://www.makergear.com/

look expensive for what they are.

Hey guys - thanks for the tips! I'm leaning towards the Formbot T-Rex 3.0 after looking around the link from curious aardvark. The build size is awesome at 400x400x700 although I may save $300 and go with the 400x400x500 size. I kind of put a mental limit of about $2K for a 3D printer.

What would be the closest competition to the T-Rex 3.0 in the $2K or less price range?

What do you guys think about the Creality3D CR-X Dual Color? It is smaller by 100mm but still ok in size for my use. At 1/3 the cost of the T-Rex I have concerns if quality and performance will not be top notch. Seems like either one or the other is too high or too low in price?

the creality is a totally different setup.
It uses a mixer extruder that puts two filaments into one nozzle.
So harder to use different materials and you'll most likely need a lot of purging inbetween changing colours.

It's also not as well built and lacks most of the other features of the t-rex.

You can't really compare an idex system with a mixer nozzle.
That's why the price difference :-)

There's a t-rex 3 ? have to see what changes they've made :-)

Like the springs holding the wires away from the print, that and the new bed look like the main changes. And the filament run out thing. Most people seem to bypass those :-)

I pulled the trigger and ordered the Formbot/Vivedino T-Rex 3.0 with the 400x400x500mm build size. The 19.7" is about 10" more than the min size I was looking for which is nice as there have been a few times I had to split up parts, and with 19'7" I think that will cover anything I need to print. Didn't see much as far as reviews on it but on paper specs look good. $1799 didn't seem too bad for the size, assuming they use quality parts, and provide some level of support if there are any problems. I'll post something here once it arrives and I get a chance to try it out.

cool :-)
just occured to me to wonder what slicer they use.
link to cura 15.04.02 - on the formbot website.
Which i believe is the last decent version of cura before they restarted the numbering and it went to hell in a handbasket !
See how you get on, but would probably be worth your while investing in simplify3d.

Pretty sure we've never had anyone on here with a problem with a t-rex - which is usually a good sign.
take a look at the thousands and thousands of threads about problems with the ender 3, for example :-)
Now that's a real piece of junk.

We tend not to get too many people on here saying: 'I bought a printer and it works really well.'
Which is a shame as it's just as useful to know which machines work well, as which ones are just a waste of space.

One of the the things I like about the formbot website is that they don't tart it up with shiny graphics and bugger all details. Just tells you what it is and the bits they used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fOeqh2o2P4

What about the new Zortrax M300 dual ?

the creality is a standard dual nozzle setup NOT IDEX !
Also creality build quality is very poor compared to the formbot.

You get what you pay for :-)

Thanks for the advice!CA could you expand a bit on why Formbot is so much better?Since Formbot and Creality are both Chinese builds though, I'm also wondering about electronics reliability since it'll take so much longer to break even.

for one thing the formbot uses the proper prusa i3 engineering.
I know I bang on about thsi to the point that people just assume I'm being paid by josef.
But it's because from a mechaical and engineering point of view - it's significantly faster, more stable and has better precision that the crippled i3's creality insist on making.

I have a plywood framed i3 made with components so cheap most people would have changed them before even powering the machine up.
But because it's the prusa design it will print - accurately and consistently at 0.3mm layer height and 200mm/s.
Most people with creality machines seem to think that 70mm's is fast.
My replicator pro clone prints at 70mm/s and the print carriage on that has 2 nema 17s, two hotends and 2 extruders. It's a seriously heavy, slow moving beast. And even that is as fast as a creality cr10 !

So these things Matter.

so: direct drive extruder, proper printbed side supports and dual z motors (to be fair, the cr10 series have dual z motors).
The rest of the formbot components are better quality.

And - very few people come here and say: 'I've just bought a formbot - why doesn't it print properly.'
Plus it's IDEX.

Now at the moment, if I were strapped for cash (and to be honest I'd have to gain money to even get up to the 'strapped' level)

I'd be seriously looking at the Hictop D3 Hero: https://www.hic3dprinter.com/product...-dual-extruder
Again, it's a full prusa design i3 with idex for under $700.

I have no knowlege of reliability or much else beyond a few youtube videos - most pretty positive, nobody saying Don't buy this - and the stated specification.
Oh and it has Linear rails !
The sapphire pro I've just picked up has linear rails - oh man ! Are those things buttery smooth !
Wheels ? we don' need no steenkin' wheels !
;-)

But at the end of the day - it's a large idex made with easy to source standard components that - on paper - look pretty reasonable.And I can;t emphasise how much difference the liner rails must make to a standard i3 wheeled print carriage.
Fast, smooootthhh and ultra stable. There is no way you should ever get carriage rock on this baby.

Okay, so on balance, taking the $1300 price differential - I've just talked myself into the hictop and out of the t-rex :-)

Hey guys - thanks for the tips! I'm leaning towards the Formbot T-Rex 3.0 after looking around the link from curious aardvark. The build size is awesome at 400x400x700 although I may save $300 and go with the 400x400x500 size. I kind of put a mental limit of about $2K for a 3D printer.

well have a look at the hictop as well.
not as big, but still a large print area and you'd have about $1200 left for any mods that might need doing.

It's interesting.
the t-rex has linear rails on the bed and the hictop has them on the print carriage.
Not suire which will make the biggest difference.