![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmfMrMVWEkca594Bjr514QUcZMzuj26fTBqnMFYsjAND7t)

One of the limitations of 3D printing is it is primarily a single color process.  While there are multicolor 3D printers, they are expensive and not quite perfected yet.

Multiple companies have attempted to do multicolor 3D printing, they have each solved it in different ways.  

Prusa, one of the most popular 3D printers created what is called the MMU, or MutliMaterial Upgrade.  This uses five different stepper motors (acting as extruders) to enable five material printing.  

You may have noticed I said materials and not colors.  While each material has a color, there are many different types of filament (plastic you use for 3D printing) each with different benefits and properties.

# Filament Types

* Exotic (wood, carbon fiber, transparent, sparkle)
* PLA (most common, easy to print, poor temperature resistance)
* ABS (hard to print, very strong)
* PETG (benefits from both PLA and ABS)
* Nylon (super strong)
* TPA/NinjaFlex (flexible, like rubber)
* PVA (water-soluble support material)

While this isn't all the filaments, it is a lot of the most common ones.  The important one being PVA as this is where multi-material add-ons shine.  When you 3D print, you are printing from the bed of the printer upwards.  So anything that "overhangs" outward too much (typically 45 degrees or more) needs support material.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmSvPKLgBKnmQAhrJTsNK8wxP65utyiAfidThTY32qxoy4)
[Source](http://3dprintingatgphs.blogspot.com/)
 
While this works good to support a 3D print while printing, it is a big pain in the ass to clean up and "post-process" your print.  Not only is it time-consuming, you risk damaging your 3D print by introducing cut marks or worse breaking pieces of the model off.

PVA solves this problem by having a water-soluble material that after you print, you can use warm water to rub off the material.  This makes statue printing and fine details really easy to do without the cleanup and risk.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmQAKCrdVsw2C5pd72KeUaoWjEf9mnGK6aAnbJFBWrmkbY)
[Source](https://3dprint.com/81210/infinity-rinse-away-support-3d/)

Unfortunately, to use PVA you need to have multiple nozzles or the ability to support multiple materials.  There are a few approaches 3D printers use to solve this.

# Multiple nozzles 

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmSKdsUHXFcyebL7d4myUxggjJZSrLsvvi8oj3bTkE8jTk)
[Source](https://www.3dnatives.com/en/dual-extruder-3d-printer-171020174/)

While this is the easiest way to solve the problem, it takes up the most space and introduces the most errors.   Aligning multiple heads properly before a print and controlling them during a print has the largest risk of print errors.  Most solutions have moved away from this method,  but you still can get good results by doing this.

# Single nozzle

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmeSjwTDCssLNUswGQVV7V3YKWvnF4Q9Zad8bUGaQBCakA)
[Source](https://all3dp.com/prusas-mmu-2-0-upgrade-kit-enables-multi-material-printing-with-5-different-filaments/)

This is considered by most as one of the best ways to solve the multi-material problem.  WIth only one nozzle it is easy to maintain it's position during a print.  One of the downsides of this method is the need for a purge block.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmS97QLf2FHHw66numSQ7njSc3MeqLym7xNvNXQAxGKzD6)
[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00_yXf8mJJ0)

A purge block is required for the printer to **purge** one material from the nozzle and prepare a new material.  3D printing is just melting a thin plastic string (think spaghetti) in a tube and an extruder (stepper motor) pushing it down the tube.  While printing multiple materials you need to pull out the old filament material (retraction) and then make sure there is no loose material in the nozzle (purge).  This process ensures no bleeding of materials past the seem of the material change.  Since a 3D printer prints from the bottom to the top, layer by layer, there are frequent material changes as most materials changes happen across multiple layers and extend vertically as you can see above.

As you can see above, this purge block can waste a lot of material, as well as add a lot of print time.  3D printers already take a lot of time to print (30 minutes to 40 hours a print) so this is not a desirable side effect.  Multi-material has a lot of complexity and cost to 3D printing and should only be used when you really want multiple colors or materials.  Most 3D prints can be broken up into multiple prints to solve some of the multi-color requirements.  

3D printing is cheap, most filaments are only about $25 a spool, and a spool will last you 30+ prints.  So a purge block isn't a huge problem, it just isn't very good for the environment.

Prusa has come up with a trick that allows you to print a 2nd object instead of the purge block.  While the colors and material will be unpredictable, the print is otherwise perfect.  If you don't care about looks or color, it's a good option.  In some cases, it can result in some interesting and pleasing prints.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmREwo5TiPTEu4hFTH3qHcD5wzW8xGFu4MwDYcEPHWUX43)

[Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/84vstl/home_is_where_the_hearthstone_is/)

If you are printing more than one copy of a model at once, you can drastically reduce the cost and time associated with a purge block as the block is shared between all the prints.

# Combining filament

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmNwxxGEEGAfDFxS1oHfpGw29EnT3ZFvfjCpcYCf1eAZqS)
[Source](https://www.engadget.com/2015/04/21/the-palette-brings-multiple-colors-to-your-3d-printer/)

The mosiac palette+ offers a unique way to solve the multi-material problem.  Instead of multiple nozzles, or multiple extruders (although it does have multiple extruders internally) it acts as a filament bonding tool that uses complex math to calculate filament usage and combines the filament on the fly and feeds your 3d printer with one multi-material filament.  While this sounds mind-blowing, it actually works really well and results in fantastic prints.

This video does a great job of explaining how this works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7u_pS58TWY

Although the Palette+ still requires a purge block, the final quality is amazing and you can use it on any 3D printer without modification.

# Conclusion

We are not quite there with multi-material 3D printing, in fact we aren't even close to there yet with 3D printing in general.  3D printing is a time consuming and frustrating hobby, but it can be an immensely fun way to spend your time.  Multi-material adds cost, time, and frustration to the process, a process already filled with a lot of it already, but is a huge improvement in the usability and quality of your prints.

I recommend a 3D printer to most anyone who likes to tinker, even kids can enjoy an entry-level 3D printer.  Multi-material is a new technology in an already immaterial industry, so I don't recommend it for everyone and especially not every print.

If you are 3D printing as a business, the multi-material options can offer a huge breakthrough in profits and product offerings.  In the end, the filament is still super cheap and the increased costs of multi-material printing are negligible once you have purchased the hardware.

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