Easy Multi Color Filament

prusaprinters

It is possible to print your own filament in multi color and get amazing results. The printed filament is not mixed completely in the extruder, but instead extrudes the different colors, side by side (laminar), like we know from toothpaste.This is not a new technique, but tried by other makers, like Breaks'n'Makes in his YouTube video: 3D Printing Your Own Multicolor Filament. Most 3D printed filaments has a hexagon shape, where I use a octagon shape that fits the round shape of normal filament better.To get the same flow as normal filament the extrusion rate must be increased 5-10%.My experiments show that two color filaments works best.The included 3MF files is optimized for fast printing with best filling using .20mm layers and a color change in the midpoint, resulting in 3.5m up to 30m homemade filament (PETG).Tip: To get a longer filament pieces, you can splice several pieces together with my simple filament splicer jig and a soldering iron: Filament Splicing JigTip: If you are creating your own project, this is the optimal settings I found for PrusaSlicer:Rotate and center the model to fit on the build plate.Set a layer height of 0.20mm.Use lots of perimeters (>6) and no top and bottom layers.Turn off gap fill.Adjust first layer width (0.45mm) and perimeter width (0.44mm).Turn off elephant foot compensation (0mm).Increase external perimeter speed (35 mm/s).Insert a color change at the 1.00mm point for two-color filament.Set extrusion multiplier in the range 1.05 → 1.10 to get best result.This technique works with all stiff types of filament, so feel free to experiment with different materials to achieve unique multi-color results.Have fun and post your results with this amazing and fun technique!Updates:2024.03.16: Added Prusa XL model with build plate 360x360mm - this large model gives approx. 47m multi color filament.2023.02.22: Added model more bed sizes (12x12", 290x290mm and 110x110mm) that gives approx 30/3.5 meters of filament . To get optimal printing settings, use one of the 3MF files for PrusaSlicer.2022.04.27: Added tips on how to optimize and setup a PrusaSlicer project. 2021.12.26: Added files for Prusa Mini and made model for Prusa MKx larger to fit full bed. Length of printed filament on Mini is approx. 10m and on MKx 15m. >> Download, leave a like and make my day… ;) Thank you!