Anycubic ACE Pro Multicolor: Setup, Drying, Waste & Common Jams

The Anycubic ACE Pro is an external multicolor and filament-drying unit that turns the Kobra 3, Kobra 3 V2, Kobra 3 Max and Kobra S1 into 4-color machines: four spool slots, a built-in 230 W dryer that heats up to 55°C, and up to 8 colors when you chain two units. Anycubic's list price runs from $252 on sale to $319.

What the ACE Pro is and how it works

Think of the ACE Pro as Anycubic's answer to the Bambu Lab AMS. Inside are four independent feed channels with a buffer mechanism: filament from the selected spool is pushed through a PTFE tube into a single hub, then on to the printer's toolhead. There's still only one hotend, so this is multicolor printing with one material type, not simultaneous multi-material. The unit reads Anycubic's own filament via an NFC tag and syncs the type and color into the slicer, and it can resume a print after an interruption. Feed rate is 25 mm/s, and a full color change takes about 84 seconds. One key point: the ACE Pro can't run on its own — the printer controls everything.

Compatibility: which printers it fits

The ACE Pro is officially compatible with the Anycubic Kobra 3, Kobra 3 V2, Kobra 3 Max and Kobra S1. Combo bundles include the unit, but you can also buy it separately. If you want to sort out the printers themselves, see our Anycubic Kobra lineup comparison. One unit gives you 4 colors; add a second ACE Pro for 8. Heads up: newer Kobra S1 Combo bundles now ship with the updated ACE 2 Pro — more on the difference below.

Installation and loading filament

Filament drying

The ACE Pro dryer is a dual PTC heater totaling 230 W that reaches 55°C and can dry for up to 24 hours right while printing. Understand its role, though: this is maintenance drying that keeps already-dry filament in shape, not a rescue for a badly soaked spool. For deep-drying wet PLA or nylon a dedicated dryer does better — we covered how to do it right in our filament drying guide. Also note: the ACE Pro has no sealed compartment and no active moisture removal, so between print sessions filament is better stored in a closed box with desiccant. Those features arrived with the ACE 2 Pro.

Setting up multicolor in Anycubic Slicer Next

1. Select a multicolor printer in the slicer — for example, the Anycubic Kobra 3.
2. Add filaments with "Add One Filament": at least 2 slots, up to 16.
3. Click "Sync from ACE Pro" to pull the real types and colors from the unit, so the model's colors match what's actually loaded.
4. Paint the model: there are 7 brushes (Circle, Sphere, Triangle, Shell, Fill, Height Range, Gap Fill) plus per-object coloring.
5. Enable the wipe tower — it clears leftover plastic after each color change.
6. Slice and send the print over the network or from a USB drive.

How much filament the purge burns

The price of multicolor is plastic and time spent on purging. On every color change the printer extrudes out the old plastic, wipes the nozzle on the wiper, and primes it on the wipe tower. How much you lose depends on the model and the color pair: a dark→light change purges several times longer than light→dark (scrubbing black pigment out of the nozzle is harder than covering light with dark). A real example from Anycubic's docs: the same model at a 0.16 mm layer needed 62 material changes and 28.58 g of waste, while at 0.2 mm it dropped to 49 changes and 22.67 g. A 0.2 mm nozzle also purges longer than a standard 0.4 mm one.

• Let the slicer do the math: Anycubic Slicer Next auto-calculates the flushing volume by color and material type, and you can tweak values by hand in the flushing table.
• Put the purge to work: enable "flush into infill" or into supports, so the excess plastic ends up inside the part instead of the bin.
• Plan your palette: fewer color changes per layer means less purging. Sometimes it's enough to rethink which parts get which color.
• Print in batches: the number of changes for 1 and for 10 identical parts is the same, so running several models at once spreads the purge across all of them.

Common jams and how to clear them

Jamming is the most common ACE Pro complaint. Filament gets stuck in three places: the feed gear, the buffer mechanism, and inside the unit's shell. You'll need two Allen keys — S2.0 and S2.5 — to take it apart. If your clog is in the hotend rather than the unit, see our guide on clearing a clogged nozzle.

Weak spots and frequent issues

• The "one-shot" slot: some owners find one slot (often #1) prints a model once, then jams and forces a hub teardown.
• False runout: the feed sensor sometimes reports the filament has run out with a full spool loaded, interrupting the print.
• Dark and clear plastic: the optical sensors read black and translucent filament poorly, so misdetections happen.
• Soft TPU: very soft TPU (85A) feeds badly through the unit — print it straight, bypassing the ACE Pro.
• Spool tangles: filament snags on the spool itself before it even reaches the unit; watch your winding and use the adapters for cardboard spools.
• Firmware: after some updates owners hit dropped unit-to-printer connections and camera glitches — update without rushing and read the release feedback first.
• Wear: over time the filament sensors and PTFE tubes at their joints wear, and dust builds up on the drive-gear teeth — treat them all as maintenance items.

ACE Pro or ACE 2 Pro: which to get

In 2026 Anycubic released the updated ACE 2 Pro, and newer Kobra S1 Combo bundles now ship with it. The gap is real: 4 independent brushless motors (one per slot) versus two on the ACE Pro, a 50 mm/s feed rate and ~56-second color change (versus 25 mm/s and ~84 seconds on the ACE Pro — that saves about 47 minutes per 100 color swaps). Drying climbs to 65°C, and it adds a humidity sensor, sealed storage with an electromagnetic valve for moisture removal, and a filament cutter for clean transitions. The ACE 2 Pro is quieter (under 48 dB) and scales to 16 colors. If your Combo already includes a unit, it's more than enough for home multicolor; buying the ACE 2 Pro for the speed and real drying makes the most sense on the Kobra S1.

Bottom line: who the ACE Pro is for

The ACE Pro is a cheap, straightforward way to get home multicolor on a Kobra 3 or Kobra S1: four colors, auto-recognition of branded filament, and drying while you print. In return you accept the plastic spent on purging and the occasional jam to clear — a story shared by every system like this, whether it's the Bambu Lab AMS or QIDI CFS. If you run Anycubic's own filament and keep the unit clean, the ACE Pro earns its price. And we gathered the basics of keeping the whole machine healthy in a separate 3D printer maintenance guide.

Sources

• Anycubic ACE Pro — official product page and specs
• Anycubic Wiki — ACE Pro documentation
• Anycubic Wiki — clearing ACE Pro jams
• Anycubic Wiki — reducing waste in multicolor printing
• Anycubic Wiki — multicolor in Anycubic Slicer Next