What is a dual gear extruder, and is it worth it?

A dual gear extruder pushes filament between two toothed gears that grip it from opposite sides. A single gear extruder (the stock Creality Ender 3 one, for example) presses the filament against its one toothed gear with a smooth idler bearing. The second gear changes the grip, not where the extruder sits: dual gear extruders come as Bowden units on the frame and as direct drive units on the print head.

What is a dual gear extruder?

A dual gear extruder is a filament feeder with two toothed drive gears, one on each side of the filament. The motor turns one gear, whose teeth mesh with a second gear on the spring-loaded arm, so both gears turn and both bite into the filament.

Bondtech launched its version in 2015 and calls it Dual Drive: “two counter-rotating drive gears” that “grip the filament from both sides”.

A single gear extruder grips from one side only. Its one toothed gear sits on the motor shaft, and a ball bearing on a spring-loaded arm presses the filament against it. The bearing rolls but does not push. The stock extruder on the Creality Ender 3, Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 V2 works this way, with a brass drive gear and a plastic arm. So does the MakerBot extruder in the cover photo.

Gearing is a separate feature. A geared extruder puts a reduction between the motor and the drive gear for more torque at the filament, with one drive gear or two:

The Bondtech BMG and its clones have their own page: what a BMG extruder is. A dual gear extruder is also not a dual extruder, which means two nozzles or two filaments: see dual nozzle printing and adding a second extruder.

Is a dual gear extruder better than a single gear extruder?

Yes, for grip. Two toothed gears drive the filament from both sides, where a single gear drives it from one side against a smooth bearing. Bondtech says the two-sided grip pushes “with higher force and reliability”. It costs more and needs new E-steps (extruder steps per mm). It does not fix a clog, a cold nozzle or wet filament.

What the second gear does not fix:

• Grinding caused somewhere else. Creality lists a partial clog, a print temperature that is too low, speed or flow beyond what the hotend can melt, wet or brittle filament and a dirty drive gear as causes of grinding. A stronger grip pushes harder against the same resistance, so check those first.
• Soft TPU on a Bowden printer. Two gears grip flexible TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) better, but the filament still travels the length of the tube, where soft TPU buckles. Adafruit calls printers “with a direct drive setup” the reliable choice for NinjaFlex, a soft TPU. For flexible filament the fix is a direct drive extruder.

Is a dual gear extruder the same as direct drive?

No. “Dual gear” describes how the extruder grips the filament: two toothed gears instead of one gear and a bearing. “Direct drive” describes where the extruder sits: on the print head right above the hotend, instead of on the frame pushing filament through a Bowden tube. The two are independent, so a dual gear extruder can be either.

E3D says the Titan “works for all configurations of bowden, direct extrusion”, and Bondtech says the same of the BMG.

Dual gears fix grip. Moving the extruder onto the print head fixes soft TPU and long retractions (the filament pulled back between moves). A Bowden dual gear swap keeps Bowden retraction: by Micro Swiss’s figures, about 5.0 mm with the stock PTFE-lined (Teflon-lined) hotend and about 3.5 mm with an all-metal one, against 1.0 mm for Micro Swiss’s direct drive NG. The full Bowden vs direct drive comparison is in how to add direct drive to an Ender 3.

If you want TPU later, a direct drive kit gets you both in one swap: Creality lists the Sprite Extruder SE as a “Dual Gear Extruder”, and the Micro Swiss NG’s feature list includes a “Dual Gear drive”.

Is a dual gear extruder worth it?

Yes, on a printer whose single gear plastic extruder slips, clicks or has a cracked arm: metal dual gear Bowden kits cost $19.99 (TH3D Studio) to $47.50 (Micro Swiss) in the US on November 4, 2026. No, if the printer already has dual gears, the fault is a clog or a cold nozzle, or you want soft TPU.

It is worth it when:

• Your single gear extruder still slips or clicks after you have checked the nozzle for a clog, the temperature, the speed, the filament’s dryness and the spring tension.
• The plastic arm has cracked. TH3D says the Ender 3’s plastic arm “tends to crack from holding the filament and this results in printing failures”. Any metal extruder replaces the arm, and TH3D’s suggested “cost-effective upgrade” is an aluminum extruder. A dual gear kit also adds the second gear.
• You are keeping Bowden for rigid filament such as PLA and PETG. The extruder stays on the frame, so the print head carries no extra weight.

Skip it when:

• The printer already has dual gears. The Creality Ender-3 S1 series ships with the dual gear Sprite direct drive extruder, and Prusa uses Bondtech gears on the Original Prusa MK3, MK3S, MK2.5 and MK2.5S.
• You want to print soft TPU. Buy a direct drive kit instead; the Creality and Micro Swiss ones already have dual gears.

What does a dual gear extruder upgrade involve?

A dual gear upgrade on an Ender 3, Ender 3 Pro or Ender 3 V2 replaces the stock extruder body, arm and motor gear and reuses the motor and frame mount. Then set the kit’s E-steps, check that the motor turns the right way and that the two gears line up, and keep Bowden-length retraction.

• E-steps. Up from the stock 93: 130 for the Micro Swiss Bowden Dual Gear, 140 for TH3D’s kit, 415 for a Bondtech BMG. Then calibrate with a measured extrusion.
• Motor direction. Micro Swiss includes a short cable whose purpose is “to change the direction in which the stepper motor rotates”. Bondtech says the motor’s rotation “needs to be reversed” for its Creality kit.
• Motor gear. Micro Swiss says a motor with a pressed-on gear “will need to be replaced”, because the new gear needs a D-cut shaft.
• Gear mesh. Micro Swiss’s install guide ends by checking that the two gears “mesh together and revolve smoothly”.

The step-by-step swap, with Klipper rotation_distance values for each kit, is in Ender 3 extruder upgrade. Every extruder upgrade type, from this swap to a full direct drive conversion, is compared in extruder upgrades.

Dual gear extruder kits: prices and fit

Sorted by US price on November 4, 2026, lowest first; kits without a confirmed US price are last. “No motor” means the kit uses your printer’s extruder motor.

BMG clones, sold under many names, copy the Bondtech BMG’s layout; what a BMG extruder is covers how they differ.