Phantom tube created in cura PVA dual extrude support

[gherndo 0]

Whenever I use dual extrude on on ultimaker 3 extended cura makes this weird little phantom column/tube off to the side. The print actually creates this thing too, but I cannot delete it out. Is this some type of cleansing/purging/self alignment/whatever that the program has to have or is there some way to get rid of it?

[Enigma_M4 101]

Hi Gherndo,

this fancy little tube is called "prime tower" and, as you supposed, is meant to clean the nozzles in dual extrusion prints to prevent unwanted material bits of the wrong material in the print (acting as a kind of "ooze shield").

It is found (and can be turned off) in the menue point "Dual Extrusion" (third lower point in the picture you posted).

If you turn it off, it could appear that the nozzles are oozing and contaminating your print with the wrong material at unwanted positions, so do it with caution and on your own risk. Alternatively, you could use the "ooze shield" (this creates a small shell around your print where the oozed material is shaved off) instead of the prime tower, but I think the prime tower needs less material. I always use the prime tower when printing dual extrusion mode. And since Cura 4.1.0, you can activate a special brim for the prime tower (independently from your adhesion settings) to prevent it from tilting when printing high objects.

Regards