Multi-head or multiple extruder simotanious "follow me" copy print "mirror mode"

Hi. I am a CNC router guy normally but a project has me getting into 3d printing (again)

I want to make a small printer farm for making 5000 gears.

I am looking at the Anet A8 / Prusa i3 type

I am looking for a path to use multiple heads at once to multiply productivity of the machines.

It's a 1.5" gear .25" tall so a standard bed with upto 4 heads would be max productivity.

Method 1. It looks like the Ramps 1.4 and GT2560 controllers and many of the Anet a8 clones have drivers for two extruders standard which with the right selections or maybe edits to firmware like in Marlin you could be double printing fairly quickly.

Method 2. I also was thinking of doing it "blind" as in duplicating the signals but not "telling" the machine anything. Splitting the signal to the single extruder driver running it to added drivers and running some kind of self contained thermostat on the slave heads.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best method or any ideas? I would greatly appreciate any shared knowledge.

Thanks

This is awesome printer. I want to get it. As I seen on many videos, Can I use it for mass production? Now all Coles employees can make use of MyColes portal to get all the benefits.