Snapmaker has all the time been a little bit of an oddball within the 3D printing trade. Their preliminary providing, the Snapmaker 1, was a 3-in-1 machine that was half 3D printer, half laser engraver, and half CNC mill. Through the years, the corporate has explored different uncommon designs, together with IDEX (Impartial Twin EXtruder) 3D printers. Now they’re gearing as much as launch the brand new Snapmaker U1, which can lastly obtain one thing no different firm has managed to drag off: accessible toolchanging.
Multi-material 3D printing could be very fascinating, because it dramatically expands the flexibility of a 3D printer. The obvious benefit is with the ability to print with a number of colours in a single half, however the capacity to combine totally different supplies is arguably much more necessary. However what’s one of the best ways to print with a number of supplies?
A decade in the past, that was principally restricted to dual-extruder 3D printers. Primarily, they put two extruder assemblies proper subsequent to one another on the carriage. However these are tough to align, are typically messy, and solely enable for 2 supplies in a single job.
IDEX programs are an extension of that, with two extruder carriages that transfer independently on the X axis rail. They allow some attention-grabbing new options, like mirrored and duplicated elements, however have the identical issues as dual-extruders.
Then we began seeing filament-changing programs, like Bambu Lab’s AMS and Prusa’s MMU. They bodily swap the filament going to the extruder, which solves most dual-extruder issues and permits the usage of many supplies (the brand new H2D permits for twenty-four at a time). However swapping filaments is gradual — particularly if the new finish wants to vary temperature.
Toolchanger programs mix most of the finest attributes of these different programs. A toolchanger printer has a number of toolheads, every loaded with its personal filament. The printer can merely seize no matter toolhead it wants at any given time.
Probably the most well-known toolchanger 3D printer proper now’s the Prusa XL, however it’s dear — at present $4,519 for an assembled printer with 5 toolheads and an enclosure. There are additionally attention-grabbing Voron toolchanger choices, however they’re DIY options which might be intimidating, to say the least.
The Snapmaker U1 is the primary toolchanger 3D printer we’ve seen which may be each reasonably priced and accessible. Snapmaker is looking their toolchanger system “SnapSwap” and it’s promising. The U1 could have 4 toolheads and might swap between them in lower than 5 seconds — far quicker than an AMS or MMU filament change. And toolchanger swaps don’t require purging, so no extra poop bins!
Snapmaker simply introduced the U1 and hasn’t but supplied particulars like measurement, value, or launch date. However we are able to glean some data from the announcement pictures and movies:
The Snapmaker U1 is most likely enclosed — a high cowl isn’t proven, but it surely positive looks like that can at the very least be an possibility.
And it appears to be like just like the entrance of the mattress says “Construct Quantity: 270 ×270 ×270mm,” which is fairly wholesome.
There’s a full-color touchscreen interface on the body and Snapmaker’s announcement implies that it will likely be appropriate with their Luban 3-in-1 CAM/slicer software program and Snapmaker Orca slicer software program.
The entire promotional materials reveals the filament spools using on holders protruding from the perimeters of the body, however the inlets are positioned such that it must be potential to feed from filament storage/dryer packing containers.
And the Snapmaker U1 has CoreXY kinematics, which is what consumers anticipate from a contemporary 3D printer. Snapmaker is promoting an acceleration price of 20,000mm/s/s and print speeds of 300mm/s, which is excellent whereas being nonetheless being plausible (relatively than a advertising exaggeration).
In my current evaluation of the Bambu Lab H2D, I acknowledged that I believed it to be essentially the most influential new 3D printer of 2025. But when Snapmaker can get the U1 into buyer palms this 12 months, I might need to revise that assertion.
Even amongst Bambu Lab followers, the H2D has been divisive. Its twin nozzles are higher than conventional dual-extruder designs, as they carry out of the way in which when not in use and work with AMS models. However many individuals have been vocal about their disappointment that Bambu Lab didn’t launch a toolchanger 3D printer and Snapmaker is poised to swoop in and snatch up these prospects.
You’ll be able to guess I’ll be doing my finest to get my palms on the Snapmaker U1 to evaluation for The Maker’s Toolbox column.
