The new Snapmaker U1 3D printer is soaring on Kickstarter, with over $12.5 million raised so far, and it’s easy to see why – the U1 looks amazing.
The Snapmaker U1 is a new “color 3D printer” with multiple tool heads.
Simply put, the new Snapmaker 3D printer has 4 toolheads (and 1 active printhead) that allows it to print with multiple colors and materials quicker and with less waste than other machines on the market, at least at anywhere close to its price point.
Advertisement
I have a Bambu 3D printer, and while it can print in multiple colors, it must purge the extruder to do so. This creates a significant amount of waste, and it adds lengthy delays to the print time.
The Snapmaker U1 looks to feature everything I like about my Bambu, and so much more.
Some of the more notable features include:
- Compact automatic filament system
- CoreXY motion system
- 500 mm/s speed
- AI-powered print monitoring
- Smartphone app control
- Steel ball kinematic couplings – locks in toolhead, tested to over 1,000,000 swaps without failures
- Smart calibration sequence
- Vibration compensation
- Automatic mesh bed leveling
- Over a dozen sensors with anomaly detection and alerts
- 3.5″ touchscreen
- 2MP live view camera
Snapmaker says the U1 will help users “make more [with] less waste” and they sure do make it look believable.
The build volume is 270 x 270 x 270mm.
It has a heated bed, 300°C max nozzle temperature, 0.4mm nozzle diameter, and works with 1.75mm filament size.
Advertisement
There are also add-ons, including a top cover for air purification and a chamber temperature up to 50°C, hardened steel hot end bundle, PEI steel sheet, and filament starter packs.
At this time the pledge price is $799 (20% off $999 MSRP) with a November 2025 ETA, plus $50 per machine for shipping to the USA. They say that taxes and duties are included in the price.
The $799 special price also includes a spare hot end and 4x 500g spools of SnapSpeed PLA filament.
The Kickstarter fundraising campaign has an end date of 9/30/25. There are over 13,000 backers so far, who pledged more than $12.5 million.
There are always risks with Kickstarter projects, where project creators can take your money and not deliver promised rewards on time or sometimes at all. If you’re interested, you have to weigh whether a discount (compared to retail pricing) and earlier fulfilment are worth it to you. I generally do NOT recommend backing Kickstarter projects. Snapmaker is an established company, and so the risks should be lower, but I would still advise waiting.
Discussion
I’m going to follow this project with great interest. I’d like to be able to make multi-material prints with my Bambu, but it’s just not a good idea with the single hot end.
That the Snapmaker has 4 tool heads that can be swapped back and forth automatically seems like a fantastic way to approach multi-color and multi-material prints.
Snapmaker is not new to 3D printing. I looked around for context and comparison, and it only made the U1 seem more impressive.
Prusa has a 3D printer with tool changer – the XL – and it’s several times the price. The Prusa XL is $2000 with 1 tool head, $2500 with 2, and $3500 with 5.
The Snapmaker will be $999 ($799 via Kickstarter), and it comes fully loaded with 4 tool heads.
I haven’t looked at multi-color or material 3D printers before, due to the cost. This one looks neat, and the “SnapSwap” system sounds good.
Snapmaker says that the toolheads are all preloaded and preheated with their own filaments, and that it takes just a few seconds to swap them out, rather than several minutes.
I really like the idea of this and am actually very excited to see the U1 launch. Even if ultimately I’m not sold on the Snapmaker, I imagine that other 3D printer companies will accelerate competitive development.
I probably won’t back the Kickstarter campaign, but will strongly consider picking one up (on ToolGuyd’s dime) once it launches at retail.
Here’s a look at how some of the Snapmaker U1 components are produced:
And Snapmaker’s Kickstarter launch video:
Mopar
I REALLY want to learn this 3D printing stuff, but certainly not jumping in with something that complex. I am also probably never going to risk a something like a kickstarter ever again, after getting burned HARD by Elio Motors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elio_Motors
TomD
Check your local libraries or search for a “maker space” – one of my libraries has a room for 3D printers and another has one you can take home.
I’d certainly want to learn ABOUT it and try it before dropping $800 on what I may end up deciding is “the wrong kit.”
JMJR
You can get a Bambu Lab A1 Mini for $250 USD. It’s the perfect entry point into the hobby. If you enjoy it, move up to the P1S or one of Bambu Lab’s fancier units. If you don’t enjoy it, you can sell it for a small loss.
I considered using the maker space at my local library, but I didn’t want to book an hour timeslot to try to learn as much as I could only for the time to fly by and not have accomplished anything. Having a printer at home lets me tinker on my own time.
I ended up buying a P1S with AMS as my entry into the hobby 9 months ago and really enjoy it. Eventually I might save up for an H2D.
Stuart
The Prusa I bought was okay, but the Bambu I bought later has been far easier to use. It’s practically plug and play, and allowed me to focus on making things. My biggest concern is longevity, as Bambu is known for having terrible customer service and a very closed-off software and firmware ecosystem.
I’m hoping that the new Snapmaker printer proves to be on-par so that Bambu finally has real competition.
Bambu launched a larger 3D printer a few months ago, and announced a single extruder version this week. https://toolguyd.com/bambu-h2d-introduction/
In response to Snapmaker, Bambu also announced that an H2C model with multiple toolheads will be launching sometime in the future.
As mentioned in the post, my default is to recommend NOT backing Kickstarter projects.
I think that there’s little risk here with Snapmaker, but there’s still risk. There’s also the risk of being an early adopter.
Daniel
I really would like to get into 3d printing. I currently have friends print things for me. The wife is worried about microplastics in our household air so not sure it will be in the cards for me. 🙁
I’ve purchased on kickstarter twice. Both times the products were delayed, delayed and delayed again. In the end, I did receive them and they were fantastic.
Stuart
My Bambu has a filter, and I bought better filter cartridges from a company called Voxel. The Snapmaker has an optional “air purification” top cover accessory.
Fumes and particles were a concern of mine and an ongoing consideration. I’ve been sticking to PLA and PETG for most prints, and plan to open the garage door or implement an exhaust fan when working with other materials. There are also pricey fume extraction systems by BOFA and others.
There are hazards with every activity or hobby. I haven’t gotten into RC rock crawlers because I don’t want to deal with storing LiPo batteries 11-1/2 months out of the year.
There are solutions to fumes or microplastics, and they range from “use a window fan” to “buy a fume extraction system or benchtop hood.”
Daniel
Thanks man! I’ll do some research on those possible solutions.
Completely agree with your statement about hazards to every activity or hobby.
Maybe I can find a solution to ease my wife’s concerns.
Stuart
Ventilation, filtration, fume exhaust/extraction.
Solutions range from under $50 improvisations to several thousand dollar dedicated setups.
This is part of the reason why it took me so long to really get into 3D printing. Short-term, my Bambu is enclosed and has a filter, and I don’t stay in the (heated/cooled) garage when it’s printing. Long-term, I still plan to build a multi-purpose exhaust setup near the window.
I have also stuck to PLA and PETG, although I will be doing limited tests with other materials (TPU, glow additives).
There are ways to reduce but perhaps not eliminate exposure. The same goes for woodworking and almost any other fabrication activity.
EBT
TIP: You have to keep spools dry, and other multi spool printers have them in an enclosure (like the $2200 Bambu Labs model). Some users hack containers with dessicant and spools feed out while sealed to keep them dry. I don’t see this possible with this model, as the spools are outside.
“I generally do NOT recommend backing Kickstarter projects. ”
I agree. I’ve been burned of over $500 from Noria (slim, window AC unit, app controlled) as well as dozens of others. Still no resolution from Kickstarter so BEWARE, Kickstarter at your own risk!
Nathan S
“Wet” filaments turn out to be more of a pain to deal with than making the (rather small) investment in a dryer and taking the time to do so.
Recently, Bambu did release their AMS 2.0, which has a dryer built into it, so you don’t have to take the $2k plunge on the H2D. Waiting to see how effective that is and if they will release firmware to work with my (cheaper) Bambu A1.
Stuart
Yes. I bought a Sunlu dryer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XMT9SVX?tag=toolguyd-20 , activated alumina dessicant https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXH9Q9DV?tag=toolguyd-20 , and sealed storage containers from IKEA and Home Depot.
I also bought the new Bambu automatic filament system, which has a built-in dryer, and it’s sitting in a box waiting for me to setup. I have the original AMS too, and 3D printed enclosures for the alumina dessicant. I also have Slice dessicant cartridges on the way for placing inside spools of filament in storage containers.
I spent more time looking into these aspects than I needed to – getting filament dry has been a comfortably flat learning curve *so far*.
Double D
Do you have models available on makerworld? Nice to see my hobbies merging here, next do a homelab…
Stuart
No, not yet. Maybe eventually. If I ever design something worth sharing, it would likely be on GitHub or similar, and maybe featured here or a separate site of my own control.
Nick S.
I have been into 3D printing for a few years now. It’s tons of fun. My kids love it too. They each have their own Toybox 3D printer, and I recently upgraded to a Bambu Lab P1S that can do multi-color as noted in Stuart’s comment above. Multi-color/material prints are possible, but do take some time.
I’ve found a lot of the time and challenge can be reduced by good design in many cases. That’s honestly the hardest part. The actual printing is easy. There are millions of designs out there. The challenge is learning to design things yourself. That’s where the learning curve is for most without a CAD background (like me…)
Lastly – I’ll add that you shouldn’t underestimate the software component of 3D printing. Bambu lab’s ecosystem is robust, simple, and works well. That will keep me aligned to them for quite a while. I have no clue what Snapmaker’s software set-up is. Something to consider here.
With that said – it’s a fantastic hobby with the right expectations going in.
Nathan S
Strongly agree here. The Bambu ecosystem makes it easy to just print, as long as your filament is dry (you can invest in a cheap filament dryer. However, it does make me concerned about the privacy of their system, and you have to jump through the normal hoops to just print locally.
Kyle
My system for keeping filaments dry is:
1. Lidded 5 gallon buckets with a desiccant inside for open spools
2. Food dehydrator to desiccate filament that has been printing poorly
I don’t use a “dry” feed box for my active spools. For your common materials like PLA, ABS and PETG, they’ll stay dry enough to get good print quality for weeks just sitting out. After that, they can go for a trip through the dehydrator.
Stuart
I’ve got concerns about Bambu’s communications routing. However, I also really how I can send a model to print from my office PC, and then check the progress from my phone. I don’t have wired LAN and so everything is done via WiFi. I turn off power to the system when it’s not in use. So much software “phones home” these days, I don’t lose sleep over it.
Stuart
I printed through a lot of parts for a project kit, and this has been the first major series of functional prints for me. I learned a lot printing the pre-designed parts, and have now been turning my attention to designing from scratch, hence https://toolguyd.com/relearning-3d-modeling/ .
Bambu’s software has been very good. Snapmaker looks to use a customized version of Orca. Seeing this boosted my interest in the U1, and likelihood of me giving it a try. Orca is popular and I’ve been meaning to give that a try once I have a little more experience with Bambu’s slicer. As for the firmware, I’ve seen posts that say it will use Klipper.
Personally, I don’t want 3D printing to be a hobby, I want it to be a tool I use for my projects and maybe even hobbies. I want it to just work.
Jimmie
I think I’m willing to let others be the guinea pigs on this one. The pre-release U1 reviews look good but $800 is a lot of money to throw at something where the final product hasn’t been released yet. For me it’s worth the extra $200 to let other people discover the pain points. In particular, I want to read people’s opinions after having used it for 6 months. I’ve reached the age where I don’t want another fiddly device. I want something that just works.
I agree with you on the Bambu’s waste when changing filaments. It’s mostly an annoyance when printing plain PLA since it’s dirt cheap but when printing more expensive filaments, those dollars ejected out the back port add up fast.
S
It should also be noted much of the poop waste is in using the default purge settings.
Supposedly, the purge amount can be easily changed in the settings. It might make for a slightly ‘dirtier’ print though. Many report halving the poop output with no visible difference in print quality.
I was on track to buying a bambu, and then summer cooling energy cost increases ran away with my fun money. So no hands on experience, but lots of research on the concern
Nick S.
This is true in many cases. I’ve done a few multi-color prints that have primer towers. This is basically where they print a little tower of waste filament to ensure there are no bubbles in the hot end between color changes. By default, it does this AND purges or “poops.” You can set it to make the primer the poop. You can also set it to poop and purge into the infill of a solid object, which leads to almost no waste. This works well unless you are going from a dark color to a light color, in which case you can sometimes pick up on gradient changes.
Either way, the poops use much less filament than they look like they do. They look huge because they aren’t dense or layered. It’s just a random spaghetti of filament. Probably no more than a 2 foot long line of single-layer, single width extruded filament, which isn’t much.
Tim B.
Good timing covering the U1 (which looks incredible)… Bambu just released their next iteration called the H2S (which is very similar to the H2D, which you covered earlier this year), and looks to be another one of the best out-of-the-box 3D printer options there is.
In what I consider even more interesting, they also teased a release which will be coming later this year called the H2C, which is supposed to be their major answer to all the down-sides of the AMS-type problems (excessive waste when purging, etc) by using an auto-swapping hot end (not the entire tool head, like the U1) using a system they’re calling the ‘Vortek’. Check it out — looks pretty unique and incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rluJj3NEdQA
While the H2C looks like a game changer for those who like to do multi-color printing, the U1 actually appeals a bit more to me, as I’m more interested in the practicality side of multi-material (not just multi-color).
As someone who owns multiple 3d printers (including a Bambu X1C) and has been both on the hobbyist side and professional side of 3d printing for well over a decade, I love seeing products like the U1 and H2C come to market… absolutely awesome how the tech is accelerating / improving! I’m going to be watching both with much interest.
Stuart
It looks like Bambu panicked about the Snapmaker’s popularity and made an early announcement. “It’s our first attempt to solve the problem of purge.” Bambu says their hot ends will wireless transmit temperature, filament type, “and so on.” Their H2D is $2,000. The H2C will likely be more. The Snapmaker U1 is said to have a retail price of $1000 when it launches.
William Adams
Another contender is the Elegoo Centauri Carbon which has a ~$330 biy-in for single filament and a “Filament Switching System” to be announced Q3.
Mine went through an entire roll of Amazon Basics PLA w/o a hitch in scarcely a week.
Nick
I’ve considered picking up the Centauri as a secondary printer for my P1S when I don’t need filament switching which is most of the time. I’d really prefer to have a larger printer as a second printer though.
William Adams
Yeah, the recent GRIDPAC.ONE – Systainer Compatible Gridfinity System Case announcement has me rather desperately wanting a large format 3D printer which will do a case bottom in one go (and a matching budget for filament….)
Doresoom
I have an Anycubic Kobra 3 with their 4-bay Ace Pro color changer. So far I’ve got 900+ hours on it, with almost 25 kg of filament through it!
I use the Ace Pro more for drying filament and conveniently swapping colors/types rather than much multi-color printing. It’s allowed me to hit print on my laptop and forget about it until my phone app tells me it’s done – no tedious waiting around while the nozzle heats up so I can change filament. And that difference has made me way more likely to start a quick print when I’ve got 5 minutes to spare.
When I do print something multi-color, I try to limit the number of filament swaps. For example, I’ll often do a part that has text on the top few layers, and just make that a different color. One or two filament swaps like that only adds a few minutes, as opposed to a detailed color print with 4 colors on each layer. I was shocked a simple Benchie went from 25 minutes to 8 hours the first time I tried full color printing! A multi-tool head printer like that Snapmaker would drastically cut down on the time multi-color prints take, since it doesn’t need to cut, retract, and purge every swap.
Will
I picked up a relatively cheap 3D printer several years ago on a Black Friday Deal (Ender 3 S1). It’s been impressive to see how much the technology has improved since that time to improve print quality, print temperature, bed temperature, custom enclosures, filament drying spools, bed level, speed, filament change, etc.
I will say that there’s a suite of skills you need to learn when dealing with these “more hands on” printers that you don’t really get exposed to when using the newer more consumer friendly models. Honestly I would have enjoyed the hobby more if I didn’t need to mess around with it all.
I dove into designing tool parts and adapters in Fusion 360 after following some YouTube guides and it’s been a big game changer to my woodworking hobby. Everything from vacuum adapters, to drill guides, to dovetail jigs. I found that I liked the design aspect and I just wanted the slicing/printing to be taken care of for me. I imagine a lot of people outside of the core enthusiast group probably echo that sentiment.
Frank D.
BambuLab has a new one coming out H2C in Q4.
It eliminates nozzle purge waste & time; as it will have 6 or 7 nozzles.
Don’t know yet if there will be faster filament switching …
But that’s a product, ready to buy within weeks.
That’s the big thing with H1C, lots of poop and time wasted, if you are only doing one multi color print. It pays off much better to print many copies of a thing. Like you can essentially prints 3 6 12 or more of the same thing in roughly the same amount of time, because the color switching and purging takes so much time.
Ben
The U1 really forced Bambu to pre-announced the H2C yesterday. Given how easy the existing BambuLab printers are to use, the H2C sure looks like the product to beat.
I have a X1C with the AMS. 3D printing isn’t my hobby, it’s a means to build parts for my other hobbies. I tried other 3D printers (over many years) before the X1C and for other printers, they were the hobby, not a reliable tool. Bambu really changed that.
Frank D.
Same here. I got tired of the ” hobby ” aspect, with code, repairs, lack of automation and smarts. Just doing practical prints 99% of the time. I wanted to be able to do multi color. Got the X1C with AMS. You have to be patient, and yes, there’s some poops. But most of my multicolor stuff is pretty small, or something with contrast lettering or something. Or maybe like something thin, the size of keychain multi color through to both sides.
It hasn’t been picture perfect, as I needed a longer cable to put the ams where it needed to go, sometimes there’s filament breaks in the AMS ( basically user error from ” old ” rolls? ) or the occasional gotcha between software and printer firmware updates; and then an unexplained error.
I am looking forward to hearing if the 6 or 7 nozzles could also include a 0.6; 0.4 and 0.2 … as that would save a lot of aggravation of nozzle switching … which I rarely do, because it is fiddly, somewhat fragile and time consuming.
John Blair
I have multiple 3D printers, including the Prusa XL and the H2D. I will always use the H2D unless I have something that specifically requires the XL’s build volume. Turns out the 2 extruders in the H2D are perfect for me. It meets my two use cases for filament changes:
1) Marking – I use a contrasting colored filament to put legends on things. For example: I designed a socket set holder and put the legends for the sizes of the sockets.
2) Multi-Material – Either combining Flexible and regular materials or using incompatible filaments as supports.
Since I rarely do multi colored cosmetic prints, more colors isn’t really my jam. Having said that, at that price, I almost ended up with a 4th 3D printer.
I did another 3D printer (and an IDEX printer) on Kickstarter. It was delivered, but it was never “Good.” They ended up *mostly* fixing the printer after they shipped the Kickstarter units. In this case, you are basically gambling $800 that the printer will be exactly what you want to save $200. But boy oh boy is it tempting.
Stuart
Thank you for these insights!
Bambu focused their H2D launch on the laser and other mixed use capabilities, but it does sound useful for dual color or materials printing.
Oarman
I do a lot of functional 3D printing and backed the Snapmaker on the first day. Hopefully I won’t get burned. Functional multi-material just opens up so many possibilities.
Bambu’s software shenanigans broke my workflow (I do all my printing from OrcaSlicer), and I’m pretty against random appliances needing cloud apps, so that keeps their printers off my list.
Jronman
If this can prove to be free of ……(I won’t say)…… It might be a consideration. I have a Prusa MK4. It works fine. I haven’t gotten the 4 to 4S upgrade kit but have been reasonably happy with the 4 after I threw a new nozzle on it. Not sure what the deal was with the original nozzle. I printed some Gridfinity this past winter but otherwise it collects dust the rest of the year. I probably should use it more and figure out how to sell stuff.
Soup
I think this is the next logical step of multi-filiment printing, but I don’t really trust Snapmaker to follow through on everything, especially on the software side of things.
The price looks great, but I am going to wait and see what comes of it and what other brands start releasing. I think we will see this type of set up released by every brand over the next year or two.