Snapmaker U1

[LukeH]

My Snapmaker U1 has arrived, and I have to say it lives up to the hype (I was dubious).

It seems so far (only about 30 hours of printing, so very early days) to be a decent printer, with bridging, tolerances, and general print quality as good as anything I have seen on other FDM printers. 

In terms of tool changing, I've done maybe 3,000 or 4,000 tool changes thus far, and they have all been fine. I guess we'll see how that goes over time.

Below are a couple of photos of some prints. The first is a 10-colour Benchy done with four filaments (red, yellow, black, and white - the other six colours are produced by dithering the four loaded filaments). As you can see, because I printed at 0.2mm layers, you can see some of the banding of the dithered colours. Experiments will continue at lower layer heights. This Benchy had about 1,100 tool changes and took a little under three hours to print (each tool change is like 9 seconds from stopping writing to being back to printing with the different tool head).

The other photo is a fidget toy I printed for a friend. The tolerances are excellent, and the parts moved smoothly right off the bed. Again it is printed with red, yellow, black and white filament, with the green colour produced by alternating layers of the filaments (in this case I think it was yellow and black).

Overall very happy, except that with a print volume of 270mm x 270mm x 270mm, it is the smallest printer I have used in a while (and the smallest  printer I own - it is tiny compared to the Qidi X-Max 3 it is sitting next to.

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Dude - I am TOTALLY Jealous. The prints look great. And - you claim it's Tiny - but, 270mm squared is bigger than my ECC1!

Funny you say it's smallest build volume you have worked with. Funny - cause - Essentium build volume was Massive - and even the VisionMiner printers were a LARGE build volumed compared to my Ender3 & now my ECC1.

I do agree - SIZE Matters!!!

Keep us posted on your prints. I'd love to see that one colorful gal character printed on your machine - but, in all honesty - it's a bit much to ask - as it will be a long print even if only a tad over 110g w/purge towers/primes & supports...

-K

[Bryan Eckert]

Is that a Maryland flag benchie? 😀

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[Luke Hartfiel]

Does the Maryland flag look like candy corn?

On 14 Mar 2026, at 12:12 pm, Bryan Eckert <bigyel...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Touche Sir!

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Snapmaker says the U1 will launch to the public April 10th and will sell for $849!

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/snapmaker-u1-launches-on-april-10-now-pre-order-at-849-249864/

How much was the KS version?
$849...! Toolchanging is finally going mainstream for real!

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

I went to order and now I see... It's still preorder price. Regular price is $999.

I think I may go for a preorder.
Hey Luke... How does it grab the tool?

[Luke Hartfiel]

The kickstarter price was $749. There were a few units at $679 “early bird” kickstarter, but that didn’t last long. 

Apparently it was the second or third largest kickstarter of all time, and the largest 3D printing kickstarter, raising over $20 million.

I would suggest it bright Snapmaker from being a niche player to being mainstream.

On 19 Mar 2026, at 3:13 am, 3D Printing Tips and Tricks <3d-printing-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Snapmaker says the U1 will launch to the public April 10th and will sell for $849!

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[Luke Hartfiel]

It grabs the tool with by clipping on with mechanical  pins (and a very satisfying “clunk” sound).

When not in use, the tool rests on steel pins, with magnets holding it in precise place. Seems pretty firm, and I’ve had no issue with the heads or carriage not being properly located or not successfully mounting/unmounting over the 5,000 or 6,000 changes I’ve done so far (early days yet). The tool heads are pretty easy to manually remove and replace. 

The only potential weak point is that the tool head itself has the extruder, heater and heat sink fan, while the parts cooling fan is on the tool carrier (to make the whole thing more compact, I guess). The parts cooling is powered from the tool head via pogo pins. Seems fine, but only time will tell how it wears.

On 19 Mar 2026, at 3:19 am, 3D Printing Tips and Tricks <3d-printing-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I went to order and now I see... It's still preorder price. Regular price is $999.

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[Luke Hartfiel]

Also, I don’t know about April 10. 

I understand you can just walk into Microcenter and buy one off the shelf right now, and Snapmaker’s shipping times have come way down (to a few days, rather then months), so they are pretty much generally available.

On 19 Mar 2026, at 3:13 am, 3D Printing Tips and Tricks <3d-printing-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Snapmaker says the U1 will launch to the public April 10th and will sell for $849!

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[Luke Hartfiel]

There is one design issue that has come up on the Snapmaker Discord. 

Apparently there is a capacitor on the tool head board that sits close to the cable connector. If people use an electric screwdriver to attach the screws that hold the cable in place, or hand torque it like their lives depend on it, then it is possible to drive the screw through the top of the capacitor (and then you have to call Snapmaker for a new tool board, which they provide under warranty). 

Didn’t happen to me, but there have been a number cases.

On 19 Mar 2026, at 7:31 am, Luke Hartfiel <lhar...@gmail.com> wrote:



[LukeH]

I also notice that Flashforge has also leaked the Creator 5 and the Creator 5 Pro, which are both  four toolhead tool changers. 

Different to the Snapmaker U1, this one looks like it has all the electronics in the tool carriage, including the stepper for the extruder (with some form of mechanical linkage?), and just passing power for the nozzle heater. The Creator 5 is an open frame unit, and the Creator 5 Pro is enclosed. 

It seems that 2026 is going to be the year of consumer tool changer printers.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

If what yer sayin is correct, then I’d predict that soon all of FDM will be toolchanging.

[Luke Hartfiel]

Agree. 

Filament switchers are slow and produce lots of waste. While some people could live with the waste (and Creality is working in a home print waste recycling device to both shred and recycle old prints and waste), nobody wants to spend 30 hours printing an object using filament switching that only takes 3 hours on a tool changer. Now that lower cost tool changers are starting to appear, the market will shift pretty quickly.

Not the only solution though - Co Print is bringing out a IQEX bed-slinger (independent quad extruder). It is like an IDEX, but instead of two independent heads on the same gantry, it has four. I wouldn’t ever buy one, but they are mesmerising to watch…

On 22 Mar 2026, at 3:52 am, 3D Printing Tips and Tricks <3d-printing-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

If what yer sayin is correct, then I’d predict that soon all of FDM will be toolchanging.

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