Lightmake L4… hooo boy!

[Bryan Eckert]

Okay, if this thing actually sees the light of day I want.

Dual IDEX for 4 print heads, 1 second color swap. Looks as if all 4 heads have the full bed area to print, or close to it. Large build size to boot.

https://lightmake.tech/pages/lightmake-l4?utm_id=120258278792520370

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

OMG - Linear Motors - like that One printer that folks were trying to release - I forgot - Peopoly or something like that maybe? And - Essentium also had Linear motors - so, the potential to run FAST and also Accurately - that's pretty wild!

But, the quick video of 4 tool heads all Moving at the same time - I don't know - Over Complex - and it also seems like it WOULD Limit print areas - considering the design - it would HAVE to! 

I may have to look a little closer at that webpage. But, as you say - 1 second color swaps would be INSANE!!!!

The Desktop 3DP Market is HEATING Up For SURE!

-K

[Bryan Eckert]

Looking into it more all 4 print heads have the whole width, but depth is about 20mm less. 

All 4 can print at once, obviously the size is quartered. 

And yes Peopoly released the printer with linear motors. The Magneto X:

https://peopoly.net/products/magneto-x

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[markni...@gmail.com]

For those interested in the printer, for a $50.00 prepayment, they will save you an early deal, and give you $200.00 off the early bird price.

I went for the deal, because it is the absolute perfect printer for me, if they can pull it off.

Also the early bird price is $1250.00, which in my mind is a tremendous value.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Fascinating! I hope it works well. If it does it could take sales away from CoreXY! Super fast tool change… wait this ain’t a toolchanger at all! It doesn’t need to change a tool! Egads! No prime wipe!! 

Hmmm…. Now if I can get rid of five more machines maybe…..

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

After thinking about… nah you still will need to prime and wipe to ensure the material is cohesive right up to the tip.

Looks like a killer design though.

[david merten]

Dammit people stop giving me new choices for tool changers.......lol

I might have to go back to work full time to afford all these cool new machines.

The little I have played with the idex tenlog,  it is a an amazing feature. And I need to work with it more.

So far the Sovel is ahead on my list. 4 tools is kind of limiting on a tool changer or idex.

                 David

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[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

DAMNIT David - Just Deal With IT !!! 

Yes - the Enticements of Toolchangers are sure STRONG Motivators to make MORE Money with 3D Printing!

Money, money, MONEY - we ALWAYS Need to Make More of it - and Counterfeiting is NOT a good option - although it really IS the Idea of Making money...

-K

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

How many folks here planning on going with the L4?

Studying the website reveals that it is not initially enclosed and their plan is to sell enclosure panels in the future. Note that with the panels it will only be rated to 65C… Well below the reqs for ABS,ASA, PC,HIPS, and probably others.
I would guess there are internals that won’t do well in a heat soak environment.

On Wednesday, July 1, 2026 at 10:27:25 AM UTC-7 bigyel...@gmail.com wrote:

[markni...@gmail.com]

I plan on buying the L4 when it launches.

Andy, I know you and I have disagreed about this before, but 65C is all that's needed to prevent warping and allow strong layer adhesion for the filaments we are likely to use. The exception is Ultem, which I have no use for.

Watch some Clough42 videos or ask the guys using heated Bambu's. 65 degrees C does the trick.

[david merten]

I am on the fence at the moment.  I have put down a deposit on it a while back. 

 I backed the new sovel kickstarter , but look at this as a very different printer for a different niche.  And I love playing with new technology so definitely learning towards backing it.

         David

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[Bryan Eckert]

I print ABS/ASA/HIPS and PP in my H2C at 60C.

I want the Lightmake but I don’t think I have the room for it. The H2C barely fit.

I have to see the sizing on the Infimake MX Pro. If I can fit it in my space it can replace my V400.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Sorry for belaboring this… but I just can’t help myself.

So Lightwave has this vid out on YouTube…

https://youtu.be/5akEHmiRMRE?is=Sj4HNTUBkYoxdqbE

And it animates a rendering of a reversed tear down and…. Whoops… no linear magnet tracks in the Y axis. None. Zilch.

However, it also doesn’t show any other means of control movement such as a belt. As my cohost would say… it’s just a rendering… but still…

And before you jump on me, keep in mind I dropped $50 on this thing too.

[markni...@gmail.com]

I'm with you, I've noticed some weird inconsistancies in their material as well.

But this thing is so damn cool that I'm just going to roll the dice.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

I sent the question to them asking explicitly if the Y axis is also linear motor controlled and if not how is it controlled. I’ve yet to get a reply.

[Bryan Eckert]

Here's an instagram post with them testing repeatability on those very motors:
https://www.instagram.com/lightmake_official/reel/DY6JXjJslt0/

I don't know why this is so hard to fathom. The magnets for the motors are situated on the bottom of the Y rails.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/4ff67724-3744-4f9c-885f-aea85f342ad4n%40googlegroups.com.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

It’s “hard to fathom” because I ve been burned before in this exact same way.

Thats why I now LOOK and ASK before I simply trust them to make it right rather than getting a POS.

Some examples:

Multiple times it was lack of thermal runaway control… The Raise 3D did that as well as the early Ender 3s…

Use of craptastic PEEK as a thermal barrier.. Cant recall the name of that Piece of sh*t

Then there’s  the nonsense that Anycubic pulled with their auto loader.

Or the first one…

The plastic cantilever shelves in the Rep2 and the plastic bung for a feeder.

Each of these unmentioned deficiencies in the design went unnoticed prior to the purchase.

A lack of information about something this fundamental in a crowd funded, machines design could be a red flag. IT doesn’t mean that it it definitely is though. for example the cross beam in the Prusa XL x axis was simply not visible in the provided pics because they painted it black…

But before I send them more money this needs to be explicitly explained. To just assume they did it a certain way is foolish and that’s what some of the sellers in China depend on.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

I just went to Instacrap and looked at that vid. I note that the vid shows a SINGLE axis… the X axis… of which all the renderings already show the linear mag track. It’s the Y axis we have zero visibility to.

Maybe to you it’s  hard to fathom that a producer in China would pull something this blatant, but I’ve already seen them pull stunts like this many times. That does NOT mean they are pulling a scam. But we’ve all seen enough scams to REQUIRE explicit answers.

On Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 8:52:34 AM UTC-7 bigyel...@gmail.com wrote:

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Here is the blog post about the linear motors:

https://lightmake.tech/blogs/news/linear-motor-stability-testing

It’s quite frustrating how there nothing to indicate it’s both axes except for ONE line in their text:

“Through actual bench testing, we verified that the maximum acceleration of the printer’s X-axis and Y-axis can reach 4g and 6g respectively.”

That’s IT.

Nothing else.

[Bryan Eckert]

Seriously I give up. All the evidence you need is on their instagram feed. Go look at it. They have assembly video of them assembling the kickstarter machines. They have beta machines running naked with no covers explicitly showing the electronics and stator coils underneath the rail on the y axis. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/346b0338-2890-4b3b-a0c3-bc4df05dcfdbn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bryan Eckert]

" As mentioned in our previous articles, the core XY-axis motion system of our product is powered by 8 sets of linear motors"

They literally gave you the answer right there.

4 heads = 4 motors. 2 gantries, 1 motor each side = 4 motors. 

[Bryan Eckert]

Also if you watch the video on that page directly below your quote - it's very explicit that both X and Y are linear motors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfuLa4qtcE&t=48s

I think we've been mixing up X and Y axis as they label it. At least I know I have.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Unfortunately the vid you cite also does NOT show anything for the axis without the tools. They still only show the linear motors for the two guides that the two tools ride on. Not once is there ever any visibility to the linear motors for the other axis. It may be there, but they never once show it. 

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

I looked through ALL the vids on Instagram. Watched the vid on pilot assembly real carefully stopping it while the tool was assembled…. Looking for a linear motor element for the underside of the rail that the two tool bearing rails ride on… nuthin!

If you see an image that shows anything that could support a linear motor for this axis then please screen cap it and show it here… because I don’t see it.

The only place there can be a set of electronic mags would be on the underside of the tool carriage on the spot that rides that axis rail and I see nothing there but a linear guide. 

BTW… I do see a pancake stepper in the tool carriage at a position that I would not expect to see it in if it supported the filament feed. Thats kinda weird. 

On Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 12:53:26 PM UTC-7 bigyel...@gmail.com wrote:

[markni...@gmail.com]

I hope you guys aren't getting too heated, because this is the precise reason I continue to read this forum.

This is what the messy process looks like, when people are trying to dug out facts from some times hazy material.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Believe me I WANT to see that both axes are linear because I want this printer. 

I ran a biz for 15 years buying direct from China. From my experience It can easily be a crap shoot unless they provide explicit documentation of what you’re buying. I’ve been there way too many times.

Does anyone out there actually already have the L1? If the L1 is out there then we could get confirmation that both X and Y are using this mag lev approach.

[markni...@gmail.com]

Here is a fairly recent post from Lightmake: https://lightmake.tech/blogs/news/meet-l1

Scroll down to linear motors section.  "We continue to use our linear motor system on the L1, with a total of three linear motors across the X and Y axes"

[Bryan Eckert]

I literally screen capped the image of the magnets on the underside of the frame rail that is in the video in the post you mentioned where you say there is no info about the linear motors. I also included a link to the timestamp url.

Lightmake clearly states in their documentation that the L4 has 8 linear motors. 1 per tool head, 2 per gantry rail. I have been following the development of this printer since LONG before I ever made the initial post about it.

The stator for the toolhead is behind the toolhead above the magnets on the top of the gantry. The stators for the gantries are BELOW the frame rails, the magnets are on the underside of the frame rails - the magnets you see in that screen shot. Along with the wire chain that carries the power cables to power the stators for the gantry motors. The toolhead stators have their own cable chain.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/4d66f429-6a9f-4c8c-82c0-885206507bden%40googlegroups.com.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Ok… this is the evidence I needed…

I can see the full design in this pic. One axis has the magnets upwards with the linear guide underneath. The other axis has the magnets facing downwards with the linear guide above. In the pic you don’t see the firmer axis magnets but you can see the electronic magnet motor on the rail’s carriage…

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

... and... Lightwave just emailed me the following with the second sentence all I really needed:

"

Hi

We have noted your message on the website regarding the X‑ and Y‑axis linear motor structure. Both axes are driven by linear motors, and we would like to introduce our machine to you below.

The LightMake L4 is the world’s first independent four‑nozzle 3D printer driven by linear motors. Breaking the limitations of traditional single‑nozzle designs, it delivers outstanding production efficiency and print quality.

Independent Four‑Nozzle System: The L4 is equipped with four fully independent nozzles. Each nozzle can move and print independently without interfering with others. It can triple mass‑production capacity directly. Meanwhile, it avoids massive waste purging during multi‑color printing, greatly reducing material waste.

Linear Motor Architecture: Unlike traditional rubber‑belt‑and‑pulley transmission structures, the L4 adopts a direct‑drive linear motor system with zero transmission loss. This system enables true closed‑loop control to monitor positioning status in real time, with a motion accuracy of ±1μm. It effectively prevents layer shifting and vibration‑induced artifacts. In addition, its non‑contact magnetic drive feature allows the motion system to achieve a service life of over 50,000 hours with minimal maintenance.

Best regards

"

OK... I'm convinced. 

This can completely eliminate most if not all motion artifacts and make the mass under motion way less important.

[Kurt]

What you wrote - "This can completely eliminate most if not all motion artifacts and make the mass under motion way less important." - this is very similar to a statement I made a little while ago here in the forum - in regards to Linear Motors. They can EASILY Move Much More Massive gantries than traditional belts and pulley mechanical systems and much more Accurately. And, that Accuracy also means the potential to eliminate motion artifacts - as you mentioned. But - I underlined potential because it depends on the implementation within their system - and, only way to Prove it eliminates the motion artifacts  is to get your hands on one of the systems and push it to go FAST! Even with the Essentium HSE - I DID indeed see motion artifacts. 

So - only time will tell...

-K

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/9527c4de-1d4d-4ad7-9916-ea85926f5625n%40googlegroups.com.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Hmmm… that’s interesting.., that you still saw artifacts.

One can get all sorts of imperfections from other factors… in particular from the extruder subsystem including the feeder, the feeder motor the hotend temp consistency, etc… so we will see. 

One thing about the L1 and L4 is that Lightmake won’t be overly dependent on open source freebies in their designs. IOWs it’s almost all on them to develop the kinetic system.

This should be very interesting. 

I’ll be ordering ALL the addons including their auto loader.

[david merten]

The 1 thing I am hung up on is their statement of 4 independent heads. Yet obviously there are 2 heads on each gantry. This will limit the independent movement between the two. What happens when one needs to go in one direction and the other head need to move in the opposite direction perpendicular to the gantry they are on?

Though I still want one and consider it a better alternative than the snapmaker that I was going to purchase in the future. 

         David

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/caad58c5-fb7e-4af6-b5fd-e0c04b26e9b4n%40googlegroups.com.

[markni...@gmail.com]

I believe that is why the good lord invented the wait state.

[Bryan Eckert]

Consider each gantry to be an IDEX configuration. It's a dual IDEX. It can print 2 prints at once per carriage (smaller footprint obviously). But those 2 prints have to either be a clone, or a mirror of each other.

For full plate multicolor printing, the in use head uses the whole carriage, and the head not in use parks at the side of the gantry. The gantry that isn't printing gets parked at the end of the printer.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/CAPZzpquomkZbUAYvvqnD4o5iX4QP4YgGmxEKb8O8UjoWxd2XhQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

They just sent me a link accessing a lot of vids and pics… 

If I can share I’ll post in another thread…

One vid shows the singular linear motor moving left and right  at what my eye tells me is well over 100m/s. The thing that impresses me about it is the complete absence of acceleration. It’s full speed start and full speed and stop. Insanely sharp kinetic control. Now what that means tothe liquid polymer getting extruded is likely to  be over shoots, but that level of control will be very interesting.

[Bryan Eckert]

If it’s anything like the Peopoly Magneto X the print quality should be fantastic. That had the linear motors too and same insane acceleration.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/83ac58d0-52e2-4cf1-ae35-21a7a64beed1n%40googlegroups.com.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

So far the samples of multi material color prints are minimal and simplistic. No samples of paint-on material changing. The vid of the slicer don’t demo it at all. As such we should expect that at least initially that multi material color prints will require multiple objects as parts rather than paint on prior to slicing.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Whoops… never,Ind…

They just emailed me with a link to their slicer. It has the paint on color.

[Bryan Eckert]

Is it a fork off of Orca?

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/20c45f63-5b33-440c-9952-8a3945a697a6n%40googlegroups.com.

[markni...@gmail.com]

Yes, I read in the FAQ's it's an Orca fork.

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Same look and feel as Orca, PS and Bambu Studio (Can't use the initials on that one!).

[Bryan Eckert]

Well that's B.S.! 🤣

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/8826f8fb-3ef9-497b-be9b-1ad0a3fee238n%40googlegroups.com.