3D Printing News
It's been exactly one year since we started posting a poll to the All3DP homepage every Sunday, and in that time we've gotten some great insights into how you think and do 3D printing.
A year is a short time, but even in that space things have changed a lot at All3DP as we navigate the challenges of a publishing industry in flux and a 3D printing industry that's evolved into something quite different than what we've known and covered in our 12 years of doing this.
So here's to another year of questions and answers. The next few polls will be about us, and what you'd like to see from us.
Available now from the Snapmaker webstore at $89, the PLA Full Spectrum bundle includes four 1 kg spools of semi-translucent PLA, in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Grey colors. The manufacturer has the light transmission distance values dialed and material profiles available in the latest version of Snapmaker Orca slicer, letting you accurately color mix on your U1 3D printer. If you need a refresher on what Full Spectrum is and means, we explained when we took it for a spin earlier this year.
A post on LinkedIn from the manufacturer invites 3D printer users who could spare a little at the company's Prague HQ to conduct some user experience testing. No details have been shared of what exactly is the subject of the test, other than that it's new, and something they can't share anything about yet.
They're accepting applications on the this questionnaire until September 9. The chosen participants get vouchers for the Prusa e-Shop in return for their time and feedback.
Makera has gotten its software ducks in a row to accommodate the intended audience for its beginner-friendly Z1 machine, and it all looks very familiar.
Formula 1 hands out different trophies at each race, but the Italian Grand Prix has made something of a sport out of making its awards weird. This year, it 3D printed one. Called "fragile", this week's eccentric installment is a deliberately wobbly-looking stack of cups and bowls 3D printed from nylon powder, then painted, galvanized, and polished. Designed by Stella Scala and Simeone Crispino the Pirelli HangarBicocca contemporary art museum.
The race for speed in 3D printing might better be characterized as a race for flow. And in that arena, you have options. MicroSwiss recently upped its flow game with the release of the Hyper-CHT nozzle, a riff on Bondtech's Core Heating Technology IP with a custom design that ekes out more millimeters cubed of plastic per second.
We’re used to seeing “sustainable” 3D printing materials arrive with a Benchy and a lot of promises. A blouse is far more interesting. Designer Danit Peleg collaborated with filament maker ColorFabb on a soft, textile-like version of Algenesis’ Soleic bio-based TPU that All3DP featured in January. The result is a soft, textile-like 3D printing material that's biodegradable and free from microplastics. If biodegradable TPU can go from experimental filament to actual clothing, that’s the kind of progress we’re happy to wear.
Rocket engines, Future Vertical Lift, aerospace-grade alloys, supplier qualification, and AM production scale-up dominate the October program — reflecting a sharp rise in DoD-backed additive manufacturing funding.
Sunlu and Inslogic's new low-energy filament storage solution doesn't use hot air, just room-temperature air circulation and desiccant for low-moisture long-term storage.
Prusa's next major update for its slicer marks a new chapter for the software, built from the ground up for multi-toolhead machines, multi-plate projects, and a new plug-in marketplace to wrangle rogue single-feature forks into a useful library for all.
Prusa's INDX toolhead spent nine months punted as a DIY-only upgrade kit. Now it also ships as a complete, pre-assembled printer.
3D printed lamps deserve to be everywhere: they’re useful, beautiful, endlessly customizable, and a much better advert for 3D printing than yet another articulated dragon. That's why MakerWorld's new Lumhaus has my attention. The browser-based parametric tool lets you tweak the shape, size, wall thickness, and surface pattern of a lamp, then export it ready to print — no CAD wrestling required. It's still in crowdfunding, but with its modest goal we should expect it to be available very soon.
Adjustable knobs for belt tensioning, mechanical and inductive bed leveling probes – heck, I even recall a period of getting excited about there being tool drawers integrated into some printers. I'm easily pleased.
The printers are all different now and with them, the roster of quality-of-life features the set them apart. What matters most to you - which feature do you check for first when investing in a new printer?
TPM3D used Formnext Asia Shenzhen to launch the CF250 and companion PPS250 powder-processing station, successors to the CF200 + PPS200 system we saw at Formnext Frankfurt in 2025. The CF250 is positioned as a compact alternative to systems like the Formlabs Fuse Fuse 1+ 30W. It now sports a larger chamber than before (250 × 250 × 320 mm) and raised productivity claims to 0.9–1.0 L/h. TPM3D has not announced pricing for the CF250 + PPS250.
The Kobra 3 Max V2 focuses on improvements at the hot end, upgrading the printer to use Anycubic's newer-style quick-release hardened steel nozzles as found in the Kobra 4 and Kobra X printers. Launching early next month, the change brings a higher max hot end temp of 350 °C – 50 °C higher than the first-gen Kobra 3 Max. That's basically where the upgrade ends.
Available as the Kobra 3 Max V2 Combo, it'll ship with the company's newer ACE Pro 2 filament dryer and switcher. Baseline specs remain the same: 420 x 420 x 500 mm build volume, reaching 90 °C at the bed.
The mysterious printer being teased across the brand's social channels is most likely the upcoming SparkX i8, a new multicolor-printing bedslinger with in-nozzle filament changes and filament path switching tech.
but the Core One+ (Gen 2) INDX swapping tools is just as nice to watch. For anyone paying attention since my last bulletin on this, about the regular Core One+ now being available with INDX, the Prusa team has just announced that the Core One L+ is now too, available with the INDX preassembled and calibrated out of the box. Shipping November 2026.
Chinese additive manufacturing equipment and materials company PollyPolymer just unveiled PollyAlign at Formnext Asia. This AI-assisted footwear customization system turns photos or short videos of feet into a 3D foot model upon which custom 3D printed PollyFab shoes are made for customers worldwide. Custom-fit shoe configurators have been tried before, but PollyPolymer may just have the full-workflow, machines, materials, and volume others have lacked. It already runs five fully automated factories for an annual production capacity of 3.5 million pairs of shoes.
iSun3D, the hardware sister company to filament maker eSun, just unveiled the Next series of three industrial-size FDM 3D printers at Formnext Asia, designed for both elastomers (TPU, TPE, PEBA) and engineering materials, with configurations reaching build volumes of up to 520 x 520 x 1,200 mm. The move suggests iSun3D is putting its experience in specialized production into a broader industrial FDM offering, pairing hardware with eSun’s extensive materials portfolio. There is currently no indication that Next will be marketed outside China, but the shift is one worth keeping on the radar.
A new Kickstarter campaign for an ultrasonic cutter pitches effortless 3D print support removal, shows us how vast the scene has gotten recently, and teaches a moment of caution to actually look a little closer before backing on Kickstarter.