Flashforge’s CJ270 Is Out, a 10-Million+ Color Desktop Material-Jetter for Less Than $5K

We got our first glimpse of the CJ270 at the Formnext additive manufacturing show way back in 2024. That feels like a lifetime ago now, and while all we actually saw then was a collection of figurines printed on the system and a shell of a prototype sitting idle (not actually functional), the vision and promise was already pretty clear, and has survived unchanged.

Now available to buy at a launch price of $3,999, the CJ270’s price is a big step down from the $5,000 we were last told it’d cost, and a massive way off the $10K we were told the first time we saw it.

It is a photopolymer-based printer, hardening precise mixtures of drops of UV-sensitive resin. Unlike vat resin printers that generate prints an entire layer at a time inside a pool of resin, the CJ270 uses miniaturized material-jetting technology – independent inkjet-style heads that take passes to deposit their material, curing as it goes.

While the tech sounds like your typical 2D inkjet printer, in 3D printing it typically comes in much larger, free-standing devices that cost multiple tens of thousands of dollars. In shrinking it down to a desktop format that wouldn’t look out of place in an office or classroom, is supposedly serviceable – jetting heads are notorious for blockages and require strict printer hygiene – and sidesteps existing claims to the relevant tech, Flashforge has performed quite the feat. Though it has to be said that the novelty is dulled a little with high-quality desktop UV texture printers stepping onto the scene in the last year, plus the likes of HeyGears’ versatile G1X successfully raising some $15+ million on Kickstarter.

For your $3,999, you get 697 x 410 x 405 mm of machine. Inside, the build volume tops out at 180 x 120 x 100 mm, unchanged from our preview a couple of years ago. Also unchanged is the material flexibility and color palette. Flashforge says the printer supports more than 10 million colors, made possible by the printer spraying micro-droplets of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, white, or clear resin in ratios that together, give the appearance of the required colors. These droplets cure instantly under UV light.

Prints that use up the full volume could take longer than a day to complete, with Flashforge advising a general rule of thumb as models around 10 cm tall requiring 15+ hours to print, while prints around 15 cm need some 25+ hours.

Unlike the rapidly expanding color-mixing options we’re starting to see in filament printing through the likes of FullSpectrum, which is fixed on a per layer basis, Flashforge’s system here can selectively place those colors, letting you achieve photorealistic results in 3D, basically.

The materials are proprietary to the printer, with no mention of third-party compatibility down the road. Layer thicknesses of just 7 microns are achievable, with complex results possible thanks to dedicated water-soluble support material. An ultrasonic cleaner speeds the support removal process from around 10 hours of soaking to just one or two using the cleaner, but is not essential.

Some post-processing may be necessary depending on your preferences. Flashforge details that additional curing time, plus sanding and glass coats can bring the best out of some prints.

MacOS users are out of luck. The ColorPrint software the CJ270 needs is Windows only. There’s no WiFi support at launch, with the company planning to add it later. For now, jobs pipe over through the printer’s Ethernet connection or via USB thumb drive, ferried physically to the printer.

A lot of generically cutesy color figurines are used to impress upon us that prints on the CJ270 are a potential time-saver over regular resin printing and painting, which, yes, fair enough. Educational models, “IP & character” and “creative enthusiast” (whatever that means) are but a few of the target groups Flashforge sees the CJ270 ideally suited to. In our view, it’s a timely bridge between desktop nascency in full-color printing and the prohibitively expensive professional systems that have typically produced this kind of full color figurine. $3,999 isn’t an offensive price for the technology on offer, so perhaps Flashforge is on to something.

The CJ270 is available to order now. The first 100 units will ship by October 15, according to the Flashforge webstore.

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