3D Printing News

Last week I asked what your primary printer for personal use is. A resounding 44% of you said Bambu Lab is your go-to, with Prusa Research second place with just shy of 15% and Creality marginally behind that.

In a remarkable sign of how fortunes can reverse, Snapmaker is in fourth place with 5% of the tally, above Elegoo and Anycubic. The U1 bounce was real – and a useful toolchanging segue to this week's question.

Creality has joined the toolchanger craze, revealing K3 with KliTek. We know color printing isn't a regular use-case for the majority – so, who actually wants a toolchanger?

Just a beat after announcing the its ColorMix implementation of FullSpectrum color interpolation printing, Prusa has announced a neat ColorMix Shading web app that lets you dramatically shade prints to achieve filament mix-like effects. Just upload your STL, set the colors you're using, and reposition the "light" to set new shaded perspectives on your model. It's quick, easy, integrates directly with EasyPrint, PrusaSlicer or, for non-Prusa users, exports directly to 3MF. Read more about it on the Prusa blog.

Google just dropped 2D CAD drawings for its new Fitbit Air as an open invite for makers to design their own bands, so expect unofficial STLs to hit the usual model repositories fast. Just note: Long-term skin contact means sweat, friction, heat, and overnight wear, and very few 3D printing filaments are actually certified for that job. Look for materials, such as Siraya Tech’s Flex TPU 85A with ISO 10993 biocompatibility documentation.

This new filament is the company's Jet Black TPU in evening wear because sometimes your RC tires, phone cases, and bendy little shock-absorbing bits deserve to feel like they’re walking a red carpet. The new Prusament PTU Galaxy Black filament keeps the serious stuff under the sparkle, including Prusa’s in-house production and tech specs, plus refill-friendly NFC-tagged spool, and costs $37.99/500g — a small price to pay for adding just enough bling to make your functional parts whisper, “I’m not like the other black filaments.”

Designing garments based on body data — from curves and sweat zones to sun exposure — Laura Civetti and Juan Daniel Cabrera Cobo, with additive manufacturing partner Stratasys, generates textile patterns tuned to the wearer’s needs. This design research project is part fashion, part performance gear, and part glimpse of a future where your clothes don’t just fit — they respond. Printed on a Stratasys PolyJet 3D printer in 18 pieces then assembled.

A new update to Snapmaker's OrcaSlicer fork for its U1 toolchanger 3D printer integrates the community-developed FullSpectrum color printing technique, letting you combine filaments in a print to achieve new colors. A long (and excellent) post on the Snapmaker blog digs deep into how it works with tips and tricks for how to achieve the best results. It's well worth a read.

What's the primary brand of printer you're using, day in, day out, for your own personal printing? I'll list the common, popular desktop brands in the poll, but feel free to add your own if it's not listed under the "other" option.

The 3D model repository, acquired in February by MyMiniFactory, took another step on the path to reinvention this week with the introduction of an ad-pass, letting its users remove advertising from the site for $4.99 a month ($4.19 if you bill yearly). This follows last month's licensing shake up, which saw the site become a little more open source-friendly.

Never has a business move in 3D printing felt so close to home. (All3DP also has an ad-pass. It's pretty generous – you should check it out if you haven't already.)

With marketing material that looks suspiciously like a baby announcement, Bambu Lab is stoking expectations for its next addition. Congratulations, it’s a printer. The new machine appears to be called the A2L, with the “L” presumably standing for “large,” “larger,” or “look, we needed more build volume.” Details are under wraps until June 1, but clues suggest it's a bigger sibling to the popular A1. The ad also shows multi-color print, hinting that the A2L supports multi-filament printing like the A1 and A1 Mini. In other words: same family, bigger crib.

Stratasys has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Markforged from Nano Dimension in an all-cash deal valued at $42.5 million, subject to customary adjustments. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2026 and would add Markforged’s line of continuous carbon fiber FDMs, software, and materials capabilities to Stratasys’ portfolio, strengthening its position in aerospace, defense, automotive, and other industrial applications.