3D printing is a fantastic hobby to have. The amount of creativity you can explore is only confined to your imagination, and of course, the amount of filament you have. Once you are the owner of a 3D printer, the main ongoing cost of enjoying it is the expense of constantly refilling your printer's spool with a roll of filament. Today's deal is here to help you continue to bring your printed creations to life, but highlighting an almost too good to be true deal on 10 spools of Creality's Hyper PLA filament for just $86.32. That's just $8.63 a spool, which is insane, considering they cost $17.99 each from eBay and $19.99 each, direct from the Creality store.

● Check out this deal at eBay

If you click on one of our links to this fantastic deal, you will find that you can mix and match a selection of colors to complete this deal. The colors available are white, black, red, blue, gray, skin, yellow, green, orange, brown, gold, purple, multicolor, multicolor-short gradient, multicolor-long gradient, strawberry red, peach powder, and peri blue. It doesn't change the price if you select different colors, but you must pick 10 spools in total.

Creality's Hyper PLA filament is designed to be used with 3D printers that have high printing speeds up to 600mm/s. The filament will be less likely to warp, will have better fluidity at higher temps, and will also cool faster. Giving you a better overall finish on your 3D-printed creations. Each spool contains 1KG of 1.75mm Hyper PLA filament.

Now, to be able to buy these 10 spools of Creality Hyper PLA filament for just $86.32, you first have to choose 10 spools of filament and add them to your eBay cart. This will automatically enable a "buy 6, get 4 free" deal, bringing the initial $179.90 total down to $107.90. Now go to the checkout and add code NEWFINDS20 in the coupon box, and watch the price drop a further 20% to just $86.32. This is the perfect deal for stacking up on your filament stockpile, or for filling up a multicolor feeder system on your printer.

If you're looking for a new hobby to get into, you can't go far wrong with some 3D printing. It's no longer a small fringe hobby, as the barrier to entry has all but disappeared. You can find many brands and different models of printers to suit a wide variety of hobbyists, varying widely in price and size. You can even pick up multicolor printers at reasonable prices as the new tech becomes more mainstream. Today's deal highlights a great bargain in Creality's Summer Mega Sale, where you can grab the K2 Combo 3D Printer and the included CFS multicolor system can be bought directly from Creality's online store for $499; that's the cheapest we've ever seen for this combo, and $48.99 cheaper than the same deal on Amazon.

● Check out this deal at Creality

The Creality K2 Combo is the smaller printer in Creality's K2 Plus and K2 Pro lineup of 3D printers. It still manages to provide a fully enclosed 260 x 260 x 260 mm print bed, which is an ample size for 3D printing, especially if you're a beginner and want to have the K2 placed on a nearby desktop. Further enhancing its in-office appeal are quiet step-servo motors on the X and Y axis, and dynamically balanced fans that keep the K2 running in a "Silent Mode" with noise levels around 45 dB. Meaning you can have this machine printing away in the same room as you without it causing a distraction.

This K2 3D printer comes in a Combo and includes Creality's CFS system, a 4-way multicolor filament-switching component. The CFS module is a powerful add-on that makes the K2 printer a much more enticing option for 3D printing hobbyists and professionals, and it can be combined together with up to four other CFS units for 16-color print projects if you're a professional working on larger 3D printing creations.

We haven't had the chance to review the Creality K2 Combo 3D printer, but we have reviewed its slightly bigger brother, the K2 Pro, back in December of 2025. With the K2 Pro commanding a high price, we were happy to see that the launch of the K2 Combo made the K2 lineup much more accessible for beginners to jump on board the 3D printing hobby train. With several price reductions since, and the current summer sales event happening on the Creality store, this $200 discount on the K2 Combo makes this 3D printer a very attractive prospect.

Printed Solid, the Delaware-based filament manufacturer acquired by Czech Prusa Research in 2022, is now known as Prusa USA, Inc. I chatted with Prusa Research team members at Open Sauce, who confirmed the name change was largely window dressing, with nothing changing in the company’s day-to-day operation. Josef Prusa will remain CEO of both companies, with a new Marketing Officer moving up the ranks internally.

During the changeover, Printed Solid will be known as “Printed Solid, a Prusa Company”. The website now proudly states that Prusa Research is a “European-American” company with U.S. production capabilities. The company has a duplicate print farm at its 100,000-square-foot Delaware factory for the production of 3D printers and filament. The printers are not yet fully “Made in the USA,” as some parts are still needed from the factory in Prague. This helps overcome supply chain issues for American customers.

Josef Prusa states, “We wanted to be closer to our customers. Expanding to America was the natural next step to support the most important market in the world.” His booth at Open Sauce proclaimed Prusa to be the biggest 3D printer manufacturer in the USA. Though Prusa Research ships well over 10,000 printers a month from both Prague and Wilmington, it’s a fraction of what its Chinese competitors produce overseas. 3D printing is simply getting bigger as more businesses and individual makers discover the ease of additive manufacturing.

The change comes at a difficult time for 3D printing enthusiasts, as several anti-3D printing bills are sprouting up around the country. These bills are trying to impose government oversight by installing spyware on new 3D printers to prevent the machines from manufacturing firearms. This is the antithesis of Prusa Research, which stands firmly on the side of Open Source, the right to repair, and proudly produces 3D printers that meet the high security needs of the US military and government agencies. Delaware, Prusa Research’s new home away from home, has just introduced House Bill 399, which would place so-called “blocking technology” on all 3D printers.

The Wilmington, Delaware facility manufactures Original Prusa MK4S and the Prusa CORE One+ 3D printers, plus Prusament and the Jessie line of PLA and PETG (named after Randolph’s dog). When we toured the facility in 2025, only three filament lines were established, with a massive space left clear for future expansion.

It is also the American fulfillment center for Prusa Research’s Amazon sales and the official US Service Center for printer support, which includes repair and maintenance.

The corporate restructuring follows some major leadership changes at Printed Solid. David Randolph, the former CEO of Printed Solid, stepped down in February, and Chris Pelesky, the company’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, stepped down earlier this month. Both veterans are still deeply involved in 3D printing, with Randolph taking the reins at Cocoa Press and Pelesky still leading 3D Printopia, one of the biggest consumer-focused 3D printing expos set to take place this fall in Philadelphia.

Mere weeks after dbrand announced it would have to shelve its Steam Machine Companion Cube because it didn't get permission to use Valve's intellectual property, a 3D printing enthusiast has created a DIY version that you can make for yourself at home. Printables user Jaron's Steam Machine Companion Cube Case is "An unofficial Portal Companion cube case for your Steam Machine" that you can create using a single-extruder printer, if you have the right model.

According to a user post on X, the fan-made tribute to the dbrand project was made "from scratch," and is based entirely on images of dbrand's design. Ironically, whether that will incur any copyright wrath from dbrand itself remains to be seen.

As you can see, the project looks exactly like dbrand's companion cube. According to the Printables listing, it can be printed using a single-extruder printer as long as it lets you pause at specific layers to swap filament for other colors. Jaron says a slicer is required to get the multi-color look for the panels, but otherwise provides an extensive parts list of screws, inserts, and magnets you can acquire from Amazon to piece the project together. You will, of course, also need a Steam Machine for the full effect, as well as a soldering iron, tweezers, and a couple of screwdrivers. Helpfully, they even list the specific Sunlu and Overture filaments used to get the look.

At first glance, this is definitely not a beginner 3D printing project, but Jaron has provided extensive assembly instructions as well as multiple YouTube videos to detail the assembly process. As you might expect, popping a 3D-printed shell on your Steam Machine might impact thermals. Jaron says that they have not done any extensive thermal testing of the design, but has ensured that no airflow or vents are blocked. In fact, the additional vent in the faceplate may even aid cooling.

dbrand unveiled its Companion Cube on November 12, the day of the Steam Machine's announcement. Following extensive interest, the company says it poured thousands of hours into industrial design and injection molding, as well as promoting the Companion Cube. Unfortunately, it forgot to ask Valve for permission. "They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license," the company admitted in a statement last month. Despite appeals, the company in the end gave up and shelved the project.

Valve's Steam Machine is the company's somewhat beleaguered in-home console alternative, which finally launched last month. The diminutive desktop gaming PC is a lot pricier than Valve had anticipated, owing to the AI pricing squeeze on RAM and SSD parts. As such, at $1,049, it's decidedly more expensive than console alternatives, somewhat limiting its appeal. With a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 six-core chip, RDNA3 graphics, 16GB of DDR5, and up to 2TB SSD capacity, it's pretty good value when compared to equivalent PC hardware.

If you have got your hands on one and would like a version of dbrand's Companion Cube to match, this enthusiast 3D-printed project — which Jaron says is not affiliated with Valve or Steam, nor features any official assets from any game — could be a fun way to spend a weekend.

One thousand Prusa CORE One INDX Founder’s Editions have shipped, giving a lucky few first access to Bondtech’s revolutionary toolchanger mod. The Founders Edition is a special limited run, intended for early adopters and Prusa fanatics.

The INDX toolchanger promises multi-material printing without the headache of prime towers and massive purge waste. Since toolchangers have a dedicated nozzle for each filament path, they don’t need to clean out the nozzle between color or material swaps; however, they do need to “prime” the nozzle to make sure the filament is flowing at the right pressure. Before the INDX, this meant printing a smallish, unavoidable prime tower. The INDX has been precisely tuned to purge only tiny crumbs of waste into an internal tray, then wipe the nozzle on a silicone pad.

The INDX, invented and patented by Bondtech, uses an induction heater to rapidly bring each nozzle to temperature in a few seconds. This allows the Prusa Core One with INDX to have some of the fastest color swap times we’ve seen.

Tom’s Hardware was sent an eight-tool kit so we could share our first-hand experience with the INDX. It took the better part of a weekend to strip down our existing CORE One and modify it. This involved completely removing the Nextruder, replacing it with the INDX carriage, then mounting a rack to hold the eight tool heads. Eight spool holders were mounted on the sides, using preexisting screw holes. A calibration sensor was mounted to the front corner of the build platform, and an internal waste catcher was installed.

Prusa requested that we not conduct a full review of the Founder’s Edition, as it is merely a taste of what’s to come. The final retail INDX will be a more refined version, with a few tweaks (like better visibility through the front grill) and firmware upgrades. Prusa Research is taking feedback from Founders to improve the retail launch.

Prusa Research is expected to launch the retail version of the INDX for Prusa CORE One + by the end of July. A 4 tool kit will cost $749, while an 8 tool kit will run $999. Bondtech is offering a Development Kit that can be installed on Vorons, Sovols, or whatever you can hack, with a starting price of $487.50 for one toolhead.

So why is the Founders Edition considered unfinished? Bondtech’s original INDX concept was designed as a generic add-on to any compatible 3D printer, not as a bespoke Prusa mod. We first saw a Bondtech demo of the INDX at Rapid/TCT in April of 2025, mounted on a Voron 0. The partnership with Prusa Research was announced seven months later at Formnext, with a functional CORE One sporting eight tool heads.

The CORE One was not built with the INDX in mind, and it’s a testament to Prusa’s ingenuity and Open Source moddability that such a collaboration can work at scale. Prusa Research has always maintained a close connection with its user base and encourages owners to creatively tinker and customize the machines they own.

Unlike previous purpose-built toolchangers we’ve reviewed, the INDX is an upgrade kit. This is not a beginner-friendly piece of hardware to install, and Prusa Research is looking into issues that Founders are having with assembly to improve the retail experience. They may need to offer a fully assembled “Prusa INDX” to properly compete in this era of dumbed-down “just push play” 3D printers.

Though our “definitely-not-a-review-unit” had a few hiccups, most issues were solved by a firmware update and a second run through the calibration program. We’ve not had any issues with print quality, and our first calibration print turned out flawless.

Meet Otto, the Eight Color Calibration Butterfly

Prusa published a new calibration print just for the INDX. This eight-color sample test print took 1 hour and 14 minutes. The wings are a first-layer test and are only two layers thick. A tab on the wing slots into the body to prove that tolerances and extrusion flow are correct. The multi-colored wing segments act as a visual test for first-layer quality, belt tension, and toolhead alignment, as any tiny offset in color boundaries or axis motion will show up instantly.

Our Otto printed perfectly on the first try.

An awesome 3D printer could be yours for a brilliant price. One of our favorite 3D printers, the Bambu Lab P1S, is on sale for $399.99 right now. That price means you'll save $300 compared to its MSRP, scoring you a printer with a seriously decent spec sheet.

● Grab this deal at Bambu Lab's store

This is a good price for the P1S, but we'd be remiss if we didn't make it clear that it isn't a new development. We've seen Bambu Lab slash the cost of the P1S several times in recent months, so it isn't a price we're unfamiliar with. $399 is (so far) the floor for the P1S' price, and while we can't see it jumping back up to $699 any time soon, it doesn't negate what a great printer you're getting here.

If you're new to the 3D printing world, the Bambu Lab P1S should be on your radar. Compared to some of its more complex rivals, the P1S is easy to set up. This is a great all-rounder for beginners and pros, as our Bambu Lab P1S review explains, arriving semi-assembled and requiring only 15 minutes to get set up and running. It has a whole host of features designed to make it easy to use, too, including automatic bed leveling and easy-to-use presets that you can apply to your printing process in the slicer software, making it a more approachable option for novices.

You're getting a fully enclosed printing environment with the P1S, so it's a good option for prints that require high temperatures in the right climate. The build volume is 256 x 256 x 256 mm, a large bed size for a budget-focused printer, though you can find larger ones. The bed is made from a textured PEI spring steel sheet which, in our experience, makes it easier to remove your models once the print process is complete.

You're using one of Bambu Lab's proprietary 0.4mm nozzles as standard with this printer, which is attached to a direct drive extruder. An extruder like this one gives better pressure control while you're printing, which improves accuracy and avoids filament waste. You can print pretty quickly with the Bambu Lab P1S, too, as it's able to achieve a 20,000 mm/s² acceleration limit here.

Wireless connectivity comes as standard, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections offered. However, if you'd rather stick close to the printer, you can load models to print directly using the P1S' microSD card slot. The built-in LCD screen and control panel let you choose your desired print options and settings. You've also got a time-lapse camera that can help you watch (or rewatch) the whole print process from start to finish.

The P1S might have been replaced by its successor, the P2S, in our best 3D printer guide, but the OG is still a firm favorite, and its near-perfect review score still holds. The $399 sale price here makes it a serious option for someone looking to begin printing on a budget, especially as stock levels have fluctuated during sales events.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

The Flashforge Creator 5 is the best budget tool changer currently on the market. Of course, there are only two other true toolchangers out there right now, three if you include the Bambu Lab H2C nozzle swapper. At the time of this review, the Creator 5 is on sale for $699, after a $100 discount. For that, you get a solid, open-frame Core XY machine with a 256 mm cubed build volume and four speedy toolheads that won’t waste your filament budget.

The Creator 5 is not perfect. It purges an insane amount of material when it loads, and the required prime block is surprisingly large. If you don’t use the Flashforge filament profiles, you’ll be in for a shock at the heft of the prime tower. Why? They only adjusted the filament profile for their own material. Everything purges at single-nozzle AMS levels. This setting is buried pretty deep in the slicer, and it took some time for me to find and correct it.

The printer handle high temperature materials well, which is more relevant if you opt for the enclosed Creator 5 Pro. It's still useful on the open frame machine because it loads and unloads at a higher temp to avoid clogging.

Being an open-frame printer, the Flashforge Creator 5 is limited in the materials it can print. We used the basics, PLA, PETG, and TPU for most of our prints. Since the hot end temperature can go all the way to 320°C and bed can get to 120°C we did try some higher temp filaments like PET-GF which printed fine at 310°C.

There’s no upgrade path to take the Creator 5 to an enclosed Pro, something that other companies might offer. Even though it looks like Flashforge uses the same case for both machines, there’s no fan behind the exterior grill for extra cooling, and no way to install one. However, if your plan is to print in multicolor PLA, PETG, and TPU, this is a good, no-frills machine for your workshop. It's one of the best 3D printers we’ve seen this year, and I highly recommend checking it out for your next multicolor machine.

Specifications: Flashforge Creator 5

Flashforge Creator 5: Included in the box

The Flashforge Creator 5 arrives mostly assembled. The tool heads are pre-assembled with a mounting plate. The spoolholders, touch screen, toolkit, filament coils, and quick start guide are included.

Design of the Flashforge Creator 5

The Flashforge Creator 5 is a fast Core XY open-frame printer with a simple grey case that prioritizes mechanical simplicity to keep the price down. We mainly see this in how filament is manually loaded to each tool head and requires picking up each head to physically hold down a lever while you push the material through to the nozzle.

The build volume is 256 mm³, which is a fairly standard size when compared to most 3D printers. The removable flex plate is two-sided and coated with a common PEI textured surface, which gave us no problem.

As I mentioned previously, the open frame case is not meant to be upgraded with a door or top lid. It appears to be the same one used on the Pro version of this machine, which is a great cost-saving method for Flashforge, but disappointing to the buyer when you notice there are no fans behind the vents in the body.

The X and Y axes run on beefy 8mm belts with a linear rail for the X axis and linear rods for the Y. The Z runs on three linear rods, driven by three lead screws belted to a single stepper motor.

The tool head carriage includes the extruder motor and parts cooling fan, which are shared by four very lightweight tool heads. Each tool head has a manual cutter, hot end, and cooling fan. The tool heads attach to their base with magnets and are picked up by the tool carriage mechanically by gripping the circular protrusion on the back of the tool head, and aligned by mating with three pins on the tool head carriage. This is less complex than motorized latching pins that other machines use, but during our testing, it proved to be a very reliable system.

The hot end includes the thermistor and heater, and is replaced as a unit. This is not a quick-release system, and you will need tools and a bit of patience to change out the nozzles.

The Flashforge Creator 5 has basic, static, spool holders which allow for the use of a wide variety of spool types from sample spools and coils to oversized spools and spools with dinged up rims. Since the Creator 5 does not automatically unload filament, these work just fine.

Assembling the Flashforge Creator 5

For a complex machine, the Flashforge Creator 5 is very simple to assemble. The 4-inch touchscreen plugs into a socket on the printer, with no ribbon cable to fuss with, and attaches with two screws.

The tool heads are prewired and attached to a plate, which is screwed into the right side of the printer, and the tool heads dock magnetically, also on the right side of the printer.

The spool holders are attached to the right side of the printer with a single screw each. Four nozzle blockers slot into the right side of the printer to prevent oozing. There is one cable to plug into the toolhead carriage, and it attaches with two screws.

Before calibration, there is a nice reminder to make sure you’ve removed the three screws holding the bad in place for shipping.

Preparing Files / Software for Flashforge Creator 5

The Flashforge Creator 5 requires a download of Flash Studio, which is based on Orca Slicer, which traces its lineage to Bambu Studio and Prusa Slicer. Flash Studio is stable and works fine for connecting to the Creator 5 in either cloud or LAN mode. The filaments input from the printer itself show up on the device page, but have to be manually chosen in the slicer as they do not sync up automatically.

Flashforge does not give access to the printer directly from a browser using the IP address, but does offer LAN mode if you want to avoid the cloud. Files can also be transferred manually via a USB drive.

You can access Voxelshare, Flashforge’s file sharing site from the home page of the slicer. While not as deep as some of the other file sharing services out there, it is a good place to start looking for something to print.

Flashforge does have a nice series of guides that can be accessed directly from the slicer. Information is a little light on the Creator 5 largely because it is still in pre-order status.

Leveling the Flashforge Creator 5

The Flashforge Creator 5 sets Z offset and levels the bed as part of its initial calibration, along with vibration compensation and extruder offset calibration. It calibrates the four tool heads by tapping a calibration disk hidden underneath the build plate. This takes about 40 minutes, but only needs to be done when the machine is first set up.

The printer offers to recheck the level at the start of each print. Since the printer sets the level using the tool head carriage, without the need to level each individual tool, it’s quick enough to just let it level each time.

Loading Filament on the Flashforge Creator 5

Loading filament in the Flashforge Creator 5 is a very simple, though oddly manual, process. Each tool head has a manual cutter, triggered by a lever, which also releases the extruder. To load filament, place the spool on the holder, push the end of the material into the appropriately numbered port, and hand-feed the material to the tool head. You then remove the toolhead from its dock, press the lever to release the extruder tension, and feed the material until it stops. To unload, you reverse the process.

The loading routine on the printer nicely sets the hot end temperature to match the last filament loaded, 250 °C for PLA and TPU, and 270 °C for PETG. It will then purge a rather large amount of material onto the floor of the printer.

Printing on the Flashforge Creator 5

The Flashforge Creator 5 comes with four small sample coils of basic colored PLA, which are too small to be of any real use. You should check out our guide to the best filaments for 3D printing to stock up on filament before using the Creator 5.

For my first print, I decided to jump into the deep end of the pool. I used Creality’s Cube Me tool to make a model from a photo of Dave Hasselhoff from his Knight Rider days. I used the .12 mm layer height default profile, which set an average print speed of 160 mm/s. I tilted the model 90 degrees backward to avoid supports on Hoff’s face and stuck with the default values for tree supports. The supports were very stout, but were removed with very little trouble.

The print took 8 hours 28 minutes to complete and looks fantastic. The purge block generated by the defaults was massive on this model, weighing in at 44 grams, more than the model’s 33 grams. This purge value can be adjusted in the slicer and should be refined in future software releases as well.

I used Anycubic PLA Plus in peach pink, cyan, and black. The white is Microcenter’s Inland PLA.

I wanted to test the ability of the Creator 5 to push TPU, so I loaded up some FiberFlex 40D from Fiberology. 40D is a little bit softer than standard 95A TPU, and many of the printers I test have a hard time handling it. To make it more interesting, I gave it a difficult model, the TPU air duster from Dan the 3D Printing Dad on Printables. This file will fail at the first hint of underextrusion. Using a .12mm layer height and an average print speed of 50 mm/s, the print completed in 2 hours and 9 minutes.

The duster printed great, with no leaks in the bellows, but did fail ¾ of the way up the straw. That soft TPU was way too wiggly at the top, where the model was very small.

Sadly, the extruder clogged, which required disassembling the tool head to clear.

I wanted to give the machine another shot, so I loaded up some CookieCad Sunset TPU, which has a shore hardness of 95A. This time, I was prototyping a phone bag I made in Tinkercad.

This printed at a .2mm layer height, with an average speed of 50 mm/s. The print took a little over 10 hours to print. The quality is very nice with just a little bit of stringing on the interior of the bag, which just means I should have dried the TPU before printing with it.

For PETG, I printed a Fidget Grabber I found while browsing MakerWorld. Using a .2mm layer height and an average print speed of 120 mm/s, the print completed in 2 hours 57 minutes. The print looks really good in Polymaker Silver PETG, and all of the print-in-place joints came out super clean. It’s not the most functional print, but it’s certainly fun.

Bottom Line

The Flashforge Creator 5 printed everything we threw at it (except softer than soft TPU) and did an excellent job. It will be even better if Flashforge can tone down the purge waste when loading and on the prime block. The slicer could be a little less clunky and sync filaments directly, but again, this is a small issue.

$699 isn’t exactly the cheapest price for a 3D printer, but it is currently the best deal you’ll get on a tool changer. If you want to print in four colors, but hate wasting your filament, the Creator 5 is worth a look.

Right now, our options for tool changers are limited. The Snapmaker U1 has a bit more polish and can be upgraded to be fully enclosed by slapping an IKEA tub on top of it. It is currently $899. The prosumer Prusa Research XL, which has a larger print volume and five heads, is $3,899.

Ivan Miranda has released the design files for the Mirandetta, a 3D-printed electric motorbike that breaks down to fit inside a suitcase. He has re-engineered the vehicle so that every part prints on a single 300mm x 300mm bed. The files cost $40 through his website, ivanmiranda.com, and the redesign targets makers who want to build their own rather than admire the one-off he rode at Prague Maker Faire.

Miranda built the original in roughly 10 days as a "travel hack" — the smallest motorbike an adult could ride that still packed into checked luggage. To achieve this, he relied on aluminum wheel axles and an all-metal steering column assembly, and now the released design replaces both with printed parts.

Miranda also standardized the lighting on off-the-shelf T10 automotive sockets and bulbs instead of the salvaged components in the original, cut the number of distinct screws, and constrained every part to a 300mm x 300mm build volume. He says the redesign took more work than building the first bike from scratch. The reference printer is the Prusa CORE One L, a 300mm x 300mm x 330mm machine that we've reviewed previously. Anything smaller, including the standard 250mm-class CORE One, can't fit the largest parts in one piece.

The wheels use lawnmower tires, which are normally too flat-profiled to lean on, and Miranda printed the rims narrower than standard so the tire's internal bead rings sit closer together; once inflated, the sidewalls can't splay outward and the tread rounds into a profile usable for cornering.

Braking uses floating motorcycle discs rather than the bicycle discs because the floating discs can be deriveted to open up a wider center bore that a printed axle passes through without shearing. Meanwhile, a belt drives the rear wheel, and the throttle is a 10K linear potentiometer mapped through an Arduino to the motor's electronic speed controller.

Power comes from two 36V cordless tool battery packs, making them hot-swappable and simpler to carry through airport security, while a DC-DC converter steps the 36V down to 12V for the horn and lights. Without the batteries fitted, the finished bike weighs a little over 14kg.

Users won't be folding up the assembled scooter and packing it away, though; that's only possible when the bike is fully assembled. Regardless, Miranda won the suitcase-build contest at Prague Maker Faire with the machine and plans to show it at Open Sauce. Miranda is selling the files as-is with no support, and the bike isn't intended as a production design; Miranda describes it as a "complicated hobby build."

Bambu Lab announced a major collaboration with the camera brand Insta360, featuring a “Let’s Make It” Luna Ultra Design Challenge on MakerWorld. The two companies invite fans to design and 3D print custom hardware to fit the new Luna Ultra, a dual-lens 8K gimbal camera built for vlogging. This is the first camera brand to establish an official presence on MakerWorld, the home of Bambu Lab’s file library and maker community.

Up for grabs are $11,160 in prizes, including Luna Ultra cameras, 3D printers, and gift cards. The most intriguing part of the contest is a “Mystery Grand Prize” that will go to the most inspiring concept and could be selected for development as an official Insta360 product.

Though the Luna Ultra uses AI-powered software, AI-generated designs are not welcome in the contest. Each model entry must be a new, unique, human-created design that is printable on an FDM 3D printer. Designers can download a mockup of the Luna Ultra to precisely fit their creations to the camera without needing to own one first.

• Insta360 Luna Ultra : $769.99 at Amazon

MakerWorld – and other 3D printing file sites – are already full of useful camera mods for all sorts of cameras. Tripods, clips, grips, boom arms, dollies, stands, cases, and storage systems abound for every kind of camera. Type “Insta360” into MakerWorld, and over a thousand files pop up for the company's older camera models. Most files are born of necessity, then shared for free by the photographers who designed them.

Insta360’s decision to embrace the 3D printing community and encourage fan-made mods is a refreshing change from standard corporate behavior. We’ve seen many cases of brands being overprotective of their IP and shutting down the "unauthorized" use of their name and image. Rather than presenting Bambu Lab users with a cease-and-desist letter, Insta360 is leaning into the fandom. By providing official 3D-printable mockups of the Luna Ultra only a few weeks after the camera’s launch, they are asking users to become active participants in the hype train.

“We see a shift where creativity doesn’t stop at capturing images—it extends into building and shaping the tools themselves. This collaboration between Insta360 and Bambu Lab brings together imaging and the maker community for the first time in this way, bringing creators the freedom to push the boundaries of what's possible,” said Max Richter, Co-founder & Vice President of Marketing at Insta360.

The two companies hope the contest encourages users to “move past the limits of off-the-shelf parts” and build custom gear uniquely designed for each photographer’s shooting environment.

You don’t need to have an Insta360 camera or even a 3D printer to enter the contest. The contest consists of two tracks: one for 3D printed models posted to MakerWorld and a second for creative ideas posted to social media.

For the model design challenge, contestants need to upload an original creation that fits the Luna Ultra and mark it with the hashtag #PrintForLuna.

Track 1: The Model Design Challenge

For the core model track, contestants need to upload an original creation that fits the Luna Ultra to MakerWorld and tag it with #PrintForLuna.

Three grand prizes will be awarded for physical designs:

Most Original: Wins an Insta360 Luna Ultra Creator Bundle and a Bambu Lab X2D Combo.

Best Functional: Wins an Insta360 Luna Ultra Standard Bundle and a Bambu Lab A2L Combo.

Best Aesthetic: Wins an Insta360 Luna Ultra Standard Bundle and a Bambu Lab A2L Combo.

Models must fit the Luna Ultra, and be printable on an FDM printer. Each participant can submit up to five entries per contest, and each entry must be a new, unique design. AI generated models and remixes are not eligible. Models will be judged by a committee based on relevance, printability, uniqueness, visual appeal and functionality.

Track 2: The Social Media Campaign

The social media contest is for creators who may be new to 3D printing and lack design skills to actually design and print their ideas. Entries can be based on idea concepts, sketches or written descriptions shared on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, or Reddit (r/Insta360) with the hashtags #PrintForLuna #BambuLab #Insta360LunaUltra.

Two grand prizes will be awarded for social media posts:

Most Creative Idea: Wins an Insta360 Luna Ultra Standard Bundle and a Bambu Lab X2D Combo.

Most Practical Idea: Wins an Insta360 Luna Ultra Standard Bundle and a Bambu Lab X2D Combo.

Submissions will be open from July 10 to August 9, with winners announced on August 20, 2026

F/A-18 Super Hornets and other jets that require advanced composite parts can sometimes remain grounded for a protracted period due to the lack of available parts. The U.S. Navy now wants to solve this issue by giving maintenance sites around the world the ability to 3D print these parts on site, instead of waiting for deliveries coming from thousands of miles away through an extended logistics chain. According to the Department of Defense’s information distribution service, this 3D-printing repair method will allow the U.S. Navy to repair and replace advanced composite parts at forward operating bases, cutting repair time by around 50%.

"Our goal is to put capability directly into the hands of the Fleet," Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Commander Rear Adm. Todd Evans said. "By simplifying a complex repair so it can be done forward, our engineers would get aircraft back in the fight faster — it's a smart solution that makes our squadrons more self-sufficient and directly improves operational readiness."

Composite parts are more difficult to repair than traditional aluminum parts and require specialized experience. This new technique allows troops to 3D-print composite patches and apply them directly on the aircraft, instead of having to order and wait for complete replacements of damaged panels. Laboratory and ground tests have already proved the viability of these 3D printed repairs, so the next step is to see how these repairs will perform in the field under the stresses of real-world operations.

Other military branches and divisions are also experimenting with 3D printing to streamline operations and logistics. One Hawaiian startup submitted a 3D-printed rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) for the Pentagon, which used radar-absorbent material (RAM) to reduce its radar cross-section (RCS) and make it harder to detect. The U.S. Army also introduced a three-week course called the Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course (UALC), which trained soldiers how to operate and 3D print drones in the field, as well as 3D printer maintenance and other necessary skills related to 3D printing. The U.S. Marine Corps also developed its own modular 3D-printed drone that had no China-sourced parts capable of achieving various missions, from reconnaissance to one-way attack duties.

3D printing is quickly becoming a crucial manufacturing technique for these military branches, especially as the U.S. faces a threat across the Pacific. If ever a conflict arises in this area, it would face a near-peer adversary at the tail end of a logistics chain thousands of miles long. By giving forward bases the ability to 3D print their own parts and supplies, it will reduce their dependence on a vulnerable supply chain while also allowing them to speed up maintenance and repairs.

Creator Zac Builds wanted to hide a desktop PC in plain sight in their living room setup. But instead of just placing a discrete mini-PC behind their TV, they decided to build a custom case that allows them to mount it on their living room fan. They shared the project on their Facebook page, where they started with a Dreo 519S Tower Fan as the base of the unit. Aside from serving as the perfect hiding spot for the computer, the setup also served a secondary purpose by adding more air cooling to the system. At its maximum setting, the Dreo 519S can hit wind speeds of 28 feet per second, which is more than enough to help keep the mini-PC’s fans slow and keep the system’s temperature in check.

The first thing that Zac Builds did was to disassemble the mini-PC — an AtomMan G7 PT — to take measurements and 3D-print the base that will hold the components to the back of the fan. They then disassembled the fan’s rear cover and 3D-printed four heavy-duty brackets to hold the mini-PC’s base to the fan while also guiding the airflow through the computer. While the initial base was a single flat sheet of plastic with standoffs to hold the various PC parts, the final version had cutouts to help improve airflow.

With the computer mounted on the Dreo 519S, Zac Builds 3D-printed the brackets and external case that will protect the components and ensure that air goes through the system. They initially made this into four parts (two parts for the brackets and two more for the face plates) but discovered a gap between the two face plates where air could seep through, thus ruining the flow. So, for their second iteration, they 3D-printed the face plate as one single unit and also added vent holes over the PC’s heatsink for more efficient cooling. The face plates also feature five I/O ports to allow the PC to connect to their TV and other peripherals, although we imagine that they preferred wireless connectivity as it’s kind of weird to have a bunch of wires plugged into your living room fan. Finally, to avoid having a power brick dangling from the back of the appliance, Zac Builds added a 3D-printed base that hid the power unit and threaded the mini-PC’s power cable inside the fan’s housing.

The completed build successfully hid the mini-PC, with the only hint from the front that there’s something different with the living room fan being the tiny box attached to its side and the single HDMI cable connecting it to the TV. It also had the added benefit of reducing the computer’s fan noise by around 10 to 15 dB because of the additional airflow that the stand fan brings to the table. The only issue that we see here is that you can’t use the fan elsewhere if you want to play games on your living room TV.

You can watch the complete build here:

Ampera, a nuclear tech startup, just revealed its first full-scale, 3D-printed nuclear reactor module that it says could be used to power AI data centers. According to the company’s press release, this module is the “world’s first subcritical, solid-state, factory-built thorium nuclear reactor.” It’s also the nuclear part of the company’s Integrated Energy Architecture, which comes with a Waste Heat Recovery module that could also be paired with either this 3D-printed nuclear reactor module or a Conventional-Fueled Power Generation module.

"This next-generation nuclear core and pressure vessel sets the foundation for factory-built, mass-produced nuclear energy," said Ampera CEO and founder Brian Matthews. "The advanced technology and additive manufacturing used demonstrate a clear commercial path for new nuclear technology coming to market in an accelerated manner."

The company’s description for its groundbreaking product is quite a mouthful, but it shows how advanced this nuclear reactor is. Subcritical means that its fuel does not reach criticality on its own, requiring an external source to jump-start the fission process. This is inherently safer because it reduces the chance of a runaway reaction that could lead to a meltdown. It also features a “solid-state” core, meaning it does not have any moving parts, making maintenance and operation simpler.

Factory-built suggests that the nuclear module could be manufactured relatively quickly in a production line. This would make it easier to scale for mass production and transport via shipping containers, thus cutting production costs to make it more affordable. Lastly, it uses thorium as its primary fuel source. Thorium is more abundant than uranium, so it’s easier and cheaper to acquire. It’s also not inherently fissile, requiring an external neutron source to produce protactinium-233, which then decays into U-233. While it could still be used for nuclear weapons, it’s relatively harder to do so, which is why the World Nuclear Association says that it “is sometimes promoted as having excellent non-proliferation credentials.”

While the startup unveiled the finished nuclear module, it didn’t mention turning it on and producing electricity with the system yet. This is in contrast to Valar Atomics, which turned on its Ward 250 nuclear microreactor recently and produced electricity to power an Nvidia RTX Spark desktop. Its CEO, Isiah Taylor, also announced that it’s partnering with Nvidia to power a 30MW data center using its technology.

Ampera is also targeting a 30MWe output with its complete system using a proprietary closed-loop, supercritical CO2 Brayton-cycle turbine to produce energy. One advantage of its modular approach to developing its power solution is that customers can purchase them as necessary. It can match the turbine module with its Waste Heat Recovery module to supplement power production in data centers, or it could attach a Conventional-Fueled Power Generation unit to the entire unit as a site’s primary power source. Once the nuclear module becomes available, operators could then easily swap that out to reduce their carbon footprint.

The company did not give a timeline for when it expects to start producing power with their solution, but it seems that they’re confident that they could deploy it soon in various applications. "Our reactors are built for the markets that need power the most: AI data centers, defense, industrial and maritime," Matthews said. "We expect to be the first company to industrialize factory-built nuclear power with near-term deployment timelines."

Maker's Pet has launched oomwoo, an open-source robot vacuum that owners build themselves. The robot works by mapping the home with an inexpensive 2D LiDAR sensor and then navigating using ROS 2 and the Nav2 stack on Raspberry Pi, integrating natively with Home Assistant. It can be printed using a regular desktop 3D printer and runs entirely without the cloud, while the hardware, firmware, and software are all open under the Apache 2.0 license. Ilia O of Maker’s Pet is also developing oomwoo in public “from the first commit,” though the project is so early that it doesn’t have any build instructions yet.

Right now, oomwoo is at the request-for-comments stage, with the current v0 milestone covering a 3D-printed chassis, a ROS 2 Gazebo simulation, and LiDAR mapping with manual SLAM, and the compute choice between a Raspberry Pi 5, an ESP32 running micro-ROS, or both is still open. Planned deliverables run from the bill of materials and printable files to firmware and a custom PCB, with the first BoM targeted for around mid-July.

The project is structured so the community can build it in parallel: the robot is split into self-contained modules, and contributors claim one and submit work as a pull request. A convenience kit will be sold through Maker's Pet, but Ilia says that buying it won’t be a requirement, and every part can be sourced independently.

The usual route to a cloud-free robot vacuum starts with a robot you already own. Valetudo, maintained by Sören Beye since 2018 and also released under Apache 2.0, replaces a commercial vacuum's cloud connection with local-only control and Home Assistant integration. Installing it, however, means rooting the vendor firmware, which on many supported Dreame, Roborock, and Xiaomi models requires disassembly and voids the warranty, and also can’t be undone.

The inclusion of local control could be a boon for getting more tinkerers and enthusiasts on board with the vacuum, following several examples of robot-vacuum security failures over the last few years. At DEF CON 32 in August 2024, researchers Dennis Giese and Braelynn Luedtke showed that several Ecovacs models could be hijacked over Bluetooth to reach their cameras and microphones, with Giese telling TechCrunch the security was “really, really, really, really bad.”

Hijacked DEEBOT X2 units later shouted slurs and chased pets in several U.S. homes, and a token flaw in DJI's Romo line let one tinkerer reach roughly 6,700 vacuums worldwide, floor plans, and live feeds included. One owner went as far as reviving a remotely bricked vacuum with custom boards and Python to run it offline. oomwoo's reference design eliminates that attack surface, navigating on 2D LiDAR and bumper sensors with nothing pointed at the room.

Bambu Lab has finally updated its popular A1 bedslinger with an increased build volume, a few technical tweaks, and additional capabilities. The A2L has all the room of a more expensive H2 Series, but at a fraction of the cost, at $569 for a four-color combo. Its open frame design makes this primarily a machine for PLA, PETG and TPU, which happen to be the most popular filaments for its target audience: family enthusiasts.

Bambu Lab has categorized this machine as a family-friendly craft center. When combined with its gold standard AMS Lite and the H2 Series blade cutter attachment, the A2L can whip up practical prints, toys, and vinyl iron-ons for apparel. The launch coincided with Bambu’s new PLA Pure, a new non-toxic PLA formula with low VOCs, and a pastel matte finish that hides layer lines.

Its one flaw is the insane vibrations generated by the A2L at speed. Normally, larger machines will be slowed down to avoid this, but Bambu Lab decided to toss granulated vibration-absorbing pellets in the frame and throw caution out the door. This makes the machine nearly as fast as the original A1 while still printing error-free. It also makes it a bit of a table snob, as most cheap tables can not hold it. I put the A2L on an IKEA Lack coffee table, a pretty standard surface for budget-minded makers, and the AMS Lite vibrated right onto the floor after 45 minutes of printing. If the table had been any higher (like a card table or wobbly kitchen table), it would have taken the whole printer onto the floor with it. Bambu has included a “steady” printing profile that quells the shaking at the expense of speed. A “high-quality” profile also runs at a less frantic pace.

The A2L retails at $469 for the standalone printer, $569 for a combo, with an additional $69 for a cutting upgrade kit. The printer is also compatible out of the box with the AMS2 Pro ($269), which would give you the ability to dry filament without needing additional equipment. Bambu Lab has really perfected its formula for quality, speed, and ease of use, making this one of the best 3D printers we’ve seen this year.

Specifications: Bambu Lab A2L

Included in the box: Bambu Lab A2L

Our A2L unit came with an AMS Lite and an optional blade cutter/pen plotter attachment. A cardboard toolbox holds all the tools needed to assemble and maintain the printer, plus a blade for making your own scraper. There was also a small coil for running a test print (enough to make that scraper).

Assembling the Bambu Lab A2L

The Bambu Lab A2L requires a small amount of assembly. First you need to attach the heatbed to the Y-carriage, then place the base into the gantry frame, which is a pretty beefy triangular unit. There’s a handful of screws to hold everything together, and a few wires to plug in. The instructions are very easy to follow.

Do apply lubricant to the Y-Axis while you have it exposed. It does not come pre-greased, and our test unit immediately requested grease after only a few prints.

The AMS unit snaps together quickly before being secured onto its stand.

Leveling the Bambu Lab A2L

The Bambu Lab A2L completely auto-levels itself during initial calibration, then can recheck the level before each print. It uses the nozzle as the probe, so it can also set the z height for you. I had no problems with the settings and no need to make adjustments.

Though calibration errors are rare, Bambu Lab has a section in its Wiki to guide you through troubleshooting advice.

Loading Filament in the Bambu Lab A2L

Like the Bambu Lab A1, the A2L can work from a single spool holder mounted to the gantry, or from four spools on the Lite AMS unit. In addition, the A2L is also out of the box compatible with the box style AMS and AMS 2 Pro.

For a single spool you must push filament through the Bowden tube to the toolhead, then tap “load filament” on the main menu. The machine will take over from there and display a checklist on the screen so you can follow along.

For the AMS Lite, simply push spools onto the motorized spindles and poke the filament into the intake. The machine will detect the filament and draw it in.

The AMS has an RFID reader, which allows it to read tags on Bambu Lab branded filament. These tags will tell the machine what type and color of filament is on each spindle. If you’re using untagged filament, or the single spool holder, you’ll need to enter this information manually.

Design of the Bambu Lab A2L

The Bambu Lab A2L is a plus sized Cartesian, or as we call them, bed slinger. The A-Series sleek white and brushed aluminum style has been copied by most of the competition, so Bambu Lab seems to be onto something.

The printer is extremely easy to use with a touch screen interface that contains guides to show you how to run the machine. It has the same build size as the H2 Series, but does not come with an option for an enclosure.

It has metal rails, linear bearings, and dual Z rods, all tucked inside a smooth frame and base that makes it look much more polished than other printers. To make up for its large size, it has a pair of hidden “granular dampers” designed to absorb vibration and stabilize the frame. You can’t see them, but you can hear them if you give the printer a bit of a shake.

The A2L has a new feature called “adaptive vibration compensation,” which uses a real-time algorithm to retune calibration as your print gets taller. This is to eliminate vibrations that can affect printers the taller – or heavier – they get.

When equipped with an AMS unit, the A2L takes up noticeably more space. Bambu Lab offered a clip that I could print myself that would attach the AMS to the X gantry, but I’m still not convinced that is the best place for it.

The extruder motor has been upgraded to a PMSM closed-loop servo to actively detect filament grinding in the gears, clogs and air printing. Combined with the new nozzle clumping detector on the purge sweep, the A2L should be able stop a lot of annoying small problems before they become huge spaghetti monsters.

One odd thing is the A2L uses the same quick swap steel nozzles as the A1 and A1 Mini. These are not the upgraded nozzles used on the H2 Series, but H-style nozzles are backward compatible with the A-Series. These nozzles have made a huge impact on the industry, with the competition scrambling to copy them as well. There’s no screws, wiring or messy thermal paste involved here.

The A2L is compatible with a cutting and plotting attachment, which is available as a separate purchase. The add-on is easy to install: simply remove the front cover and the spinner, then snap on the cutting attachment and plug a cable into the toolhead. It is advised to remove the bowden tubes for the filament, but there’s little need to do so. The hotend remains in place and is kept off by the machine.

The attachment can hold either a Bambu Lab made drag knife or any standard size pen or marker. I was able to use a normal ball point pen in mine by adding a few wraps of tape to thicken the pen body.

This is the same attachment you can get on the H2 Series and uses Bambu Suite, a companion app, to “slice” files. There is no laser add-on, since the A2L is open frame. The A2L also lacks a top down camera for positioning, so you will need to use the cutting function with the help of a phone camera equipped with Bambu Handy. This system is a bit janky, but it works, especially if you take care lining up the photos.

Bambu Lab Automatic Material System (AMS) Lite

We received the A2L Combo, which includes an AMS Lite module. The AMS Lite is made specifically for the A-Series and is not compatible with the Core XY machines. It’s not as clean looking as the boxy AMS, with four Bowden tubes stretching from each spool to the tool head. However, this simplified version is much easier to unjam should brittle filament break in the tube.

Each spool is mounted on a spring-loaded spindle, which provides the necessary retraction. Since each color has its own Bowden tube, the A2L only needs to pull the filament a few inches until it's clear of the tool head, not all the way back to the AMS Unit, which makes it a bit faster during color swaps than the original system. Each spool also gets a motor to push filament to the tool head. This new system solves the problem of cardboard spools with crushed edges, spools that are too wide or too tall, and spools that are too light.

There are notable drawbacks to using either of Bambu Lab’s AMS systems. The printer wastes an amazing amount of material when it cleans out the nozzle between colors. The waste can be reduced with tuning, but takes time and patience. The slicer will tell you exactly how much it will use before you start a print.

The second drawback is loss of speed. The printer needs to pause between layers to purge filament, then do a nozzle wipe on the purge tower. The Flexi Factory Panda takes 2 hours and 40 minutes to print in one color using default settings, and 6 hours and 46 minutes to print in three colors.

Preparing Files / Software

Bambu Lab has its own custom slicer, Bambu Studio, which is a fork of PrusaSlicer. The slicer is also the primary means of transferring files via Cloud service or local LAN to the printer. You can also control and monitor your printer remotely with Bambu Handy, a mobile app.

Bambu Studio is also the “paint” program you need to assign color to your prints. The device tab allows you to talk directly to the printer to define the filaments in the AMS, heat up the printer and control the speed.

It has a wide range of presets for filament from both Bambu Lab and other manufacturers. I’ve found these presets to be incredibly helpful and accurate.

You also use Bambu Studio to access MakerWorld, a one stop shop for the Bambu Ecosystem. Here you’ll find free files for your printer, MakerLab with AI powered design tools and Maker’s Supply, a store front will model kits, hardware, tools, LED lights and CyberBricks so you can level up your 3D printing hobby.

Printing on the Bambu Lab A2L

The printer arrived with several prints preloaded. You’ll definitely want to shop for filament before bringing this machine home, especially if you plan on doing a lot of AMS printing. We have a guide with our favorite filaments for 3D printing here.

To show what the Bambu Lab A1 can do under normal conditions, I printed three Ice Cream Narwhales using default settings of 200-300mm/s and a .2mm layer height, taking 10 hours and 44 minutes to print. The models came pre-painted by the designer.

It turned out beautifully smooth with no visible layer lines or ringing. There was a little color bleed from the gold cone to the top of the narwhale’s head. This was printed in a sparkle blue from an unmarked PLA spool I picked up from SMRRF a couple years ago, and now deeply regret not labeling it better, plus a basic PLA Pink and Black from Bambu Lab and gold from Polymaker’s Panchroma Dual Silk Sunset.

For a PETG test, I attempted to print a wind spinner for the garden, which I created in Tinkercad. The print ultimately failed due to the skinny base, but it got about 95% there, which is still impressive. When it fell over, it looped the rest of the layers around the print like a coil. If you look closely at the coil, you can see little bubbles caused by moisture. The print still looks fantastic and I’ll give it another shot later after I make the base wider. This is printed in Bambu Lab PETG Translucent 6 hours and 31 minutes using a .2 layer height and default settings. This print is smooth, without stringing or noticeable layer lines. The two flat bases printed separately – without supports– then snapped together.

For TPU testing, I printed a prototype phone bag that I created in Tinkercad, using CookieCad Pale Blue Elixir. This is a regular 95A TPU, so I needed to use the single spool holder on top and drop it directly into the extruder. The A2L did a great job, with smooth layers and only a couple stray bits from retraction errors at the very top. The print took 7 hours and 9 minutes using the printer’s defaults.

Reminder – the AMS can print special “TPU for AMS” which is a stiffer formula available from Bambu Lab.

I tested out the A2L’s cutting module by making a few branded price tags for items I sell at a local boutique. For this I used a simple shape I whipped up in Canva and my jpg logo. I dropped both into Bambu Suite, the “slicer” software that runs Bambu’s 2D cutter attachment and also the laser module for a H2 Series machine. (No, there’s not a laser for the A2L.)

I swapped the normal build plate for a purpose built sticky plate and very easily snapped the cutter module onto the tool head, then plugged it in. Because the A2L doesn’t have an overhead “birdeye” camera like an H2 Series, I had to take an overhead photo of the build plate with the Bambu Handy app. It’s surprisingly difficult to get the entire A2L bed into an overhead shot when you’re only 5’2” without getting a ladder. This might be why the registration is a little bit off and the inked logos are a little bit lower than they should be.

This required two passes. First the ink layer, which used a normal ball point pen that I wrapped tape around to fit in the pen holder. Then I swapped the pen for the cutting blade and finished it.

The cutter can also handle vinyl, and with the A2L bed size, you could really get a nice sized shirt made. Bambu didn’t send any vinyl to try out, but they do sell it on their website. Because this is a manual cutter and not a laser melting material, you are free to use any material that is under .5mm thick.

Bottom Line

The Bambu Lab A2L is the supersized evolution of the A1 bedslinger that does double duty as a family craft hub. It’s budget-friendly with an easy-to-use interface that lets beginners have a little extra room to play without having to move up to a price H2 Series.

Like the first A1, this is much easier to use and maintain than Bambu’s larger machines, as the AMS Lite isn’t prone to jamming, and the new nozzle clumping detector sweeps printer purge safely away.

At $569 for the combo and $469 for a single color machine, the A2L is a great choice for makers who want Bambu quality and access to the ecosystem without the price of a Core XY machine.

If you’re interested in a larger color bedslinger, the Anycubic Kobra 3 Max has a 420x420x500mm build volume and is currently on sale for $601.60. The Bambu Lab H2S has the same build size in a Core XY enclosed unit for $1349.

We’ve got our sights set on Amazon Prime Day, which is running from June 23-26, 2026, and the bargains for some of the best 3D printers are hot! But Amazon is not the only place to snag a great deal. Manufacturers are holding fantastic sales on their own websites, and most are offering free shipping along with can’t-miss filament bundles.

Even if you’re not in the market for a new 3D printer, Prime Day brings out the best sales on filament and accessories. Not to be left out, Bambu Lab is celebrating its 4th anniversary, Creality is honoring Father’s Day until the end of June, and Elegoo is running sales on its already budget-friendly 3D printers.

Anycubic Kobra X

The Anycubic Kobra X is one of the best, most affordable 3D printers you can buy, and it’s currently on sale for $299.99 on Amazon for Prime members. We love its space-saving design with top-mounted spools and a compact multimaterial handler packed right in the tool head. It also has a quick swap nozzle and a roomy 260 x 260 mm build plate.

By keeping the material mere centimeters from the nozzle at all times, the Kobra X has a competitive speed advantage. During our testing, it could swap colors in about 35 seconds from cut to purge, while the Bambu A1 took as long as 90 seconds to swap. Those seconds can really stack up over hundreds of layers of multicolor printing.

Because it only needs to retract filament a very short distance, the Kobra X is one of the few machines that can mix standard TPU and PLA in one print.

Bambu Lab A1 and A1 Mini

Bambu Lab only offers three of its older model 3D printers on Amazon: the A1, A1 Mini, and P1S. It’s not surprising, as these are also its most popular, budget, and beginner-friendly machines.

The A1 Mini is our favorite recommendation for kids starting a 3D printing hobby. Its compact size, ease of use, and full access to Bambu Lab’s ecosystem make it a machine that can grow with you as you level up your skills. It’s currently $349 with a four-color AMS Lite, or $234 as a single-color machine on Amazon.

The A1, with its standard-sized 256x256mm build plate, is a no-brainer for beginners who want to start with a full-size machine. This machine is currently the most cloned 3D printer, but its print quality, speed, and simple interface are hard to beat. Bambu’s full-service ecosystem isn’t quite a walled garden, but it’s certainly a cozy place to stay for beginners learning the ropes. Amazon currently has the A1 Combo for $394, but you can get a better price, along with discounted filaments, at Bambu’s own website. The A1 Combo is $379 with a build-your-own filament bundle that lists spools at 45% off.

Bambu Lab P1S

A fan favorite workhorse since the day it was launched in 2023, the P1S is Bambu Lab’s bargain, no frills, fully enclosed 3D printer. It’s currently on sale for $499 on Amazon as a four-color combo unit that includes the original AMS.

The P1S has all the print quality you’d expect from a Bambu Lab machine, but has a few old-school quirks. Swapping the nozzle involves minor surgery with a screwdriver, thermal paste, and a steady hand. It has an extremely basic “dumb screen” interface on the printer, which can be easily avoided if you use either the Bambu Handy mobile app or simply operate from your PC, as I do.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon

Elegoo’s single color, fully enclosed, Centauri Carbon is holding steady as a value leader with a $299.98 price tag on Amazon. You can also get it on the Elegoo website, but you’ll have to pay extra for shipping.

The Centauri Carbon is a bare-bones enclosed 3D printer that handles a wide variety of filaments, from PLA, PETG, and ASA to TPU, quite well, without the need for a heated chamber. It has a standard bed size of 256 x 256mm, which means 3rd party build plate upgrades are easy to find. Our only complaint was the dim light, which, when combined with a smoked glass door, makes watching your prints difficult.

Though Elegoo did recently come out with a $55 four-color CANVAS upgrade for the Centauri Carbon, if you really want a four-color machine, I’d recommend the Centauri Carbon 2, only available on the Elegoo website, for $449 at the time of this writing. The upgrade kit is a nice gesture for CC1 owners, but it requires about 2 to 3 hours to mod your printer.

Creality SparkX i7

If you're looking for an affordable entry into multi-color printing, the Creality SPARKX i7 Color Combo is a fantastic pick. What really seals the deal is the CFS Lite spool manager, a low-maintenance, incredibly adaptable “magic box” that handles every size and type of spool I could throw at it, including quarter-sized mini spools and spoolless coils, during testing.

The SPARKX i7 Combo is currently $369 on Amazon. It has a 260 x 260 x 255mm build volume, which is a bit bigger than Creality’s old Ender 3s without moving into Plus size territory. The Creality Cloud mobile app is a worthy addition for new users who want to pick fun models from their phone, run them through an easy slicer, and send them directly to their printer without needing to log onto a PC.

Flashforge AD5X and Creator 5

The single-nozzle/multicolor Flashforge AD5X is a solid entry to four-color, Core XY printing on a budget. The machine is currently on Amazon for $322 as an open-frame machine. The enclosure seen on our review unit was a DIY kit sold for $50 that includes panes of acrylic and a bag of screws: you print the rest yourself.

The AD5X does a great job with standard filaments, soft TPU, and can handle ASA when enclosed. The simple material handler is similar to Elegoo’s CC2, which keeps each filament a few inches from the top of the toolhead and doesn’t need to retract back onto the spool. Sometimes keeping it simple really is the best.

Unfortunately, the Creator 5 tool changer is not on Amazon for Prime Day, but it is currently on sale for $699 on Flashforge’s own website. We recently finished testing the Creator 5 and found it to be one of the best 3D printers of the year, which we hope is filled with even more toolchangers to come.

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Bambu Lab is running a big sale all through the Amazon Prime Day week, meaning you can grab big discounts on its popular line of 3D printers at Amazon for the next few days.

It's also running its big anniversary sale event on its website/. Savings of up to 52% are possible on the best Bambu Lab 3D printers right now, both at its own store and from Amazon. That's important to mention, because we're seeing varied discounts across both sites, thanks to these deals running concurrently.

We're expecting the Prime Day deals to finish by the end of the week, but Bambu Lab's anniversary sale is set to run until July 15, 2026. That doesn't mean it's worth waiting around, however. These are popular printers, and past experience tells us that the best discounts will sell out well before that happens.

If you need or want a new Bambu Lab 3D printer, now is the perfect time. There are record-low prices to take advantage of across the entire Bambu Lab printer family, including deals on the Bambu Lab P1S, P2S, A1, and H2D.

● Check out Bambu Lab's Prime Day deals at Amazon

● See all Bambu Lab sale deals

Struggling to decide? Here are the best Bambu Lab Prime Day deals that you can pick up right now. This comes with direct advice on the best 3D printer models, with links to the Bambu Lab printers that we've previously reviewed, where you can read about our full and thorough testing of each printer's performance, which will help you to choose between them.

Bambu Lab Prime Day Deals on 3D Printers

Automatic Material Systems Attachment Deals

AMS addons (Automatic Material Systems) for Bambu Lab printers unlock the ability to print with multiple different colors in the same price, as well as help with filament drying and storage.

Depending on the 3D printer combination and compatibility, you can link multiple units together, too.

Bambu Lab Filament Deals

Filament is a must-buy when you're buying a 3D printer (unless it's a resin printer), as you're going to need the actual material to start printing with. Bambu Lab have discounts on its own range of filament spools right now, with some great bundles on sale for beginners to pick up below.

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Also, you can join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

If you dabble in 3D printing, you're more than aware of all the little intricacies before, during, and after you create your prints. You need a host of tools to keep the process running smoothly.

Yes, you usually get a few tools thrown in the box with a new 3D printer, but investing in a dedicated 3D printer toolkit will make a huge difference in caring for your 3D printer and keeping it in tip-top condition.

We've trawled through the deals during this Prime Day sales event and used our expert knowledge to source the tools you absolutely need for your 3D printer toolkit.

Quick links

• Creality 3D printer tool wrap. (Save 25%)
• Flush Cutters. (Save 15%)
• 49-in-1 Precision Screwdriver Set. (Now just $7.49)
• HOTO 24-in-1 Mini Screwdriver. (Save 30%)
• HOTO Precision Electric Screwdriver Set. (Save 29%)
• Wuben E7 Mini Flashlight (Save 20%)

A large 3D printer tool wrap set to rule them all.

This 74-piece 3D printer tool kit from Creality is packed with everything that you need to keep your printer printing. This is a "one and done" purchase where you get everything you need to maintain any brand of 3D printer.

In the kit, you get:

• 34 piece precision screwdriver set (Torx, Slot, Pozidrive, Phillips, Hex)
• Flush cutters
• Brass brush
• Spatula
• Nozzle cleaner and needles
• Tweezers
• Socket wrench
• Files
• Deburring tool
• Pliers
• Tube cutter
• Magnetic project mat

That is a lot of kit packed into a handy tool wrap that you can pick up and work with.

These cheap cutters will leave you flush with spare cash

Whether you are cutting your filament, cleaning out supports, or removing cable ties, wire/flush/side cutters are an essential part of the 3D printer toolkit. Sometimes you get a pair with your printer, but if you don't, or you need a spare set, then this pair of snips is a good alternative for you.

These cheap cutters are superb for 3D printing, electronics, and some general home maintenance tasks. Sure, the metal is a little soft, but for 3D printing, it is tough enough to cut through plastics.

Being flush wire cutters means that we get a clean edge to our snip. That’s useful when we need to trim some filament to slide down a Bowden tube or for removing stubborn supports. Model makers and electronics hobbyists can also use these cutters. Model makers use them to trim parts from a sprue, electronics users will trim component legs, and snip wires.

Allen, Hex, whatever you call them, you need them!

Allen wrenches, hex keys, no matter what you call them, are essential 3D printer tools. Printers are generally held together by machine screws sporting an Allen / hex head. You will normally get a selected set of wrenches with your printer, and these generally do a good job. But having a more durable and expansive set is always better.

Wera Hex Key Set (covering all the key sizes)

These Wera Allen wrenches/hex keys are exceptionally well-made, German, precision tools. This metric set covers sizes 1.5 to 10mm, and that is typically all you need for your 3D printer.

In the set you get the following sizes of hex wrenches.

• 1.5mm
• 2.0mm
• 2.5mm
• 3.0mm
• 4.0mm
• 5.0mm
• 6.0mm
• 8.0mm
• 10.0mm

All feature precision-cut edges that grip, and a ball-end for those hex screws in hard-to-reach places.

Lift even the most stubborn 3D prints with the right tool

A 3D printer's print bed can often be super grippy, and you may often need to use a scraper to gently remove the print from the bed. In the case of PLA, it cools down and lifts from the print bed in a few minutes, but for PETG, it can take much longer to cool and can be challenging to remove.

Scrapers are great tools, and your 3D printer will usually come with a plastic scraper or the STL files to print your own. But what if you need something a little stronger? You may want to consider some metal scrapers.

The thin metal blades are designed to get under the print or, if the print is stuck, gently lift the brim to break the adhesion. Just make sure that you use it carefully; don’t go cutting into your build plate!

The driving force for your toolkit

We’ve all got some form of screwdriver lurking in a toolbox or drawer. We use them to open PC cases, tins of paint, and to fix our spectacles, and then we throw them back in the drawer. A few months later, we’re hunting for that one screwdriver to do one specific task, only to get frustrated because we can’t find it. This is when you need a dedicated screwdriver set for your maker box.

A good general-purpose precision screwdriver set is a necessity. This 49-in-1 set has all the bits that you need to repair electronics and keep your kit ticking over.

Fancy splurging on some brand-name tools? Go for it, pick up a deal in the Prime Day sales. Grab these iFixit kits and be the envy of your peers.

What about a general-purpose screwdriver to throw in your toolkit? The Hoto 24-in-1 offers a great driver handle with a swivel to aid precise movement. Bits connect magnetically to the handle, and the driver takes 4mm bits, but it comes with 12 double-ended bits.

Handy electric screwdrivers

Screwing/unscrewing a bunch of screws can get tiring, which is why electric screwdrivers are ideal for building furniture and PCs, and for taking apart electronics for repair.

You can get good USB-charged electric screwdrivers for very little money, or pay a little extra for something a little higher quality. Hoto’s precision driver is an excellent tool you won't regret buying. Especially when it's on sale.

The S2 bits are made from hardened steel, which means they won’t chew up and lose their edge. The bits are standard 4mm size, so you can use bits from your other precision screwdriver. The Hoto precision driver only has one speed, and the battery capacity is only 350mAh, which provides around 500 operations, but those two things are its only downside. When charging, the unit will show a white light next to the USB-C port. When it goes out, you are fully charged.

The driver is made from metal, and the ridges help grip the driver as you work. Button operation is easy; just press and hold to screw/unscrew. The included case is lovely, if a little bulky. All in all, a great electric screwdriver for makers, tinkerers, and those eager to service their 3D printers.

Unclog your 3D printer with ease

3D printers will get clogged. No matter how much money you spend, hot plastic being pushed through a 0.4mm hole is going to cause a clog someday. Dealing with a clog is fairly simple, but you need the right tools as you will be poking around the hot end while it is well and truly hot, around 200 °C.

Poking a clog with a thin needle works most times, but when you absolutely, positively need to blast that clog out, the Creality Clog Poke (yes, that is its name) is there to help. Instead of inserting it into the nozzle, we insert the poke into the filament path, specifically the path from the top of the extruder to the nozzle. The 1.5mm needle won’t reach the nozzle, but it will push any plastic trapped inside the extruder. Molten plastic should then pour down onto the build plate.

Using this should reduce the need to completely disassemble the extruder and make quick work of a blockage. Of course, there will be times when you need to disassemble the extruder.

The nozzle on your 3D printer is user-replaceable, and you can swap it out for a different-sized aperture for finer detail prints (0.2mm) or for when you need to print large functional parts (0.6 to 0.8mm). But to remove the nozzle, you will need a wrench, so here is what I suggest.

For less than $10, you get needles to clean the nozzle, brass brushes to remove grime and plastic from the hot part of the nozzle, and tweezers to remove detritus without burning your finger. But the best part is the two nozzle wrenches. Designed with an L-shape, they keep your fingers away from the hot bit and give you a little more torque to persuade the nozzle to come loose.

Even after heating the nozzle, it can become stuck, so a little extra force is needed to remove it. The problem is that the heat makes the nozzle too hot to touch. The nozzle is cupped by the wrench, so you just need to concentrate on removing it. Then drop it onto the build plate to cool.

The extra tools are useful. In fact, the brass brushes are extremely useful for cleaning burnt plastic from the hot end.

Finish your prints like a pro

Some 3D prints need a little post-processing. The edges may need to be cleaned up, which is common when using a brim for bed adhesion, or if your print squeezed down on the print bed a little too hard. A deburring tool uses a curved blade with a ball-end. The ball traces the contours of the object, while the blade shaves off a little plastic to neaten up your work.

The ultimate cleaning liquid for 3D printers is Isopropyl alcohol

Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) is a key part of 3D printing, because whenever we touch the buildplate, even with clean hands, we leave oils that can impact bed adhesion and turn your prints into spaghetti. So get some IPA and clean up your act!

An illuminating purchase

When you are working in tight spaces, you need as much light as you can get, and a flashlight is really handy for pointing exactly where you need it. You don’t need to spend big bucks on a flashlight, but there are some excellent choices out there.

With 1800 Lumens of light, USB Type-C charging, an IP68 rating, a baseball cap clip, and a magnetic base, this is a great flashlight for multiple reasons. The magnetic base means it can be connected to a metal part of your PC case or 3D printer, leaving you with both hands free.

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The Prime Day sales season is upon us, with a veritable flood of sales at multiple 3D printer makers. We're tracking these great 3D printer deals, so all you need to do is grab one of the best 3D printers and a few rolls of filament to start you on your printing journey. We have the full list of the best deals currently available further below.

There are numerous great deals on mainstream FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) printers that utilize common filaments such as PLA and PETG. In addition to resin, SLA (Stereolithography Apparatus) 3D printers utilize layers of cured resin to produce highly detailed prints.

Many of the current deals feature printers that are on our lists of the best 3D printers, best multi-color 3D printers, or best budget 3D printers. We also have an extensive library of 3D printer reviews to support our picks. There are plenty of new printers to choose from in these sales, with the very latest releases sometimes receiving discounts.

Amazon Deals

Anycubic Deals

Bambu Lab Deals

Elegoo Deals

Creality Deals

MatterHackers Deals

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The Kobra 4 Combo is an update of 2024’s Kobra 3 Combo, or perhaps a smaller version of the Kobra 3 Max, depending on how you look at it. It takes style points from the competition, with a brushed aluminum frame and pale plastic base that screams “A1 clone.” Though the printing experience is marked improvement over its predecessor, most of the technical advancement lies in the multimaterial handler, the ACE Pro 2.

Anycubic is clearly aiming the Kobra 4 at budget-minded beginners, with a current sale price of $379 as a combo and $279 as a single color machine. Which, oddly enough, is the same price as the four-color Kobra X we reviewed in February. The Kobra X was a true leap forward, introducing a brilliant multi-material filament switcher built right into the tool head that cut down on time and filament waste.

It’s not that the Kobra 4 is a bad printer. It's just a bit unwieldy when compared to the clean filament paths and slender footprint of the Kobra X. Both machines have excellent print quality and share a quick swap hotend introduced by the Kobra X. It has excellent auto bed leveling and vibration compensation, which is mandatory for modern 3D printers. The ACE Pro 2 can double as a filament drier, which comes in handy for printing moisture-loving PETG.

The Kobra 4 Combo doesn’t have what it takes to knock the Kobra X off its spot as our “best budget 3D printer”, so we’re not including it on the Best 3D Printers of 2026 list.

Specifications

Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo: Included in the Box

The Anycubic Kobra 4 was a beta unit and arrived almost completely assembled with the ACE Pro 2 in the same box. Included are two power cords, one for the printer and one for the ACE Pro 2, a signal cable, and four bowden tubes for connecting the printer to the ACE Pro. The included tool kit has hex keys, grease, and a nozzle cleaner.

Our printer was an early production unit that did not include a single spool holder, but we were able to borrow one from our Anycubic Kobra X to run TPU.

Assembling the Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo

The Anycubic Kobra 4 ships in one large piece. The only assembly is removing the packing screws and attaching the toolhead and purge wiper.

The brackets holding the bed in place require a very long hex key, which was included. Fortunately, the hex keys are magnetized because the screws are so far under the bed that they could be difficult to retrieve if they fell off while removing them. Once the brackets are removed, the included trim pieces hide the holes in the base nicely.

Attaching the printer to the ACE 2 Pro is simple with four Bowden tubes running from the tool head to the rear of the ACE 2 Pro, and a signal wire is run from the right side of the printer as well. Both the printer and the ACE require power cords.

Leveling the Anycubic Kobra 4 ­

Anycubic mastered auto bed leveling and Z offset with the Kobra 3 lineup, and this continues with the Kobra 4. The initial calibration includes PID tuning, resonance testing, leveling, and noise cancellation. The printer also offers bed leveling at the start of every print.

Loading Filament in the Anycubic Kobra 4

The Anycubic ACE 2 Pro makes filament loading simple. Just enter the filament in the feeder, and it gets slurped right up. This is a vast improvement over the earlier ACE generation, which often required multiple attempts.

Anycubic brand filament has RFID tags, which are read by the ACE 2 Pro and automatically identify the filament type and color. When using third-party filament, you need to enter the filament information from the printer’s screen and sync it to the slicer.

Design of the Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo

The Anycubic Kobra 4 shares its styling, motion system, and hotend with the Anycubic Kobra X, which is a definite upgrade over the Kobra 3. The Kobra 4 uses a new quick-release nozzle that uses a clip to hold it in place. Swapping a nozzle without tools takes no time at all. With the nozzle and the cutter being easily removable, clearing a filament jam also takes no time at all.

The Anycubic Kobra 4 has a 720p camera, which is good for monitoring from both PC and the Anycubic App, but not so much for recording timelapses. It suffers, the way nearly all bed slingers do, with the camera angle caused by its placement on the Z axis. The camera is also used for AI spaghetti detection, which does work, and is thankfully not oversensitive.

With the original ACE PRO, inserting filament was sometimes a chore, as it would often start feeding the filament next to the one you were trying to load. When trying to load filaments one after another, you had to wait for the first filament to be completely finished before loading the next, or misfeeds would happen. The ACE 2 Pro now operates like the Bambu Lab AMS with individual feeders for each filament. Currently, the feeding process is slow, and filament swapping takes a long time. I suspect that this will be sped up with a future firmware update.

The ACE 2 Pro has guides for the filament spools on the lid and on the back of the unit. Most of the spools we tried were compatible, including Prusament spools. Smaller spools, coils, and damaged or fragile cardboard spools can be run only on the external spool holder.

While jamming in the ACE PRO was rare, clearing the jams could require extensive disassembly. The ACE 2 Pro solves this with the filament tubes running externally on the bottom of the unit with disconnects at the buffer.

My favorite feature of the ACE is its ability to dry filament and dry while printing. This feature might be wasted on an open frame bed slinger, but it could come in handy with PETG.

Sadly, the Kobra 4 can dry TPU with the ACE 2 Pro, but it can’t run it. Even when I used “made for AMS,” it refused to run through the ACE. The solution is to use the single spool holder (which I had to borrow from the Kobra X) and run TPU directly into the toolhead. Anycubic promised to add a printable “single hub” to the printer’s memory to use with TPU, but for now, I was able to simply pop the whole top off and shove it directly into the extruder. I tested TPU down to 83A shore hardness, and the Kobra 4 did great with all of it.

The Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo is very quiet, with fan noise being primarily what you hear. The ACE 2 Pro is almost completely silent unless it is drying filament and even then the noise is minimal.

Preparing Files / Software

The Anycubic Kobra 4 requires a download of Anycubic Slicer Next which is based on OrcaSlicer, which is based on Bambu Studio, which in turn has PrusaSlicer at the foundation. If you are familiar with Orca or Bambu Studio you should know what to do in Anycubic Slicer Next.

From the home page of the slicer you can see your most recently opened files and access Makeronline, Anycubic’s file sharing library.

Anycubic Slicer Next can be run offline with files transferred manually via USB. I prefer to have access to my printer from my computer and the Anycubic app if only to stop a failed print from wherever I happen to be. From the workbench page of the slicer or the task details page on the Anycubic App, you can stop a print, skip a part, and adjust everything from print temps to print speed. You can print pre-sliced files directly from the Anycubic App but the ability to change the print settings is very limited.

Printing on the Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo

The review unit came with an adorable (though mostly useless) vacuum sealed pack with four coils of PLA. To fill up that ACE 2 Pro, you’ll want to check out our guide to the best filaments for 3D printing for more suggestions.

The Kobra 4 comes with a number of presliced files on the machine’s memory, which include useful tools, test prints, and a few fun models. It also had this “four color cube” test, which is a complete waste of your time, filament and sanity. Don’t print this.

I ran a lot of PLA while testing the Kobra 4. This pair of Geckos is a good example of the results. They printed in 5 hours and 9 minutes at .2mm layer height using 3 walls, 10% infill, and default speeds. Because of the size and shape of the model, the print speed is more like 160mm/s. It’s printed in Anycubic’s Cyan, Yellow, and Black PLA.

I did not change the default flushing volumes and ended up losing about 40 grams of filament in the filament purge. Due to a software bug, Anycubic’s slicer vastly underestimated the waste and even suggested it would flush negative values of yellow filament. This bug has been around since the Kobra X, and I really hope they have fixed it by now.

For PETG, I printed a plate of PentaClick balls from YosaNatural on Makerworld. With a .2mm layer height, four walls, and an average speed of 90 mm/s, they finished in 4 hours 38 min. The print looks great in Prusament Yellow Gold PETG, and the print-in-place hinges worked great with no hint of overextrusion. The model prints flat, then is folded and snapped into a ball shape. A small rubber band around the middle provides a spring action, so when you press the ball flat, it pops back into shape.

For TPU, I ran both hard 68D and soft 83A to make parts for our RC Deathracer, designed by Michael Baddeley.

While the smooth bumpers printed flawlessly, these spiked hubcaps, just based on their design, led to a fair amount of stringing. I’m confident this can be fixed by running with a bit more retraction. Using a .2 layer height and capping the speed at 50mm/s, the hubcaps took 5 hours and two minutes to print. This was printed using Microcenter’s TPU for MFS in black.

For softer TPU, I printed some tires I made in Tinkercad out of 83A TPE from Esun. This required removing the four bowden hub from the tool head and forcing the soft material directly into the extruder. It's annoying, but worth the effort as it ran the TPU beautifully. I used a .2mm layer height, two walls, and 10% concentric infill, with an average print speed of 50 mm/s. This took 1 hour and 35 minutes to complete. The tires are super soft and grippy and nearly perfect, with no stringing at all.

Bottom Line

The Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo is a step rather than a leap ahead of the Kobra 3 Combo, but it is a good value for an entry level 3d printer. It borrows the clean aesthetics of the popular Bambu Lab A1 and greatly improves the multimaterial handler from its first iteration. It’s a highly capable out-of-the-box experience for beginners.

However, it can’t quite compare to the Kobra X in value or space saving. I would only recommend the Kobra 4 over a Kobra X if you were seriously feeling the need for an all-in-one filament dryer solution.

The Kobra 4 Combo is only $20 cheaper than the Bambu Lab A1, which has a more established ecosystem, and $10 less than Creality’s SparkX i7 Combo, our pick for best beginner 3D printer.

Over the years, resin 3D printers have started offering higher resolution, faster printing speeds, and greater ease of use. If you are looking for one of the most user-friendly resin printers on the market, the newly launched Anycubic Photon P1 is a great choice. It is also currently on sale at Amazon, where you can get the printer bundled with the dual-color material print kit for $619.99, down from its listed price of $969.99, effectively offering savings of 36%.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

One of the standout features of the Photon P1 is the build plate. While most resin 3D printers offer an aluminum build plate, the Photon P1 uses a precision-ground steel build plate, which is flatter, stable, and more durable. The company claims that it doesn’t deform during model removal because it is twice as strong as aluminum. It is also corrosion-resistant and offers surface roughness tolerance of under 80µm, which is thinner than a human hair. It also comes with an industrial-grade ball screw for higher precision and longer lifespan.

The printer comes with a 4.5-inch touchscreen display that is easy to navigate without detracting from the machine's overall design. The interface is simple and responsive, while the touch feedback sound has a quirky microwave-like tone. In addition to USB support, the printer allows wireless printing over Wi-Fi through the slicer software or Anycubic's companion app. The vat or container that holds the liquid resin is built of high-quality aluminum and offers a unique locking system. Instead of using a standard screw-style system, it offers a dual slide-out, lock-in-place system.

In our review, we found the Anycubic Photon P1 to be one of the most feature-packed and user-friendly resin printers currently available. It impressed us with its easy setup process, excellent print quality, fast performance, and modern features, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced users. We also appreciated the optional dual-material printing system, though it may feel more like a niche feature for certain buyers.

If you have been considering getting into resin 3D printing, the Anycubic Photon P1 is worth a look at its discounted price. At $619.99 bundled with the dual-color material print kit, the printer offers a strong combination of premium features, ease of use, and impressive print quality.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, gaming chair, or CPU Deals pages.