r/AdditiveManufacturing

According to a report by Chinese tech media 21Tech on August 19, Bambu Lab has officially confirmed the launch of a new project: developing consumer-grade UV printers.

Key details from the report:
- Full-scale R&D: Sources close to the company reveal that the project involves over a dozen R&D focus areas, ranging from printhead driver development and waveform optimization to ink-path systems and software integration.
- Aggressive Hiring: The company has already posted job openings on its official website for UV printing technical experts, FPGA developers, inkjet control engineers, and mechanical engineers (ink systems).
- The "Bambu Strategy": Much like how they disrupted the 3D printing market, the company aims to compress industrial-grade performance into accessible, desktop-friendly units. Their goal is to make professional UV printing—which historically required specialized knowledge and massive budgets—truly "plug-and-play" for makers and small business owners.
- Beyond 3D Printing: This move signals a broader shift for the company. Following the release of the multi-material H2D and the recent teaser for their R1 laser cutter, Bambu is evolving into a comprehensive "personal manufacturing" powerhouse. The company is betting that core technologies from their 3D printers—such as motion compensation and mechanical control—will translate effectively into the UV printing space.

Industry Context:
The consumer UV printer market is rapidly heating up. Competitors like Anker (eufyMake E1) and xTool (O1) are already making waves. The E1 set a Kickstarter record with over $42 million in funding, and xTool’s O1 recently saw its launch-day sales exceed 100 million RMB.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the global UV printer market is expected to reach $1.58 billion by 2031. Traditionally, these machines were bulky, expensive, and reserved for industrial advertising or packaging. Now, a new wave of "maker-focused" companies is shrinking these tools down to the size of a microwave, aiming to make them standard equipment for individual creators.

Source: [21Tech - August 19th Report]

Hi there, I am coming from a background on desktop FFF and SLA as well as industrial SLS/MJF.

Where I work now we are evaluating getting a compact powder bed fusion system. Of course the obvious candidate available on the market right now is the Formlabs Fuse 1. However earlier this year at Rapid TCT we saw the announcement and we had some talks with resellers and HP on the HP MJF 1200.

In the meantime we'd like to understand the typical flaws or failure modes that can come across from the Fuse 1 or similar systems (Sintratec, Sinterit etc.).

Thank you and looking forward to the discussion.

Hey everyone! I am the event lead at an AM company and with budgets tightening across the industry, we are having to be a lot more selective about which shows we exhibit at. Curious where others are landing on this. The last conversation I saw in this subreddit regarding AM events dated back in 2022, so I am curious where others in the industry stands now.

Here are my honest takes for each event after attending this year:

Rapid is off our exhibitor list for 2027. It has started to feel more like a sales echo chamber than a technology event, and the networking has not been what it used to be. I also still have not gotten over what they did to Formnext US in 2024. When Formnext announced their US dates, Rapid quietly changed their dates to the same week and tried to blame venue conflicts. Nobody bought that story then and I still don't. It was a hostile move and it left a bad taste in my mouth. On top of that, they are trying too hard to be both a conference and an expo to seemingly compete with Formext and AMUG and I think it is only hurting them and their audience.

AMUG has always been my favorite. Smaller than Rapid and Formnext but honestly that makes for a better experience. The expo floor is easier to navigate, the conversations are more genuine, and we consistently get more qualified leads there than at higher volume events. Reno last year was a blast and I love that they are moving around the country. My only gripe is that it is hard to quantify the ROI of authentic connections on a budget spreadsheet, which makes it a tough sell internally. I also wish more FDM machine builders would show up. I think a lot of companies hear "education and training conference" and assume the lead volume won't be there, which is fair, but AMUG is very much a quality over quantity event that provides real value to the industry. With AM maturing the way it is, I actually think AMUG has a real opportunity to become the leading event if they continue to stay authentic and lean into community, education, and supporting the industry.

Formnext will likely be our second show in 2027. It is more sales focused like Rapid but they own what they are rather than trying to be something they are not, and the international exposure is unmatched. The in-booth networking events are also a great touch. We will be there in 2026 and will likely attend again in 2027 depending on how this year goes.

IMTS is on our radar for the future as we grow. A bit too large to justify exhibiting at right now but a great show for the broader manufacturing industry.

ICAM is one I am less familiar with but have heard great things about the technical depth. Planning to attend this year to scope it out.

Curious what others think. Which shows are you prioritizing next year and what do you think would make them better?

Hi all,

I have a simple question that I'd like answered. At my work we've discussed the possibility of getting a 3D printer to prototype and make production ready 3D printed parts (prototypes for parts later machined from aluminium, steel or engineering plastics, production parts for simple spacers/bracketry)

I've been given a roughly £2000 GBP ($2700 USD) budget for a printer.

I've mainly used Elegoo printers at a hobby level so would prefer the integration and preconfiguration such as what's found in ElegooSlicer (orca clone) so as to not have to worry about setting printers up too much. Since company is still getting massive savings over machined prototypes, filament cost is not a massive concern and would preferably like to use each companies' own brand filament for best results.

Basic requirements:

• Some sort of AMS or Toolchanger (preferably toolchanger for reduced waste and time.) This is mainly for dissimilar supports, inlaid TPU, etc, not colours.
• Has to be available NOW or very near future
• Have easy to use slicer and interface, OR be able to use OrcaSlicer.
• About 300x300x300 build volume or larger.
• Some sort of remote monitoring is preferable.
• Fully enclosed, heated chamber would be a big+, possibly used in an engineering office so would be great if noise and fumes are kept to a minimum but if this is a compromise it can be put elsewhere.

The obvious choice to max that budget out is the Bambu H2C, the laser engraver sounds like a useful tool too, although it doesn't sound like it can cut thin sheet metal? So more a gimmick.

I hate the bambu ecosystem. I appreciate it all just works but the locking down from using anything but Bambu studio, and controversial takes on repairability and user serviceability make me wary.

The Prusa Core One+ sounds like a great option and coming in under budget is a bonus, leaving room for the 4 tool INDX if it comes out anytime soon. My concern is the print plate is a bit on the small side for what we need. I've also been lead to believe it can be a bit tricky to "make work" and not as user friendly as the likes of Bambu and Elegoo.

The Prusa Core One L is more like what we'd want size wise but seems like it's a generation behind? But it's not clear whether it's available with INDX or even the MMU3.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2, I have a CC1 myself and i'm always stunned how good it is for the price. Obviously this would be well under budget but I'm curious what people thing how this would stack up VS the others mentioned here? Minus a heated chamber the print capabilities are fairly similar.

Creality K2 Plus - Don't know a lot about this one but seems on paper to be identical to a Prusa Core One+ with MMU3. Only thing I know is it's been a bit hit and miss by a friend that had a K1C back when they just came out, but I'm not putting much weight on that.

Snapmaker Artisan - Sounds very impressive, about in budget too. How capable is that CNC module? Can it actually make decent machined parts from Aluminium and Engineering plastics at least? The laser seems the same as on the H2C, how's ease of use? Just a wildcard really I suppose.

Not sure if i missed any obvious alternatives.

Many thanks for help!