Snapmaker J1 3D Printer Review: Double the Print Heads, Double the Fun

A standard 3D printer can create complex models from almost nothing. Did you know there are 3D printers that can print two models at the same time? Impressive.

3D printers are getting faster, better looking, and more feature packed. Printers like the AnkerMake M5 and BambuLab X1 Carbon, for example, popped up out of nowhere with ridiculously fast print times and great design aesthetics. Snapmaker J1 is fast and engaging. It’s a printer you’ll actually want on your desk, but it also uses a few different tricks to maximize output.

J1 is an IDEX, or Independent Dual Extrusion machine. A single 3D printer can print with two separate print heads. This allows you to print 1 model with 2 different colors, 1 model with 2 different materials (dissolvable supports are great), or even print 2 mirror models with different colors at the same time. can. IDEX printers have been around for a while, but they are often difficult to set up and maintain. J1 made setup easy. The process is mostly automated and a large LCD guides you through each step of the process.

Like all Snapmaker models, the J1 is well made. Most are pre-built though you’ll have to add a door. The entire machine is sealed allowing for high temperature filaments like ABS, but the top is removable to handle filaments that require a low temperature environment like PLA. I would like the lid to be hinged or to be able to put it down when not in use, so it would be helpful if it could be removed.

Snapmaker is known for its combo machines that combine 3D printing with laser etching and CNC milling. The J1 is the company’s first purpose-built 3D printer, so many of the concessions the company made with its previous multi-purpose machine aren’t present here. This improves the quality of your product and allows you to focus on improving print quality and print speed.

Print quality is as good as you’d expect from a $1,300 printer, but not amazing.Several best 3d printer It will do a good job out of the box, but with a little work and better software the J1 can produce amazing results. The J1 he wanted to see for around $1,000, but it certainly looks like a premium product.

Where the J1 outperforms many other printers is the extra tool head and the speed at which both can be used together. Snapmaker claims speeds of 300 mm per second. At that speed, he should print models six times faster than previous-generation printers, which average about 50 mm per second. In practice, however, J1 prints about three times faster than with similar settings. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing like what’s advertised. However, there is a way to make this 3D printer of his even faster by using the IDEX system.

My favorite thing about having two nozzles is not that you can print different colors, but that you can print the same model twice. The tool heads move independently of each other, so you can print two copies of the same model using Duplicate mode, or flip the same model using Mirror mode. I printed the Flexi Factory flexible hand using mirror mode. This created a left hand and a right hand simultaneously in the time required to print one.

An even better example is CNET’s test print. Anycubic Kobra Plus takes about 6 hours for test printing. Snapmaker J1 takes 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is already significantly faster, but with IDEX in duplicate mode he printed two test prints in a staggering 2 hours and 40 minutes. When printing test prints for sale, I was able to print 10 in about 2.5 days on a normal machine and 10 in just one day on the J1. That’s a big deal.

3D printing as a hobby is great, but there is a large market for selling high-quality 3D models. The more of these models your printer can make, the faster your business can grow. The Snapmaker J1’s speed alone makes it a great manufacturing tool.

If I could change one thing about the Snapmaker J1, it would be the software. Snapmaker has long used Luban as a slicer. His 3-in-1 Snapmaker and Snapmaker 2 are fine, but the J1 needs a dedicated 3D slicer, which Luban can’t achieve. There are many small issues that make Luban boring, but it’s the lack of advanced controls that makes it feel unfinished. For example, you can choose which model uses which nozzle, but you can’t select and color parts of the model. Slicers like the Prusa Slicer allow you to manually paint a different color on the model, assign one of the nozzles and print. This is how you can customize your model. Unfortunately, Luban doesn’t offer it, so you can only have separate models in different colors instead of parts from the same model.

Thankfully, the software team is aware of this and is actively trying to profile J1. This will allow you to use it in a better 3D printer slicer for more control.

read more: best 3d printer slicer

It’s not Snapmaker’s first 3D printer, but it’s the company’s first purpose-built 3D printer, and it has a lot to offer. Easy setup and calibration, sleek industrial look, and print quality all make it a product I recommend. If so, J1 can easily pay for it.