The Next Generation of 3D Printers Looks INSANE

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Here's a look at some things to come.

[00:00:05]So, I'm going to level with you guys here. I've been ill and instead of celebrating my birthday this past week, I was fighting feverdriven sleep paralysis demons. You know, that old chestnut. But while I'm finishing up projects, I want to take some time to talk about a few things I'm looking forward to testing out. And if the comment section is anything to go off of, these are a few things you're looking forward to seeing me test out.

[00:00:30]So, here's five products I'm looking forward to in the next few months.

[00:00:34]So, this is like the number one thing a lot of you have been talking about.

[00:00:38]Anytime I mention the Snapmaker U1, what about the Creator 5 Pro? Luckily, I may know somebody that's getting a hold of one of these, but that person can't remember if there was like an NDA signed or anything, and they don't know what can be said at this juncture. But once I have more information available, I will let you guys know. At any rate, here's why I'm excited about this one. This printer is a foreheaded tool changer like the Snapmaker U1. If you've been following the channel, you know how much I've been enjoying my time with the U1 recently. I love the tool changer format and that machine in particular has been absolutely rock solid for me. When that printer first came out, I also speculated a bit about what that was going to do for the consumer 3D printing market. Like I figured an affordable tool changer like that was going to cause every other company to immediately come to the table with their tool changer offerings and the prices were just going to be driven down. Wouldn't you know it, everybody's talking about tool changers now. So, luckily, Flash Forge has showed up with their own model to compete with the Snapmaker, and on paper, it looks pretty good, my friends.

[00:01:43]The base level Creator seems to be the most direct competitor with the U1. It's like an open frame machine that does tool changing stuff, but the Creator Pro is the one that I'm interested in.

[00:01:54]That's the one that's fully enclosed, and it's also got a heated chamber.

[00:01:58]These are both areas that Snapmaker has fallen behind in, though their enclosure is becoming more available. More on that in another video. So, there's a lot to look forward to on this release. Early reviews do seem positive, but again, so far it's an unfinished machine. It's not released yet. So, we'll just have to wait and see until I get my testing done if I am actually getting one of these machines.

[00:02:24]Oh, yeah. Also, did I mention the price?

[00:02:27]So, the full-on Creator 5 Pro is only 850 bucks as of filming this video. That means it's cheaper than the Snapmaker that I've fallen in love with, and I feel like that machine's already an incredible price. So, that could be pretty good. Also, while we're talking about the Creator 5 Pro, why would you name your thing the Creator 5 when it's got four tool heads on it? Is that doing anything to any of you? Because it just kind of makes my brain a little bit sad.

[00:02:54]Like, it should have been the Creator 4 Pro. Comment below if you're crazy like me and that makes your brain just a little bit sad. Moving on. Yes. Let's switch gears here, or switch tracks, I should say, because we're talking about the bamboo track switcher. Do you guys get the joke? Do you see what I did there? This is the bamboo track switcher, and it's something that I have inadvertently covered for a while. I guess when I was covering some of the early leaks of what became the H2D, I covered this patent drawing. Looking at it now, it appears that that was less related to that machine and more related perhaps to the track switcher. Anyway, this is what we have today. It's an add-on that can be used with any of the Bamboo machines that have two inputs.

[00:03:39]So, we're talking about the H2D, the H2C, or the X2D currently. And the idea is simple and pretty cool, really. This takes those two inputs on the back of your machine and groups it into one. But why would you want to do that in the first place? Well, one thing about buying something like the H2D, for example, is the fact that you need to feed both of the nozzles, and you can do that using just the external spool holders and stuff, and that's fine. But really, the ideal situation is feeding each input using an AMS, like like a dedicated AMS for each one. This allows for automatic feeding and retracting of the filament as needed. And this is especially helpful when you're talking about something like the H2C that's got a bank of six nozzles on one side, which means you need a combination of multiple AMS's to feed those suckers. It's almost like Bamboo's developing their machines, so the consumer needs to buy more AMS units. Surely that's not the case. So even if you are like me and you play right into Bamboo's hand by buying a bunch of AMS units, there's still one huge issue. The filament feeding the left nozzle can't be used on the right hand side and the filament feeding the right-hand nozzle can't be used on the lefthand side. This, my friends, is where the filament track switch kind of becomes exciting. It makes it so everything plugs into that one single input. And from there, the switch can intelligently route the correct filament into the correct nozzle. And I think this could be super cool, but it seems like it might also lead to longer filament feed and retraction times. But in the name of laziness, that's absolutely a sacrifice that I am willing to make. I prioritize my laziness and so should you. But what do you think about the track switch? Could it be like a good thing? Do you think Bamboo's implemented it well? As it stands right now, it's only available for the X2D.

[00:05:30]And I'm not sure if that's like a hardware difference coming or simply a software thing. But I don't want to buy the X2D version of it and then find out later when it's available for the H series machines that it's actually a different piece of hardware instead of just a software limited thing. So, the other versions of it are coming Q2 of 2026 apparently. So, I'm going to be on the lookout for that. Isn't it currently Q2 of 2026? I guess they're coming soon.

[00:05:56]By the time I release this video, it's my luck that they would be out.

[00:06:01]And as usual, if you're not trying to stay up on all the latest tech and what's coming out, and you're not interested in why a tool changer is better for printing multiolor or multimaterial, you just want to make stuff and have things work. Well, perhaps you'd be served well by today's sponsor, PCB Way. This is your one-stop shop for anything manufacturing. From additive manufacturing to subtractive stuff like CNC milling, PCB Way can get it done for you. Just upload your model and let somebody else take care of all the specifics for you. Your part will be handled by professionals that know what they're doing, ensuring that you get the most premium end product, whether you're prototyping or full-on producing. Check the link below for more information. And thanks to PCB Way for sponsoring this video. So, here it is, friends. I'm making mention of the BondC index. Many of you ask me why I don't talk about this whenever I bring up tool changers.

[00:06:55]And really, I am excited about it. I just don't have any experience with it because once again, it's not a released thing. For those of you who don't know, this company, Bond, has been developing this tool changer thing, and it looks absolutely freaking sweet. It's most famously been thrown onto the Puscha Core One Plus to show off its incredible capabilities. But here's the specifics that we've gotten a hold of. From what I've gathered so far, this is a tool changer system that can be adapted to loads of different machines. It isn't firmware dependent and it's not bound to one ecosystem in particular. That's usually code for I'm not smart enough to install it on whatever printer I want to, but time will tell. Of course, it's meant to be an upgrade for whatever machine will take it. And in the case of the Prussa, it features eight different nozzles that are stored up top there.

[00:07:43]that allows for eight color or eight material printing inside of a super clean setup. Each nozzle is managed using a wireless data connection as well as induction heating. So, it's kind of similar to the H2C in that regard, but this one doesn't suffer from the slow load times that the Bamboo does because there's no AMS doing the loading. This system's a true tool changer because each nozzle has material loaded in and it's ready to go at all times. That means super fast swaps and unlimited material capabilities. Well, I mean, it's eight material printing capabilities, so I guess it's not unlimited printing capabilities. Also, you can only print as hot as 300C, so that's kind of another limit. That's quite a bit. You guys know what I'm saying? It's like super cool. So, though, I've never owned a Puscha machine personally, and I don't really have any interest in getting into that ecosystem. Depending on how outrageous the price ends up being when the Core 1 Plus is finally available with the Bontek Index upgrade, I may actually check this one out. But my goodness, I bet you it's going to be so expensive.

[00:08:48]Moving right along to another machine that's garnered quite a bit of buzz. The Atom Form pallet is a nozzle swapper thing that aims to compete in the zerowaste printing game as well. This printer appears to be a lot more similar to the H2C in form and function, which could be good or bad. So, the Snapmaker and Flash Forge printers limit to you to four colors. The H2C stops you at seven before you've got to do purges, and the Index has eight. But what if that's not enough for you? What if you're a little bit crazy in the head and you need more?

[00:09:21]Well, that's where the Atom Form comes in, apparently, because it offers 12 materials. It has this wheel of 12 nozzles here that it can swap between for material and color changes. And these nozzles are fed from these boxes that sit on the side of the machine.

[00:09:36]They're calling these units the RFD6, and they do the filament feeding like an AMS would, but they also condition the filament by offering a drying function, but only on the top shelf. Apparently, that low shelf filament can just live a moist life like the lowclass plastic that it is. So very similar to the bamboo setup in that regard, but this also tells me that the strategy is likely similar to the bamboo strategy for feeding and retracting. In terms of the mechanics of it all, likely the filament needs to be fed in and retracted from each nozzle whenever each color or material change is happening.

[00:10:12]So with printers like the Snapmaker, Flash Forge, or the Index setup, all of your possible materials are loaded into each tool head or nozzle all the time, ready to go. No feeding or retracting filament when the nozzle is needed. Your swaps just happen as fast as the tool head can change over, and that's great.

[00:10:29]But beyond the simple fact that this machine likely suffers from the feeding and retracting time penalty, it seems like maybe the nozzle swaps in general aren't super fast. Like, it does this crazy half turn and flip deal before landing back in the dial switcher, which is admittedly super cool. I'm a sucker for the spectacle and this seems to offer spectacle, but it does seem like something that takes an unnecessary amount of time. Also, it seems like it might offer some complexity that may introduce unreliability in the system.

[00:11:00]But that's what everybody said about the H2C when they first saw it. And you know what? Mine's sick. So, we're just going to have to wait, give it some time, and once we get a hold of it and put it through its paces, we can make the determination then. But finally, let's round this one out with something that I'm very interested in. The X2C.

[00:11:18]Wait, you can't put a product that doesn't even exist on this list. It says you, sucker. It's my list. That's right.

[00:11:25]The X2C is a bamboo machine that hasn't been confirmed or even hinted at. But after my recent video talking about my thoughts on the X2D, there were a lot of you talking about the possibility of this maybe new upcoming bamboo machine.

[00:11:41]Now, this could just be me hoping for something that's never going to become a thing. But if I were to speculate a little bit, I feel like Bamboo is going to release another machine in their line of X series printers. The X2C, as it were, would be a printer made inside of the X series chassis, but it would feature a nozzle swapping system like we find on the H2C. I'm thinking likely it'll be a single nozzle tool head, but it'll have a vortex rack on the side that has like four or six nozzles. Maybe this would keep the tool head similar to the X2D in that there's only one extruder motor in the tool head, but this would make up for a lot of the shortcomings that that second nozzle on that printer offers. Again, this may just be me fabricating a machine to cope with the let down that was the X2D. I shouldn't say the X2D was a letdown.

[00:12:32]Jordan at the 3D Print Stop has been testing his and he's having some decent results. He says it's pretty cool and he's made some content around it. So, go check out his channel. Also, he only drinks Diet Mountain Dew and I drink the real stuff around here. Actually, let's take a second and pause this video and go to the link in the description to his X2D video and comment the words Mountain Don't on that video cuz I want him to know what the real Mountain Dew is. And I guess if you're one of those people that does drink Diet Mountain Dew, you can just comment on this video and state your case why you think it's better.

[00:13:06]Maybe I'll comment back telling you why you're wrong. Maybe I'll try drinking Diet Mountain Dew. I don't know. State your case. I need to know where my people stand on the issues that matter.

[00:13:15]So, given the pricing of the Bamboo lineup currently, I feel like the X2C printer would fit pretty well in that 11 to $1,400 range. At least that's what I'm hoping for. It is bamboo after all.

[00:13:28]They could make it outrageously expensive, but a girl can dream. Anyway, if this printer came out with a single nozzle tool head and a four nozzle vortex rack, that would actually be the cleanest setup to have one AMS feed.

[00:13:41]Don't get me wrong, I love the H series machines that I have. But look at the plumbing mess that ends up happening when you chain all of these AMS units together. Like the Panda Perch here makes short work of it all, but still, this is a lot. So, these are the products I've been thinking about as I've been preparing content for you guys. But, let me know what did I miss and what products are you guys excited to see on the channel. What products are you guys excited to get yourself? And if you're interested in anything that we did talk about, I got a bunch of links in the description so you can check out more information there. Thanks to PCB Way for sponsoring this video. As usual, be sure to check out our $2 a month Patreon if you want to support our goal to make content fulltime. Also, head to keppprints.com and get yourself some shirts, hats, or hoodies, baby.