November Newsletter: Toolchangers & Black Friday!🎄 (Patreon)

Hey everyone! I’ve never really done something like this before, but I thought it might be fun to start sharing a bigger monthly update here on Patreon, a sort of behind-the-scenes look at what’s going on, what’s coming next, and the wild stuff happening in the 3D printing world.

Maybe this becomes a monthly thing. Maybe it evolves. We'll see. Make sure to read to the end, because there are a couple of pre-announcements hidden in here. Let me know in the comments if you'd like more of these!😊

🚀 Printer News! Formnext Was… a Lot

The past couple of weeks have been absolutely insane for multicolor 3D printing.Formnext dropped so many machines that my brain is still buffering. I personally believe that over time these printers will change everything, and over the next few years, every 3D print enthusiast will have one of these 'toolchangers'.

A 3D print toolchanger is a 3D printer with an automated system that can swap between different tool heads, such as different hotends for multiple colors or materials, or even non-extrusion tools like a laser or a milling bit.

In other words, they eliminate the one thing that everyone using a multicolor 3D-printer has been complaining about: Purge waste. This makes these printers up to 5 times faster than their AMS counterparts, it reduces waste to near zero, and it actually makes printing a single D&D miniature (instead of having to print an entire plate to reduce waste) totally worth it! So here's three toolchangers that were announced:

Snapmaker U1: The wild card

As some of you know, I backed the Snapmaker U1 on Kickstarter over the summer, so mine should arrive any day now. And honestly? This thing might change everything for how I make minis.

€850 retail (I only paid €800 on Kickstarter, heh)

Multi-head, no purging, no AMS

4 colors

Swaps colors insanely fast: 13 seconds from what I can tell in other people's videos

And early reviews look shockingly good

It’s the first time Snapmaker has released a printer that… doesn’t suck.So fingers crossed it lives up to the hype.

Bambu H2C: The safe bet

Bambu answered Formnext with the H2C and their new Vortek system.It’s Bambu, so it’s going to be excellent. Zero doubt about that.

But compared to the U1 and the next printer we're talking about…It is very expensive. And speed-wise, it seems to fall behind...

€2250

Swapping detached nozzles, still needs AMS

Dual printhead like the H2D

7 colors

Swaps colors slowly: 45 seconds

It's Bambu Lab though...

90% of you are probably on Bambu printers already, which is why this is such a hard call. This printer will be an absolute workhorse. But the competition might be better.

Prusa x INDX: The curveball

Then, one day after the H2C was announced, Prusa dropped a collaboration with INDX for their Core One printer, and it's all anyone talks about now.

around €1700 for 8 colors

around €1500 for 4 colors

Swapping nozzles, no AMS needed

more like the U1 in terms of swapping speed: 16 seconds

And it’s Prusa, the original king of 3D printing. The quality will match or exceed the H2C.

We have to wait until Q1-Q2 2026

This combo might honestly become the long-term winner for multicolor minis.

In the table above I compared my good old Bambu P1S, the three new toolchangers, and the toolchanger we've known for a while, the Prusa XL. Here's a few quick insights I take from these numbers. :

The Snapmaker U1 looks like a winner, but I'm personally a little bit worried about Snapmaker as a brand, and the long term quality of their services. Even though they seem to have turned over a new leaf, their track record isn't great.

Bambu Lab is a beloved brand in the space, and there's no doubt that it'll be a fantastic printer. The H2C does fall short in speed by a large margin. However, for large quantities of miniatures the gap closes significantly. I could totally see this printer being the best choice for merchants and print farms. People who plan to run this printer 24/7.

People seem to have forgotten about Prusa, but as a 3D printer brand they're just as good as Bambu Lab. The Prusa Core One + INDX combo feels to me like a higher end, more trustworthy version of the Snapmaker U1... with 8 colors.

Please do keep in mind a lot of what I write here is subjective though, I personally do not care about printing anything other than matte PLA, I don't care about build plate size, and I only print small to medium sized D&D miniatures. Check out this Instagram Reel to see a side by side comparison for color swap speed.

So… what will I do?

In the shorts above I already mentioned that I was planning to buy both the Snapmaker U1 and the Bambu H2C. But now that Prusa entered the chat? I'm not so sure anymore. Currently I’m leaning toward:

Start using the U1 as my daily driver and content machine

Skipping the H2C for now, as I personally don't need printfarm quantity

Wait for the Prusa x INDX release in early 2026

Try to keep my setup to only two active printers because… I simply don’t have the space in my home

Ofcourse I’ll share prints, issues, and honest thoughts as I go.

📊 I’d love to hear from YOU

My assumption is that most of us are hobbyists with Bambu printers, which means:

The H2C might not be the right upgrade

Many of you will stay with your current Bambu lineup

And some of you might wait for either the U1 or the INDX combo

But I might be totally wrong, so I’m adding a poll!

Check out the poll here! ✅

Your answers will help me choose which machines to review, prioritize, or even avoid.

🔥 Black Friday: My Biggest Discount Ever

On Black Friday, for 24 hours only, yearly memberships will be 40% off. This will be the cheapest my Patreon membership has ever been. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading, this will be the best moment.

🎉 Bambu Lab Affiliate Links!

This took months of bugging, but it finally happened, I got my Bambu affiliate links! 😅

If you buy filament or accessories through these, it helps me out a ton and costs you nothing extra.

Bambu Matte PLA: https://tidd.ly/49g2O6r Bambu H2C: https://tidd.ly/4pAuyb1 Bambu A1 Mini Combo: https://tidd.ly/3Xpt1Iw Bambu P2S Combo: https://tidd.ly/49gQ5k4 Snapmaker U1 (US): https://snapmaker.sjv.io/Dy2Mmo Snapmaker U1 (EU): https://snapmaker.sjv.io/APbYQx

You can always find these links in my LinkTree too.

🎁 Christmas Raffles & Gifting

Lastly, I'd love to remind everyone that Patreon has rolled out Gifting! So if you know someone that's into D&D or 3D printing, consider gifting them a one or two-month SuperPrints Membership this year! You might even consider gifting someone an entire your for just $120 $72 during the upcoming Black Friday sale. ✨

Start gifting now! 🎁

(Free members thank you so much. The member-exclusive part starts here)

😉 Sneak Peeks

Here's a few sneak peeks of what's coming your way the coming weeks. These will be bonus drops except for the witch, which will be a normal drop next week.

❤️ A Tiny Reflection (Too Early?)

I’ll save the full “2025 wrap-up” for next month, but I do want to say this: This was the year I went all in on Patreon. I bet everything on it.

And seeing us grow to 230+ members (Incl. Thangs members), releasing 45+ minis, building this community community, and watching Project Hazy explode into a global art project, it genuinely means the world to me.

In this video, I said my goal for 2025 was 300 members. We’re not there (yet👀), but the year’s not over… And even if we don’t hit it, I know we’ll get there eventually.

Thank you for being here and letting me do this for a living.Seriously.

✨ What do you think?

If you enjoy this kind of monthly update, make sure to join the discussion in the comments of this post! I’d be happy to keep doing these if y'all like them.

Thanks for reading all this.Back to sculpting!

SanderSuperPrints 🖤