Unique 3D Printers
I love 3D printing. I had Ultimaker 2 since 2013 and have build several other 3D printers and laser engravers of different motion systems throughout the years.
I’m currently into 2 year reconstruction of my workshop, as it turns out I’m terrible at making interior design choices and keep second guessing myself, so hardware project output has slowed to a stop. Also I need to replace my aging 3D printers with some modern ones and I feel that its wrong time to do so as so many new features are being added and prices keep falling so Ill wait a little bit longer to see how market settles.
From classics to delta and CoreXY kinematics I’ve dabbled with most of them but there are still unique CNC machine styles that I find fascinating.
First we have Positron. In July of 2021 youtuber kralyn3d showed of his interpretation of 3D printer he called Positron. It has normal xy kinematics but the z axis is inverted. It prints upside down. And is so small it can fit into filament box.
There are now 3 different versions of this open source design. Original Positron V3.2, Journeymaker and Lemontron. They share similar build volumes but differ in several key aspects. The Lemontron offers a 180×180×165 mm print area and is priced at $413, while both the Positron v3.2 and JourneyMaker provide a slightly taller 180×180×173 mm volume at a higher price of $699 each. In terms of extrusion systems, all three use Bowden-style extruders; however, the Lemontron’s is built-in, whereas the Positron v3.2 and JourneyMaker have external ones. The Lemontron also features a unibody chassis for enhanced rigidity, compared to the multi-part frames of the other two models. For bed leveling, both the Lemontron and JourneyMaker include a probe for automatic calibration, while the Positron v3.2 lacks this feature. Power supply design also varies: the Lemontron and JourneyMaker house their power supplies internally, whereas the Positron v3.2 relies on an external power unit.
Then we have X printer V2. The newest entry to my list and the one I like the most. Its a Hackaday project by Malte Schrader who aims to have the same “filament box” footprint as Positron but a more traditional movement.
Another interesting approach are 3D printers with infinite Z. Best known Creality CR-30 3D printer created by Naomi Wu & Creality3D, building on the work of Karl Brown and Bill Steele.
Nonplanar 3D printer - The future of 3D printing
The most advanced unique 3D printer that I see as a future of 3D printing is 4 axis 3D printing or non planar 3D printing.
There are many projects working on bringing this kind of 3D printing to the market as its not the hardware that’s the limiting factor but the software as tool paths needed for such 3D printing are difficult to make. But, there have been significant progress in the last year and I would not be surprised if we see first non planar consumer grade 3D printers start to appear at the end of 2026.