3D PrintingTools

Snapmaker U1, and why multi-colour 3D printing is such a hassle

Lâm Chí Tâm · May 8, 2026

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Whenever I show a print like this, most people ask: why not print it in colour? So today, multi-colour 3D printing, and why it is such a hassle.

3D printing builds layer by layer

Me in the workshop holding a single-colour print — The usual question: why not in colour?

3D printing is one of many ways to shape a part, alongside milling, turning, cutting and casting. The traditional ways make a part by cutting it out of a block of material; 3D printing builds it up, layer on layer, until it is complete. To make a cube, the printer doesn't make the whole block at once: it prints the first layer, then the second, the third, until the shape is there.

An animation of a print head building a round shape layer by layer — One layer at a time.

A close-up of a Bambu Lab print head printing, captioned 0.2 mm — Each layer is very thin, about 0.2 mm, to keep the detail.

One brush, many colours

Back to colour. Here is my plastic cube, and I want red on it. That means every layer needs two colours. Today's 3D printing can't blend colours, so red and white need two spools. And since most basic printers have one print head, the printer has to swap filament on every layer — more waiting, and more waste with every swap.

A hand holding a white plastic cube — A white cube, and I want red on it.

An iPad with a red and white cube and a colour palette — Two colours means two spools.

A Bambu Lab printer printing a bed full of yellow and black bee logos — Two colours on one head: a filament change on every layer.

Think of it as painting a picture in many colours with a single brush. And remember a layer is only 0.2 mm: a 10 cm tall object means around 500 colour changes. And that is just two colours.

Me in the workshop with “500 lần đổi màu” on screen — 10 cm, two colours: 500 changes.

Many brushes: the Snapmaker U1

How do you paint in many colours? With many brushes. Snapmaker, after a successful crowdfunding campaign, brought out a new machine design: not one but four separate print heads on one printer. Each head takes one colour, which removes the time and the waste of every filament change entirely.

The Snapmaker U1's four print heads side by side — Four heads, four colours.

The Snapmaker U1 with four spools loaded — The U1, loaded with four colours.

This is a chibi dragon in four colours: black, red, white and yellow. I ran it through the slicer's simulation for a basic single-head printer: about 16 hours, over 220 g of filament in total, 165 g of it waste. The same model on the Snapmaker U1: just under 3 hours and no waste at all. And the quality is excellent; I have nothing to fault at this level of finish.

The slicer screen with print time and filament use — Simulated on one head: 16 hours, 220 g, 165 g of it waste.

The Snapmaker U1 printing the red dragon — On the U1: under 3 hours.

If 160 g of saved waste is hard to picture: this is the Snapmaker U1's waste — very little, only what it purges at the start to clean the nozzle. And this is the waste from a basic single-head printer.

Me at the desk between a large pile of multi-coloured waste filament — A single-head printer's waste, for one dragon.

The four-colour chibi dragon beside the pile of waste — The dragon, and the price of colour on one head.

This project

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