James Dwyer

A four-toolhead CoreXY printer at around the price of many conventional consumer machines sounds implausible. After more than 100 hours of printing, the FlashForge Creator 5 proved far more capable than expected—but the experience was not flawless, and this test used a slightly pre-production machine. Why the Creator 5 is interesting The printer combines a 256 × 256 × 256 mm build volume with four independent toolheads. That matters because genuine tool changing can produce multicolour or...

The 3D-printing industry is moving at a frankly ridiculous pace. Tool changing, five-axis motion, multi-material FDM and even full-colour resin are all being presented as the next major step—but manufacturers clearly do not agree on which direction will win. This is a look at competing ideas rather than a set of finished-product reviews. Several machines are still announcements or early concepts, so the sensible approach is enthusiasm with a healthy amount of caution. Five-axis printing...

The Anycubic Kobra 4 is a good printer. That is what makes it such a strange release. In testing, it delivered strong first layers, clean preloaded models and reliable multicolour output. The difficulty is not the machine itself; it is understanding where it belongs beside the Kobra X and the rest of Anycubic’s range. A capable entry-level machine Anycubic presents the Kobra 4 as an easy gateway into 3D printing: unbox it, let the automation handle calibration and start printing. The base...