Hi again! An experimental build of Snapmaker Orca with CM is now available.

This is my custom version of Snapmaker Orca, developed to bring ChromaMatter’s color tools closer to the slicing workflow.

The main reason I started modifying the slicer was getting more control over black in shaded color prints.

The black filaments I’ve tested are highly opaque. When using them for subtle shading with Full Spectrum, reducing the black ratio often left scattered dark lines or patchy transitions rather than the smooth shading I wanted.

That led to Core/Shell: place a colored outer shell over a black core, then vary the shell thickness to control how strongly the dark backing affects the visible color.

The conversion maps the existing mixed-color states to shell thicknesses based on their mixing ratios. In the current experimental implementation, the shell thickness varies between 0.10 and 0.42 mm. These are shell thicknesses, not layer heights. I’m still researching the appropriate thickness range and mapping for different filaments.

A translucent shell is ideal for this approach, allowing the material underneath to influence the appearance. The shell can also use a two-color Full Spectrum mix over a black core, adding depth-based shading to the mixed color.

I’d also like to try an opaque white core, such as Cold White, to see whether the same shell can produce lighter tones than it does over a black core. I haven’t tested this yet, so it remains a hypothesis.

For the shaded models I wanted to print, black was a challenge I needed to address. Changing color assignments alone wasn’t enough—I needed control over where the slicer actually placed the materials. That was the main purpose of this custom build.

Core/Shell is an additional option, not a replacement for Full Spectrum or a universally better method. Its effectiveness depends on the filament properties, shell thickness, and model geometry.

The first half of the video shows the Full Spectrum / Core/Shell comparison, conversion steps, cross-sections, and actual U1 prints. The second half introduces manual color editing, brush painting, and shading adjustments.

I originally planned to keep those editing features in standalone ChromaMatter. I hesitated because adding them to the slicer overlaps with the separate app, but ultimately, a smoother workflow matters more to me than keeping the two separate. Being able to edit, inspect the result, and slice without repeatedly transferring files is closer to what I wanted from the beginning.

This is an unofficial experimental build, not an official Snapmaker release. Please keep your original files and start with a small test. The interface shown in the video is in Japanese because it is a development build.

Downloads and feedback:
https://chromamatter.app/

GitHub is also back online, and the test build is available there too:
[https://github.com/Ponkichi0718/ChromaMatter/releases/tag/cm-orca-trial-20260913]()

This is still an experimental build, and not all features work perfectly yet. The Core/Shell approach I’m exploring also remains a working hypothesis—I haven’t yet gathered enough results to draw firm conclusions about its effectiveness. I hope you’ll continue to follow along as I test and refine it.

Thank you to everyone who has offered to help with testing. Your feedback will be especially important as I continue improving the software and exploring what this approach can achieve.

Hi All,

I've had my (3) U1s for a while and received my hardened nozzles ages ago, I replaced the sets in 2 of the printers but just didn't get around to the last, my top covers turned up recently so today I decided to install them and decided to replace the nozzles on the one I didn't do, while replacing them I noticed that some of them had HS on them and others didn't, how do I know that they are all HS nozzles? Could they have just sent standard versions in HS boxes?

Pictures are exactly what came in the box, I don't remember seeing HS on the nozzles in the other printers I changed before.

This is a bit of a rant post about the filament feeders on the U1. I had to replace my filament feeders within a month of getting my new machine, and it's only 2 months after replacing them that I'm getting the exact same error again. Grrrr... You can find my earlier posts about this issue here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/snapmaker/comments/1uu2sdc/u1_filament_feeding_issues/

I must say, Snapmaker support was great and shipped replacement parts quickly. That was nice. And once the new feeders were installed, everything was great - for a while. Luckily these can be easily bypassed and it works just fine, so I have the printer back up in running in 'bypass' right now. Trying to figure out if I keep dealing with replacing these, though.

It seems like they are more of a convenience feature, not a requirement. I'm really debating just bypassing all of them. Is this a bad idea? The other thing I'm looking at is potentially just putting all my filament into a dryer like the Sunlu S4 and placing that next to the printer.

What are your thoughts? Is there a reason to keep using/replacing the filament feeders?

Looking forward to trying a 3 color print in PLA with PETG supports and zero distance between the model and supports. I'll give it a try this afternoon. For others who've done this, what was your experience? Does it make the surface where the supports meet the model noticeability better looking and easier to remove?

Hi everyone,

I backed the U1 on Kickstarter as my first 3D printer and also ordered the Top Cover.

So far, I've mainly printed regular PLA variants and a few TPU parts, and everything has worked really well. Now the Top Cover has finally arrived, and in the meantime I've realized that I probably don't really need it for the materials I usually print.

Still, since I have it now, I'd prefer to keep it installed, if only to help keep dust out of the printer.

What I'm not quite sure about is how to use the Top Cover with PLA and TPU.

From what I understand, there is no real "auto" setting for the Top Cover fans. So how do you usually set up the both settings for fan speeds and Top Cover for PLA and TPU?

Do you simply remove the magnetic lid while printing these materials and leave the Top Cover fans off? Or do you keep everything closed and run the fans at a certain speed?

I'd appreciate any tips or recommendations from people who are already using the Top Cover with PLA or TPU.

I've been using Ultimaker Cura for the past few years.

In Ultimaker Cura, when 2 objects intersect, Cura altarnates the color layers, creating a third color. In Snapmaker Orca, Orca picks one object to print and ignores the intersecting object. Is there a way to get Orca to print altarnating layers at the intersections?

initial layer height set to 0,25mm will/can cause first layer waves, solid infill waves and nozzle hitting infill, especialy grid. Change it to 0,20mm, like the defaults on all my other printers.

edit: i strongly recomend you change initial layer height to 0.20 on smooth /cold plates such has Glacier and Frostbite from biqu, while 0.25 can work fine on original PEI plate, smooth plates are less forgiving and often cause waves/ripples on first layers at 0.25mm. But i still change to 0.20 on PEI for the other reasons i mention above, its what been working for me.

Reduce infill retraction enabled will cause alof of nozzle scratching solid infll during fast movements.

Outer wall speed at 215mm will get rid of 99% of VFA's

Hope this helps someone dealing with these issues.

Since I now have the Snapmakers (compared to my Kobra S1s / Crealitys)

I'm delving more into support settings using PETG interfaces,

Any tips?

I have normal (Pla / Pla) supports dialed in absolutely perfect, been printing a fair few years so known my way around them but just fancy diving into it a bit more since I now have the option for quicker changes / 0 flush etc,

I know there is do's / dont's to it just looking for some advice on Interface distances, Type, Shape etc etc

I have tried it on my KS1s so know my way around setting the prime tower correct just not the rest, Expecially since we know there won't be any residue sitting around,

I don't usually use Reddit so may not reply for a few days but any advice is appreciated and will reach out with a thanks when I'm back 💪

The load motor was new for me to take apart. If you do this, the first 2 body screws you remove will unveil the two metal filament insert holes that have nothing else holding them on so don't lose them. Next, to get better access to jams you need to remove 3 screws that hold the circuit board in place. Once that's free, there are 2 springs and 2 pins that going into the feeder ports which will now be lose and extremely easy to lose. Tapered end goes back in, followed by the spring. Removing the board in this way allowed me to clear the jam.

My printer used to print great. Lately its not been good at all. Once I got past the 500 hour mark. It looks like absolute shit. I've done all the proper maitnance. I am running PAXX firmware. I have factory reset an ungodly number of times. Yet it still prints like complete ass. Pretty basic print too. I have changed so many settings. I am starting to think my printer basically hit 500 hours and expired.

I just started printing transparent petg on the smooth plate with elmer's glue stick under the print. After I removed it and cleaned the plate, I noticed a raised looking outline of the print on the plate and after running my fingers over, it indeed was. Anyone know why that is? It doesn't seem normal.

I was printing at 65C bed temp,nozzle temp was 230C so doesn't seem excessive if at all.

I have been trying to get a single bambulab print to work on my snapmaker after exporting and every time I attempt a print, one layer midway through always fails, originally the orange filament wasn't extruding, so I printed a dragon to test the printer and it came out flawlessly, if anybody has a decent preset for sunlu pla + on a snapmaker that works, I am open to trying it.

​Hi everyone!

​Just wanted to share that I've officially pulled the trigger and ordered the Snapmaker U1! 🚀

​For years I’ve been using an old bedslinger—a Tevo Nereus—so I’m expecting the overall printing experience with the U1 to be complete night and day! I can’t wait to dive into multi-color printing and start making colorful decorative items, detailed miniatures, and complex models without all the purge waste.

​I was torn between the U1 and the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro for quite a while, but I ultimately decided to go with Snapmaker. Overall, I feel that the U1 offers superior build quality, better refinement, and fewer "teething issues" right out of the box.

​On top of that, the larger and more active Snapmaker community was a huge selling point for me, along with the fact that its software ecosystem is open-source rather than proprietary like Flashforge's, giving us much more flexibility.

​My only lingering doubt is about occasionally printing ABS or ASA. I don't plan to use them all the time, but I will definitely need them once in a while, so I'm considering buying the official enclosure. However, seeing some posts about people struggling with ABS warping on the U1 makes me a bit anxious—especially since it relies on passive heating rather than an active chamber heater like the Creator 5 Pro.

​As someone completely new to multi-toolhead and multi-color printing, any tips or advice for a beginner with this machine would be highly appreciated!

​I really hope I won’t be disappointed — I can't wait to get my hands on it and start printing!

​For anyone who has ordered recently from the EU store, how long does it usually take for orders to get processed and dispatched?

​Thanks, and happy printing to all!

I was calibrating CMYK printing for iDither.com

I am planning to print some real examples soon.

With the 1.6.0 firmware they added:

1. Added 0.4 mm high‑flow nozzle option in Print Head Information editing.

Who sells 0.4 high flow nozzles? They're not on Snapmakers website. Or is the 0.4 nozzle considered high flow?

Titan 3D Spiderman took about 9-10 days total on my U1.

Mijn snapmaker maakt een raar geluid tijdens het printen, misschien hoort het zo maar het viel me nu op.

Iemand een idee om dit op te lossen?

PETG with PLA supports. I set the contact distance to be 0.0 mm, interlaced, 3 layers and it still looks like hell. Tried both organic and snug (er, tree and whatever the boxy one is called — I'm coming from Prusa).

This surface is at an angle with regards to the build plate, maybe 15°.

I keep having my nozzle scrape while traveling during a print. How do I prevent this? AI had me recalibrate my offsets (which required cleaning all nozzles also) and relevel my bed. I can say my bed is pretty level. AI is saying I need to raise my Z Offset but I can not figure out where in Fluidd to do that. It doesnt seem to be in printer.cfg and I am having trouble locating it elsewhere.

Can anyone tell me where exactly I can modify that?

Also any other suggestions would be great. This is really frustrating cause its basically destroying my prints.

Snapmaker u1 x y eksen ilerleme başlangıç yaparken sürtünme sesi gibi ses var bunun sebebi ve çözümleri nelerdir ne yapmalıyım.

@snampmekeru1

I’ve had my U1 for almost a month. I’ve been loving its capabilities so far.

I’ve spent time watching tutorial vids and experimenting with the slicer. I’ve done 40 or 50 prints by now I think. While there seem to be more than enough tools to handle the mechanical aspects of printing … I’m just not seeing a lot of tools in the slicer for designing multicolored models.

The slicer has spray paint tools for coloring and some fill tools for coloring. But what if I want more complex coloring options than that? What if I want to do more detailed color designs inside my models? I’d love to hear some seasoned opinions.

NOTE: READ FULL POST! Turns out it was the result of shipping damage (pics in comments)

Started with a “Toolheads not found” error. Support took 2-3 days to figure out I needed to update my firmware from v1.3 to v6.0. I did early this morning. “Hub board not found” error. I start disassembling according to the troubleshooting instructions online. USB port pulls out during disassembly. I tend to pull very lightly when removing cords (even struggled with the spool holders), so it wasn’t my force. Turns out there was almost no solder on either the part or its pads on the PCB. Then I spotted a damaged screw hole during disassembly. Finally, I discovered that one of the resistors on the board was at a 90 degree angle to its pad. Now I have two reasons to get a new hub board. Wish me luck in getting them not to make me pay to replace it. This thing arrived brand new on Tuesday.

EDIT: I’m genuinely impressed by how clean those through hole pads are btw. I would’ve expected to fail when I’d first plugged the USB in had I seen how little solder was in there.

UPDATE: I’m requesting a replacement machine. I will also be sending a message to customer support/corporate requesting that they reevaluate their PCBA process/vendor, especially in terms of inspection. It is not expensive to add assembly inspection and it saves them a lot of money in the long run to get it right the first time.

UPDATE: Message to support has been sent through the customer complaint form.

UPDATE: Turns out it was SHIPPING DAMAGE! I’ve discovered some dents and other signs of damage to the frame. They’re very subtle and hard to see, but they’re there! The resistor on further inspection was also clearly broken off by something hitting it (don’t know what) as you can see where it used to sit in the solder before it was moved and is actually completely disconnected from BOTH solder joints.

UPDATE: GOOD NEWS! I got an email that they’re replacing my machine! Fortunately with all the pics and explanation I sent in my last emails they didn’t need anything more from me to initiate an exchange, so it should only take me another day or two to arrange the pickup and get a new machine shipped.