I hadn’t been so excited to get my arms on a brand new machine in years, however did the eufyMake UV Printer E1 stay as much as my hopes or go away me upset? Learn on to study all about this distinctive machine and my emotions about it.
What is that this? What’s UV printing?
I’ll admit that these had been the primary questions I had when eufyMake reached out and requested if I wished to evaluate their new UV printer. I contemplate myself to be extraordinarily well-versed in all the pieces associated to maker know-how, however UV printing is a novel course of that one usually solely sees in skilled print retailers. This machine, being designed for prosumers and hobbyists, is one thing totally new.
One of the best ways to know UV printing, in my view, is to think about it like a cross between 2D inkjet printer and 3D resin printing. The eufyMake UV Printer E1 can print in full colour straight onto any kinda arduous object with a largely flat floor, and it could try this whereas add texture and 3D reduction.
That’s attainable as a result of the jets are spitting out particular ink that cures when uncovered to UV gentle, just like the resin in an MSLA 3D printer. And, like a 3D printer, it could construct up these layers to create 3D results.
It doesn’t change 3D printing or something like that, because the variation between the bottom and highest factors must be lower than 5mm. However that’s in full colour and there are a lot of inventive potentialities for this know-how.
What are you able to print on? DTO? DTF?
No, I’m not hitting on you. DTF means “direct-to-film” and DTO imply “direct-to-object.”
DTF is if you print onto movie, such as you may do for a sticker or a vinyl wrap. DTO is if you print onto an object with none form of middleman step. Historically, DTO has been utilized by skilled print retailers to place logos on espresso mugs and paintings onto canvas or steel panels.
You may completely do stuff like that with the eufyMake UV Printer E1 (that’s a serious promoting level, in any case), however I feel there may be a lot extra potential for folks with the creativity and skill to suppose exterior the field.
The chances are just about countless, as a result of you’ll be able to print on something stable that’s at the least pretty flat. The specs say that it must be flat to inside about 2mm, which is numerous wiggle room.
As you’ll see within the testing part of this evaluate, I attempted printing on a number of various things and it all the time labored.
There may be additionally a rotary attachment, so you’ll be able to print on cylindrical issues like water bottles.
Is that this like these handheld inkjet printers?
A number of years in the past, I bought a tool from TheGodThings (bizarre alternative for a model title) referred to as the PrinCube. It was, basically, an inkjet print head in handheld type. The concept was that you possibly can print in full-color onto something. I obtained it as a result of I wished so as to add logos and labels to 3D-printed issues I made.
This factor was such a disappointment
I consider there have been comparable units bought by a number of different corporations. However the level is that it sounds form of just like the eufyMake UV Printer E1, proper?
I used to be apprehensive about that, as a result of the PrinCube sucked. It was a really terrible product. The promoting was a lie and there have been few issues you possibly can print onto efficiently. On most supplies, the ink would simply smear. My PrinCube has been sitting in a field for half a decade, as a result of I couldn’t convey myself to promote it to and put that frustration on anybody else.
Luckily, the eufyMake UV Printer E1 is in no way like that, which must be a reduction to those that had been questioning. Whereas they each spray out ink with a print head, that’s just about the one similarity. The eufyMake UV Printer E1 cures the sprayed ink instantly, so it doesn’t smear. It’s by no means “moist,” so to talk, as a result of the machine performs a curing cross proper after a spraying cross.
It could possibly put logos on 3D-printed plastic elements!
Who’s eufyMake?
That title may sound a bit acquainted to you. “eufyMake” is a rebranding of AnkerMake, which made the M5 and M5C 3D printers. So far as I can inform, these printers have been discontinued.
AnkerMake was an Anker model, which you in all probability know for his or her chargers and batteries. eufy is one other Anker model with a give attention to know-how for the house. I’ve certainly one of their robotic vacuums, for example.
I really reviewed the AnkerMake M5C 3D printer and wasn’t in any respect impressed with it — one thing I used to be vocal about and that a number of followers discovered upsetting. My opinion was that the M5C was mediocre for the value and that AnkerMake dramatically overpromised on the capabilities of the AI digicam.
However I made a decision to depart that previously and to method the evaluate of the eufyMake UV Printer E1 with an open thoughts.
What’s the competitors like?
This machine is an enormous deal as a result of there isn’t any competitors. That is the primary product of its variety to hit the market.
The overwhelming majority of UV printers are huge, skilled machines meant for print retailers or manufacturing in massive portions. A cursory search exhibits that they have a tendency to price at the least $20,000.
Every thing else I can discover that is likely to be extra accessible to hobbyists and prosumers is questionable. Some Vevor machines come up in searches, however I don’t see these on the precise Vevor web site. Different machines can solely print on movie. And all of them are the form of generic, brandless (or white label) designs that savvy buyers are likely to keep away from.
Extra importantly, all of them lack the user-friendly options of the eufyMake UV Printer E1. Although I do suppose these options could be a double-edged sword, so let’s speak about them.
Options
DTO and DTF UV printing know-how just isn’t, by itself, notably groundbreaking. Many of the innovation with the eufyMake UV Printer E1 is in making that know-how inexpensive and user-friendly for the buyer market, whereas becoming all of that functionality into a comparatively small package deal that may reside on a desktop.
With the facet panels folded up, the eufyMake UV Printer E1 is roughly the identical dimension as a carry-on suitcase. If you fold the facet panels down, it clearly takes up extra room. The Customary Flatbed is 330×420mm and the Mini Flatbed is 330×90mm. The latter is an efficient possibility if you wish to take the machine to someplace like a craft honest, because the Mini Flatbed matches totally within the machine.
That is with the usual flatbed.
The digicam is, arguably, an important characteristic for making this printer user-friendly. It enables you to see the mattress and any objects, so you’ll be able to place your designs precisely the place you need them to go. With out the digicam, positioning designs can be actually tough.
That digicam works with the smartphone app and desktop software program. You should use these to get discover designs created by others (search for those I made!), put together your individual designs, arrange print jobs, and so forth.
The software program makes very heavy use of AI, which I feel will likely be considerably controversial. There are AI options to create paintings, which is an entire can of worms with ambiguous copyright possession. However there are additionally AI options that will help you generate the peak maps for including 3D textures to prints. One, for instance, creates synthetic brush strokes to make the print seem like an actual portray. One other helps with the creation of “gentle portray” prints backlit to glow in a satisfying manner.
Ink cartridges and costs
Let’s discuss ink. This makes use of a CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key [black]) colour system, plus white and gloss. The white is normally to offer a base on darkish surfaces and to construct up 3D reliefs. The gloss is to present the prints a pleasant end.
All of these inks are available 100ml cartridges. There may be additionally an extra cartridge particularly for cleansing the jets.
For my part, these cartridges are prone to be the largest grievance with the eufyMake UV Printer E1. They need to be simpler to deal with than conventional UV ink bottles and can cut back upkeep, however they’re costly.
eufyMake says that an ink equipment will price $299 and that may embody the entire CMYK colours, white, gloss, and the cleansing cartridge. Ignoring the cleansing cartridge, that works out to about $0.50 per milliliter. Bottles of UV ink for skilled printers, alternatively, work out to round $0.08 per milliliter. Subsequently, eufyMake ink cartridges are about six occasions dearer (although that does embody the cleansing cartridge).
This is similar mannequin we noticed (and proceed to see) within the shopper inkjet printing market and folks hate it. I’ll allow you to resolve how a lot that issues to you.
However hey, that is Hackster and perhaps certainly one of our members will give you a technique to refill the cartridges.
First impressions
I used to be very excited when the package deal confirmed up at my door and I began unboxing instantly. Every thing was packed very properly and the packaging seems good — barely extra “premium” feeling than is typical.
Unpacking and arrange had been straightforward sufficient, with out something tough or difficult. You simply set up the cartridges and flatbed, let the machine calibrate itself, hyperlink it within the app, after which begin printing. The automated calibration and priming process is pretty sluggish, however I used to be in all probability printing inside an hour.
The eufyMake UV Printer E1 feels well-made, with high quality supplies. It’s sturdy and although there may be a number of plastic, it doesn’t really feel low cost in any respect. Nonetheless, I don’t love the shiny black plastic, as a result of it attracts mud and fingerprints like loopy. Inside 24 hours, the highest cowl (across the ink cartridges) regarded downright soiled. That isn’t notably essential, after all, however it’s price mentioning.
Getting my first print began was fairly straightforward. The software program is straightforward sufficient to know and customary flat prints are easy. Simply seize a snapshot of the flatbed, select or add a design picture, place it, choose the print settings (you normally need White>CMYK), then begin!
These flat prints are fairly quick, too. Not as quick as an inkjet printer, however most small gadgets normally solely take a couple of minutes. It’s if you get into 3D textures and reliefs that print occasions get actually lengthy (typically a number of hours).
Talking of, organising these textured print jobs is so much trickier. There are a number of strategies for doing so and most of them depend on AI. There are numerous AI instruments and so they work in several methods, however all of them try and robotically create textures/reliefs and accomplish that with various success.
When you’re the kind of one that needs full management over all the pieces (I definitely am), you’ll need to place in additional work.
Creating 3D textures
One of the best ways I discovered to manually create textured prints was to make use of vector paintings with layers. In eufyMake Studio, you’ll be able to then set a particular peak for every layer.
I did that to print a donut onto a forty five vinyl file — in all probability my favourite piece amongst my assessments. I wished the frosting to sit down above the donut, after which sprinkles to sit down above the frosting.
To realize that, I began with an overhead picture of the donut. Then I stretched/warped that picture to make the middle gap large enough to go across the label on the file. Subsequent, I used Inkscape to do an “picture hint” operation and simplify the picture right down to vectors (20 colours). Lastly, in eufyMake Studio, I set a peak for every of these vectors.
It turned out nice!
Nonetheless, that’s extra of a 2.5D design than a full 3D design. The perfect technique to create true 3D textures can be with one thing like a grayscale peak map. Sadly, eufyMake Studio doesn’t presently assist that. However my contact informed me that they are going to be updating the software program quickly to permit one thing alongside these strains.
Within the meantime, we’ll have to depend on the AI options or 2.5D vector paintings. The AI options are hit-or-miss in my expertise. They do create 3D textures, however whether or not that appears the way you count on is as much as probability.
The AI can do very bizarre issues typically, like turning my canine and me into …this
And attempting isn’t free. To make use of these AI options, you’ll want to use credit. These credit price cash and also you’ll must maintain shopping for them to maintain utilizing the AI options.
For that motive, I consider it’s completely essential that eufyMake Studio get an replace for sturdy guide texturing instruments instantly. They will maintain the AI options for those that need them and are okay with paying for them, however the remainder of us will demand another.
Testing
Within the time for the reason that eufyMake UV Printer E1 confirmed up at my door, I’ve been working as many print jobs as I can. I’ve printed on every kind of issues: canvas, wooden, ceramic magnets, ceramic coasters, PCBs, sticker movie, steel bottles, plastic, 3D-printed plastic, steel, cardboard, and paper.
It labored on all the pieces and I attempted every kind of designs, too. A lot of them my very own and a few of them from the library within the eufyMake Studio software program.
For instance, I put the Hackster emblem, The Maker’s Toolbox banner, and the Serial Hobbyism (my YouTube channel) emblem on a bunch of stuff.
I additionally printed extra “creative” items, like this practice Zippo lighter.
And this canvas “portray” of my canine and me, which is a photograph that was made to seem like an oil portray.
I additionally printed this dashing fella onto a telephone case.
I wished to check the UV resistance of prints, so I left this sitting exterior within the intense Phoenix solar for per week. It held up simply high-quality with none noticeable degradation in that point.
In all of my testing, I solely bumped into a difficulty as soon as. That was after I was printing on that Zippo and, for some motive, the white ink simply stopped working. I ran it via cleansing cycles and even changed the white cartridge with out luck. Finally, I power-cycled the printer and informed it to undergo the ink injection course of and that labored — although I am unsure why or what the issue was.
Stickers and DTF printing
DTF printing for, say, making stickers is a particular course of. You print onto paper movie with a layer adhesive, spraying the ink onto the adhesive. Then you definitely run that via a eufyMake lamination machine, which applies a layer of clear plastic movie onto the highest (so the UV ink is between the adhesive and the clear movie).
After that, you should utilize scissors or the supplied paper cutter thingy to trim off the surplus. Then, if you’re prepared to stay the sticker on one thing, you simply peel off the white paper backing.
Right here you’ll be able to see the place I tried to place a sticker with my Serial Hobbyism emblem onto my automotive. I did a poor job with the applying, however you get the thought. It’s a bit like vinyl and also you wish to keep away from bubbles.
I feel this sticker performance is a neat bonus, but it surely isn’t the primary enchantment of the eufyMake UV Printer E1 for me. You can also make good vinyl stickers with a $300 Cricut machine and even full-color stickers with any previous inkjet printer. However the UV printing provides you full-color and, in principle at the least, higher long-term resistance to fading.
There are different makes use of instances for DTF printing, similar to making banners. eufyMake will even have an adjunct for printing actually lengthy sheets of movie. However I didn’t get that accent and so I wasn’t in a position to take a look at it.
Rotary printing
The opposite notable accent is the rotary printing attachment, which helps you to print onto cylindrical issues, similar to water bottles and mugs. It’s well-made and work simply high-quality with official eufyMake “clean” gadgets.
Sadly, it’s fairly restricted on what sizes and shapes it could accommodate. The design of the drive wheels and rollers prevents you from inserting something that isn’t the best form: a cylinder open on one facet, with a large “mouth” and at the least largely straight sides.
I grabbed a handful of bottles and different cylindrical gadgets from the thrift retailer to check, however discovered that none of them match on the rotary printing attachment. Although, to be honest, I’m certain I might discover loads now that I do know what to search for.
I am additionally going to look into designing a modification that may permit for extra shapes, so observe me when you’re considering that.
All of that mentioned, the rotary printing attachment didn’t have any issues with the gadgets supplied by eufyMake.
I do have one last gripe, although: the digicam doesn’t work with the rotary printing attachment. So, you need to be very cautious with positioning. You may see right here how I messed that up after I printed The Maker’s Toolbox banner onto this bottle.
Issues I like
General, I feel the eufyMake UV Printer E1 is basically superior and I plan to get so much of use out of it. There may be simply a lot potential for creativity and I have already got a protracted listing of issues I wish to make with it. I’m even contemplating organising a sales space at a craft honest to promote some stuff.
I really like which you can print on something, in full-color. It’s like what I wished from the PrinCube, and it really works.
And the 3D texture capabilities characterize a heaping pile of icing on high. It could possibly make printed paintings seem like it was really painted, as with that image of my canine and me. And it could add a brand new inventive dimension to a bit, as with the donut I printed onto the file.
The digicam is superior and, after calibration, is fairly darn correct. I printed some emojis onto pennies and you’ll see that the positioning may be very exact — in all probability inside 0.5mm.
I like that the machine itself is enticing and compact sufficient to tuck away, and even to convey to the aforementioned craft honest.
And, regardless of the prices, I even just like the cartridges. They’re fast and straightforward to swap with none form of mess. Although I am certain I will be complaining as quickly as I’ve to purchase some extra.
Issues I’ve
My greatest considerations are associated to eufyMake’s potential enterprise choices.
The costly ink cartridges are one instance. The AI options are one other. The UV Printer E1 is superior, however enterprise may get in the best way.
What if, for instance, eufyMake goes underneath? Will we nonetheless have the ability to use our machines? In any case, all the pieces has to undergo the app or desktop software program. There may be any technique to load a up a file on the machine straight.
And what if companies for the AI options go down? Will we not have the ability to create 3D textures anymore?
These considerations are speculative, after all, however they aren’t farfetched. We’ve seen that occur time and time once more when tech corporations fold, leaving house owners with bricked units. That’s unhealthy sufficient for a $300 Zune, however it will actually harm for a $1,500 machine — particularly when you’re counting on it in your revenue.
Last ideas
I’m simply going to say it: I really like the eufyMake UV Printer E1. It’s so cool and is definitely my favourite factor that I’ve ever reviewed. I’ve had a ton of enjoyable enjoying with it to this point and I plan to maintain experimenting with new concepts.
This can make severe waves within the maker neighborhood and I feel will probably be an enormous success. Even when I find yourself being incorrect about this explicit machine, I feel it’ll kick off a number of new growth within the space of shopper DTO UV printing. The tech merely has an excessive amount of potential to disregard.
The UV Printer E1’s print high quality is unbelievable and it could print onto absolutely anything. And people prints are sturdy and resistant.
I’m involved about ink cartridge pricing, in addition to points that may come up from enterprise choices made by eufyMake. However I’m hoping that gained’t be an issue or that eufyMake will present an answer if it does.
If you need a eufyMake UV Printer E1, it’ll launch on Kickstarter on April twenty ninth. A “customary bundle,” which is able to embody the printer itself and a cartridge bundle, will price $1,899. Tremendous Early Birds on Kickstarter will have the ability to snag a bundle for $1,699.
However till April twenty eighth, you’ll be able to put down a pre-order deposit of $50 on eufymake.com to safe a normal bundle discounted to $1,499.
