Creators will have better tools and technology in 2026, and I couldn’t be more excited
I can’t predict the future, but I know that 2026 will be a great year for all creators, especially in the field of 3D printing. How do I know? I’ve been reviewing 3D printers and creation tools for almost a decade. Craft technology is becoming more common with each passing day, opening up new realms of possibilities for creators, digital makers, hobbyists, and DIYers.
Over the years, I’ve seen many trends endure and reach new heights, while others disappear as quickly as they appear. Of course, with every step toward more accessible creative technology, there are bound to be some blind spots (you can probably guess what I’m going to say here). If you’re part of the creator community, here’s my list of predictions for what we’ll see in the coming year and which technology will have the most impact.
UV printers are going to be huge
I managed to print over 100 different products on the E1 UV printer.
In early 2025, EufyMake announced a Kickstarter for a stunning UV printer. The E1 lets you print colored and textured ink on just about any hard surface. It was immediately one of the most funded Kickstarters of all time.
UV printing is a digital process that uses thin layers of white paint, dried very quickly in ultraviolet light, to create texture. This allows you to print durable, highly detailed designs and vibrant colors on non-traditional surfaces. Essentially, it’s about creating a textured 2D image with small amounts of 3D texture on any hard surface, like wood, plastic, metal, or glass.
While reviewing it, I fell in love with the sheer number of products that can be made from one machine. Since then, the company has encountered some problems, many of them due to an overly successful Kickstarter, but the full retail product is expected to be available in 2026.
EufyMake is just the beginning, however. This year we will see many more companies get into UV printing and advance the technology. We might even see a small consumer version of the Mimaki 3D printer that uses the same technology to create full-color 3D models. Etsy is about to be flooded with UV printed artwork, for better or worse.
Accessible color 3D printing
This simple little printer can easily print four colors.
The Bambu Lab A1 Combo has been my best 3D printer for all of 2025, and for good reason. It’s cheap, works great, and is easy to install and use. However, we are now seeing new printers that can match or even surpass the A1 in speed, quality and price.
THE Flashforge AD5X is a good example of this, as is the new Elegoo Carbon 2. Both are CoreXY printers with built-in color systems, and both are in the $300 to $500 price range that suits almost everyone.
We’ll see more companies, such as Creality and Anycubic, continue to improve their base-priced printers to give us more color options at no extra cost in 2026.
3D printers with more nozzles
Multiple tool heads or nozzles save you a lot of waste.
Another way 3D printers are evolving is the number of nozzles they have. I recently tested the Snapmaker U1, a 3D printer with four separate print heads that can print in 4 colors without leaving a lot of plastic waste. Normally, an FDM 3D printer uses a hot end to extrude the molten plastic. A tool changer like the U1 uses four separate tool heads to quickly print four colors. The U1 is truly a fantastic product, and when it’s finally freed early next year it will be worth taking the time to pick it up again.
But it’s not just about the U1. Both Bamboo Laboratory and Prusa have recently launched or announced 3D printers with an Indx system. Indx systems – or Vortek, as Bambu calls it – use multiple nozzles instead of multiple tool heads to swap colors and materials in and out of your machine. Not only is it faster, but, like the U1, it significantly reduces waste because you never need to purge a color from the nozzle to exchange it.
Currently, these Indx systems are expensive, and 2026 will be a year to refine the process before seeing these costs decrease significantly. But if you’re on the cutting edge of technology, Indx is where you want to be.
More accessible lasers
Giant lasers go to the bench!
Laser engraving and laser engraving – using high-powered lasers to engrave materials in a pattern – is one of the fastest growing industries for Etsy and hobbyists. Right now you can spend thousands of dollars on a massive laser like the xTool P3which is shaping up to be my new best laser engraver once testing is complete, but we’re starting to see more affordable options. There have always been cheap lasers, but they tend to be gantry type with no real safety features. 2026 will bring us more cost-effective laser engravers without sacrificing safety.
The news that Glowforge – one of the biggest names in home laser – has filed for an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC) to restructure the company and save it from bankruptcy is concerning. These large laser machines are not always the solution, and cheaper lasers like the xTool M1 are paving the way for machines that can be used for less than a thousand dollars.
Expect more from Slop AI
This image is an AI slope, showing an AI slope. Very meta.
Every new laser engraver, DTF printer, UV printer, and even 3D printer in 2026 will have a place in the software to spend your hard-earned money creating AI-generated works of art that you can use however you see fit. Almost all of this will be what we call AI slop, and as AI image generators improve, it will be almost indistinguishable from a work of art created by a human.
CNET AI expert Katelyn Chedraoui said in a review of Nano Banana that the software “…blanks the line between reality and AI. And that’s the problem.” worse this model always will.” This should scare all of us who love creating art with our hands.
I wish I could say that 2026 will be the year this bubble bursts, but I don’t see the fallout from AI disappearing anytime soon. Be on the lookout for local farmers’ markets flooded with variations on a theme built for stolen art and computer logic. What we might see in 2026 is more regulations from places like Etsy on which AI products can be sold and still considered “handcrafted” enough to be sold there.
Home CNC milling machines have arrived
Both the Snapmaker U1 and the Carvera Air are fantastic consumer machines.
The final piece of the machining puzzle that has yet to make its way into homes is CNC milling. This can be difficult to set up, requires many different tools, and can be very complicated. Like laser engraving, CNC mills remove material to create a pattern, unlike UV or 3D printing, which adds material. Snapmaker initially tried this with the Snapmaker 2but the execution was clumsy and the software mediocre.
Makera has been working on bringing small CNCs to your home for some time now, and although its current small machine, the Carvera Air, is easier to use, the company plans to launch the simplest CNC ever in 2026. Called Makera Z1, it is expected to be the simplest CNC on the market.
The final piece of the CNC puzzle is the software. Like many creation tools, the current line of CNC software is quite difficult to use and is intended for commercial use rather than home use. 2026 will bring improved software in the form of Millmage, from the makers of Lightburn, one of the best laser engraving tools available. This combination of new software and more user-friendly machines will make 2026 the year you invest in a CNC milling machine.
I’m excited for 2026
The leather bow and printed Santa skull were made by me using awesome tools.
Creating things with cool technology is my biggest passion. I recently got into leatherworking – because I needed more things to do in all my free time – and using a laser cutter to help me cut out patterns or cut the leather itself has been extremely satisfying. The tools I use to help me create improve every year, and with CES 2026 around the corner, we’ll likely see even more cool new gadgets to help us create.
Despite the preponderance of AI slops that could be generated on these machines, I think UV printers are going to be the biggest craze of next year. It’s something new and interesting, and even though 3D printing is going to undergo big changes, this new medium is going to make a splash in 2026.
