Manufacturer: eufyMake
Price: $2,499
Link: eufymake.com/products/eufymake-e1
Every so often, something comes along that revolutionizes an entire tech sector, or opens it up to a new group. The Commodore 64 and IBM PC clones brought home computing to the masses. RepRap and MakerBot introduced personal 3D printing to a hungry maker audience. I’d argue that Nestworks (see sidebar TK) are doing similar for CNC. And with a record-setting Kickstarter campaign at $46,762,258, Anker’s eufyMake brand is transforming the complicated, messy, smelly world of UV printing into something that anyone can do at home.
Take a look around you: if you observe carefully, you’ll see that most modern objects have some kind of printed words or logo on them, and a lot of these are printed using inks that are cured by ultraviolet light, resulting in a vibrant, durable finish. UV printing can be used on a huge range of materials, including wood, leather, acrylic, metal, glass, and ceramics, as well as beyond simple flat surfaces. But with most machines costing thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars, taking up a large amount of space, and requiring continual maintenance to prevent clogging and poor performance, this has typically been a job that you send out for rather than doing it in-house.
eufyMake seems to have carefully analyzed the pain points associated with UV printing, and overcome them all in a compact, relatively inexpensive unit. The self-cleaning, enclosed, eufyMake E1 doesn’t just solve all of UV printing’s woes — it even one-ups the status quo with a unique “3D texture” capability. This is not “3D” on the scale of standard 3D printers, but with up to 5mm of textured depth, the E1 can simulate brushstrokes, embossing, and other faux textures such as leather or wood.
The E1 comes with a mini flatbed that fits entirely inside the device for smaller prints, and the front and rear enclosure doors swing down to accommodate a “standard” 330mm×420mm mat. Both are wonderfully adhesive to ensure your work stays put. An optional rotary attachment facilitates printing on mugs, tumblers, and other cylindrical or conical objects. And a UV direct to film (DTF) laminating machine lets you create your own stickers (an obsession of mine!).
Note: the unit I reviewed was an early prototype, and the software and firmware evolved throughout the testing period.
Setup is simple via the included Quick Start — somewhere between a conventional 2D inkjet and a modern pre-assembled 3D printer. The mobile app streamlines initialization and calibration to get you printing quickly with your first print from the included examples (I made a fridge magnet with a vibrant 3D-relief dragon illustration on it). One of the most impressive features of the E1 is that it measures the item to be printed upon using lasers and a camera, so you can clearly see your “canvas” and place and align artwork in the mobile or desktop app with ease. Within an hour of unboxing, I had an “ishotjr” fridge magnet featuring my signature Star Man avatar from the NES game Pro Wrestling.
The package I received from eufyMake had the “deluxe” set of attachments and a plethora of materials and items, from the aforementioned fridge magnets, to coasters, to iPhone cases, to insulated tumblers. All of these worked well, although not always as consistently as I’d have liked (sometimes there was some overspray or blotchiness, but again, keep in mind this was with pre-release hardware/software/firmware).
I then went in search of new candidates for printing upon: a USB power supply, onto which I applied a Kirby “Mouthful” Cone graphic; my own phone case, onto which I applied another Star Man (it quickly rubbed off in my pocket, but unlike those that eufyMake sent me, this was not a case designed for UV printing, so it’s completely excusable), and then it struck me: Lego! Think of all those special printed Lego bricks: computers, phones, flags, minifig heads – I realized that now, with the E1, I can make my own! Results were mixed at first, with registration/alignment often differing from the app preview, but then I figured out a system of cutting out cardboard around the bricks to make a larger “flat” area, which seemed to really help.
Now I have my own custom “ishotjr” Lego bricks that look as good as if they came from the Lego Group, and have even ordered a pile of various “blanks” from the “Pick a Brick” service (thankfully before many of the parts became unavailable due to Lego’s pause in response to Trump’s removal of the de minimis exception) for further experimentation!
At $2,499, the eufyMake E1 is a sizeable investment, but it is positioned as the workhorse around which an Etsy-type customization business might be built, with claims of $500–$1,000 of daily profit (after the cost of associated materials, including proprietary inks). Aside from occasional noise and smells during maintenance, the device is shockingly convenient to keep running (in fact, you have to keep it running, otherwise it purges a bunch of ink during shutdown).
One feature that I really appreciate is that the amount of ink that will be consumed by your print is displayed before you start it, so you can say “is this worth 0.93ml?” before you hit go. At $300 for a replacement ink and cleaning cartridge kit (100ml each of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, white, gloss ink, and a 380ml cleaning cartridge), it’s something I asked myself with every single print, especially when something went wrong and I had to print multiple times.
Regardless, the E1 is a real breakthrough in UV printing technology, opening this exciting realm of creativity up to anyone with the required budget and patience — Kickstarter machines (originally scheduled for July/August of 2025) are still underway and expected to finish shipping by the end of March.
This article appeared in Make: Volume 96. Subscribe to Make: for the latest articles.
ADVERTISEMENT
