Opening:
This week’s biggest release wasn’t a printer.
Prusa rebuilt most of the workflow around one.
PrusaSlicer 3.0 is finally in public preview with a new UI, real multi-printer projects, plugins, parallel slicing, and a true offline mode. Meanwhile, Anycubic pushed multicolor pricing back toward $400 and SUNLU decided your pile of dry boxes should become a cabinet.
Here’s what mattered.
The 60‑Second Extrusion:
PrusaSlicer 3.0 is out in public preview. The UI was rebuilt, multiple printers can live inside one project, beds slice in parallel, and profiles now understand modern multi-tool hardware.
blog.prusa3d.comPrusa added slicer plugins. The experimental Lua system lets developers add functionality without maintaining an entire slicer fork.
blog.prusa3d.comAnycubic’s anniversary pricing is live. The Kobra S1 Combo is $399, Kobra X is $279, and six-packs of basic PLA currently work out to about $9/kg.
store.anycubic.comSUNLU unveiled a ten-spool active dry-storage cabinet. The FilaDC i10 uses a regenerating molecular sieve instead of continuously heating your filament.
store.sunlu.comBambu is still teasing the R1. We still don’t know the price, wattage, work area, or filtration setup for its standalone laser.
forum.bambulab.com
Top Stories:
PrusaSlicer 3.0 is much bigger than a UI refresh
What happened
Prusa released the first public preview of PrusaSlicer 3.0 on September 1.
The interface has been rebuilt, but the deeper change is the project architecture.
A single project can now contain multiple build plates with different settings—and even different printers.
You could prepare an MK4S job, an XL job, and multiple material setups inside the same project. Beds slice independently and can be processed in parallel.
Profiles were also redesigned for printers with multiple tools and different nozzle sizes.
Why it matters
Modern 3D printers have outgrown slicers built around one printer, one nozzle, and one build plate.
This is Prusa rebuilding the foundation instead of bolting another feature onto it.
Who should care
Prusa owners, farms, toolchanger users, advanced makers, and anyone who regularly manages multiple printers or configurations.
Extruder Report verdict
This is probably the most important Prusa software release in years.
Do not switch your production workflow to the preview tomorrow—it is still preview software.
But the architecture is moving in the right direction.
Slicer plugins might matter more than the new interface
What happened
PrusaSlicer 3.0 includes an experimental Lua plugin system.
Prusa already uses it for built-in temperature- and flow-tower generators, and a community plugin marketplace is planned.
Plugins run inside a sandbox and do not get general network or disk access by default.
Why it matters
Desktop printing currently has a slicer-fork problem.
PrusaSlicer spawned SuperSlicer. Orca evolved from Bambu Studio. Manufacturers fork Orca. Those forks age, diverge, and duplicate features.
Plugins offer another option:
Add what your printer needs without maintaining an entire slicer.
Who should care
Software developers, printer manufacturers, advanced users, and anyone tired of switching between five flavors of basically the same slicer.
Extruder Report verdict
The API is primitive today. If Prusa expands it intelligently, it could change how printer-specific software gets built.
The $400 multicolor fight gets another contender
What happened
Anycubic’s anniversary sale is now live.
The Kobra S1 Combo is $399, Kobra 4 Combo is $349, Kobra X is $279, and the Photon Mono 4 is $169 in current U.S. pricing.
Anycubic is also rotating material and printer bundles every week through early October.
Why it matters
Automatic multicolor hardware used to be the expensive upgrade.
Now we have major manufacturers fighting around $300–$500.
That changes what beginners reasonably expect from a first printer.
Who should care
First-time buyers, budget multicolor shoppers, print farms adding capacity, resin users, and anyone shopping this month.
Extruder Report verdict
The price is good enough to force a comparison.
Do not buy based on color count alone. Reliability, purge waste, software, support, and replacement parts will matter a lot longer than the sale banner.
Trending Models:
Blue-Ringed Octopus Tool Holder
Prusa designed this as an eight-color INDX flex, but the tentacles actually hold your printer tools.
The showcase print reportedly required 3,676 tool changes.
Modular Pool Noodle Construction Kit
Reusable printed hubs turn cheap pool noodles into giant forts, structures, obstacle courses, and whatever your kids can convince you fits in the living room.
The Reddit post blew past 3,000 upvotes.
Charging Port Cleaner
A tiny ten-minute print designed specifically to pull packed lint and debris from a phone charging port.
Boring. Useful. Excellent.
Hair Scraper
A simple TPU carpet scraper with several toothed edges for pulling embedded pet and human hair out of carpet.
Mega-Bearing
A giant printable bearing that is half mechanical lesson and half absurd desk toy.
Deal Pulse:
Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo — $399
Anycubic’s anniversary sale puts the enclosed Kobra S1 Combo at $399.
That is the cleanest printer deal in this week’s research.
The material deals may actually be better:
6kg basic PLA: $54 — about $9/kg.
6kg high-speed PLA: $65.52 — about $10.92/kg.
6kg standard resin: $72 — about $12/kg.
These offers run in rotating rounds, so the exact material mix changes after September 8.
Community Pulse:
Prusa rewrote the slicer UI and people… mostly like it?
Early PrusaSlicer 3.0 reaction is surprisingly positive.
The feature getting the most interesting attention is not the new look—it is plugins.
Users are already wondering whether printer manufacturers could support stock PrusaSlicer with plugins instead of maintaining yet another aging Orca fork.
There are still preview-software questions around Linux packages, incomplete features, and how plugins are installed.
But for a complete UI rewrite, the reaction is unusually calm.
Print Farm Note:
Your filament cost is probably the least interesting number in the quote
A useful pricing guide published this week makes a point more print sellers need to hear:
150 grams of filament does not equal your cost.
A real quote can include:
Filament, supports, and purge waste
Failed-print allowance
Electricity
Machine depreciation
Design time
File preparation
Material changes
Post-processing
Assembly
Packaging
Customer communication
Marketplace and payment fees
Profit
A three-gram custom clip can contain seven cents of plastic and still be a terrible job at 25 cents.
For small orders, use a minimum charge.
For custom CAD, consider charging the design fee before you begin.
Final Layer:
The most interesting 3D-printing company this week might be whichever company writes the least new hardware.
Prusa’s biggest move was software.
SUNLU’s interesting product is storage.
Bambu’s R1 will probably live or die on workflow.
And farms are increasingly limited by labor, design, and operations rather than printer speed.
The machines are getting good enough that the boring stuff is becoming the competitive advantage.
That is healthy.