Packing independent dual extrusion (IDEX) tech – meaning two separate print heads that can achieve functional dual-printing tasks – plus numerous modern features, the J1 appears to have a completeness about it that’s lacking from many printers. It comes across as an utterly surprising and welcome addition to the sub-$2,000 space, should it get off the ground (we take nothing for granted with Kickstarter campaigns – neither should you.)

Here’s what Jadelabo is touting for the J1:

IDEX

Two separate direct-drive print heads share the X-axis gantry, which allows for multiple print modes, including duplication, mirror, and support mode, in addition to multi-material prints.

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Particular attention is drawn to the J1’s clutch of print recovery modes that make use of having two active print heads. Should one of two simultaneous prints fail, the now-surplus print head can be deactivated to not interfere with the other. Similarly, if you have two spools of the same or similar material loaded and are running a job using only a single print head, the second head can take over from the first, should it run out of material.

Calibration

The PCB heated bed features several conductive contact points, which each print head will touch off against when calibrating their levels. Simple and repeatable, this uses the conductivity of the brass nozzle to register contact.

Going one step further, the J1 also shows a pretty novel XY-calibration procedure that also touches off conductive contacts. We commonly see IDEX printers use printable tests that the user then eyeballs to select the correct offset. An alternative such as this is a welcome time and material saving alternative.

It’s not clear if there’s a cleaning routine or brush to keep nozzles gunk-free, so care might be needed to keep such features working as intended.

PEI Coated Glass Bed

A 5 mm thick slab of glass coated with one of the more useful print bed adhesion materials, PEI, sticks well to most materials. It may need barrier layers of glue for more demanding materials, such as polycarbonate, though.

The build volume stretches out at 320 x 210 x 200 mm.

Connectivity

A large 5″ full-color touchscreen lets you interact nicely with the printer. The screen is located inside the printer frame, so if you are planning on going with the enclosed version and printing temperature-sensitive filaments, fiddling around on the touchscreen mid-print is probably off-limits.

The J1 runs on Linux and houses a powerful 32-bit ARM Cortex-A53 processor – wireless printing via a Jadelabo-customized version of Cura is the prospect here. We’re fans.

Modular Hot Ends

On its Kickstarter campaign page, Jadelabo shows off a modular hot end system with the possibility to swap out nozzle sizes and, we would hope, hot end styles for high flow, high temp, and everything in-between with our printing. By default, the J1’s hot ends will heat up to 300 ℃, meaning Nylons and similar higher-temp materials are a possibility.

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A novel quirk of the modular hot end system is a dial that allows you to easily adjust the Z-offset of the nozzle without the semi-permanence of, say, adding shims to adjust the offset mechanically.

Dual toothed gears pull the filament into the hot ends, and a flow sensor above keeps tabs on the movement of the material, with the intent to pause the print and alert the user should a snag or clog occur.

Price

The MSRP of the J1 appears to be $1,199 for the open (no walls) version and $1,299 for the enclosed version. At the time of writing this piece, two tiers of the Kickstarter campaign, at $779 and $849, offer the open and enclosed versions, respectively, as backer rewards.

All in all, the Jadelabo J1 looks to be a tantalizing 3D printer that we hope delivers on what has been shown so far. There’s certainly a lot of smarts, and we hope to bring you more about it in the future.

There are a little under two weeks left on the campaign to go, with the shutter coming down on June 2, 2021.

(Source: Kickstarter)