Staff Reporter |
Editor | Wen Shuqi
Back in November 2025, when Changlang Technology put its desktop UV printer on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, the founding team’s WeChat started buzzing nonstop. Suddenly, distributors from all over were reaching out to ask about partnership opportunities. It hit them right then—this product was way hotter than they’d ever expected.
In the end, this UV printer, called the “ePrint,” pulled in over 30 million RMB in crowdfunding—making it the second UV printer to create serious buzz overseas, right after Anker Innovations’ eufyMaker E1. This August, ePrint officially launched in China with pre-orders: the dual-head model at 14,999 RMB and the single-head version at 10,999 RMB for early birds.
That 30-million-plus crowdfunding success story? It’s really the sign of a whole new consumer hardware category taking off.
Changlang Technology is one of the early players in the Maker scene—think desktop digital fabrication gear like 3D printers, desktop CNCs, laser engravers, and UV printers, aimed at hobbyists, schools, and small studios. Founder Dr. Lao Changshi, who holds a materials science Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, came back to China to start the company in 2016. The firm began with consumer-grade 3D printers and even acquired RepRapPro, the UK company started by Adrian Bowyer, the godfather of open-source 3D printing. Over the years, they’ve rolled out FDM and resin 3D printers, laser engravers, and more.
Now, the UV printer is their big new bet.
UV printers aren’t exactly new tech. They use ultraviolet light to instantly cure ink, and they’ve been a staple in advertising, packaging, and industrial printing for ages. The catch? Those machines are bulky, cost hundreds of thousands of RMB, and need trained operators.
What makes desktop UV printing so appealing is that it shrinks an entire print shop down to the size of a desk. Wood, glass, metal, acrylic, leather, even your favorite T-shirt—anything can become the “paper.” People use it to print raised designs on phone cases, craft fridge magnets, keychains, party favors, and all sorts of creative merch.
In the past, these small-batch orders would never meet factory minimums, and even if someone took the job, you’d be waiting forever. But for small operators—e-commerce sellers, gift shops at tourist spots, home-based studios—a desktop machine means instant production, right there on the spot.
Allen Leung, VP at Changlang Technology, told us that this exact group of small merchants is ePrint’s core audience. For them, this machine is a fast track to turning ideas into income.
It’s not just businesses either. At the ePrint launch event, parents were among the most excited crowds. Still, compared to the 3D printers that have become a favorite in middle-class homes, UV printing hasn’t gone fully mainstream yet. Allen Leung points out that UV printing involves more steps—picking the right process and materials, prepping images, and so on—which makes the workflow longer. But if those steps could be boiled down to a single click, he believes UV printers would find their way into far more households.
Here’s a first: the ePrint is the first UV printer on the market with dual print heads. It packs 12 ink channels, prints flat surfaces 1.5 to 2 times faster than single-head models, and cranks out 3D textured prints up to 6 times faster. It’s also a four-in-one machine, combining UV flatbed printing, DTF transfers (for getting designs onto T-shirts and canvas bags), DTG direct-to-garment printing, and UV DTF film printing (print on a special film, then stick it onto curved or irregular surfaces). You can do embossed textures, oil-painting effects, metallic gold and silver foil, nail art, faux embroidery, badges—you name it.
Another thing that sets ePrint apart? It supports open inks, which is pretty unusual in this space. The common play in UV printing right now is “don’t compete on machines, compete on consumables.” Hardware isn’t the main profit driver anymore; companies increasingly make their money on inks, parts, and software. By opening up the ink system, Changlang is voluntarily giving up some of that locked-in revenue.
But Allen Leung explains it this way: for people who print a lot, ink cost is a huge deal. They want to give users more choices and win them over with reliability and ease of use, not by trapping them.
For a long time, 3D printing and laser engraving were seen as niche toys for hardcore geeks. Bambu Lab changed that narrative. By bringing high-speed printing to consumer 3D printers, they turned 3D printing into a creative tool anyone could pick up.
“A great product is really supply chain plus product definition,” Allen Leung comments. Bambu’s design, reliability, and precision laid the foundation; a strong supply chain made mass production a breeze; and the MakerWorld model community built a thriving user ecosystem. In 2025, Bambu’s revenue crossed the 10 billion RMB mark, giving the capital markets a whole new vision for what the Maker space could be.
That’s also the direction Changlang plans to double down on. For instance, the Longer Studio software that ships with ePrint has a built-in process navigation panel with tons of hands-on tutorials. Beginners can just open the software and follow along step by step to complete their prints, which really lowers the learning curve. On top of that, Changlang is training AI tools specifically for printing scenarios—helping users generate designs that are actually print-ready, cutting the complexity even further.
The last breakout star in UV printing was Anker’s eufyMake E1. When it hit Kickstarter in 2025, it raised a jaw-dropping $46.76 million, setting a new all-time record for the platform. That number was so wild it made the whole industry sit up and think: after 3D printers, UV printers could genuinely be the next must-have tool on the Maker’s desk.
Meanwhile, xTool and others have already jumped into the UV printing game, and there’s chatter that Bambu Lab is gearing up for UV printing too. Folks in the industry all feel the same thing: since last year, everyone’s been iterating faster and faster, racing to win over users with more distinctive features. But consumer hardware was never just a sprint. Delivery and the actual user experience are what determine where each brand ends up—and that’s the hurdle every player has to clear.
