HeyGears G1 Pulls in $14 Million on Kickstarter for Full-Color Desktop 3D Printing

What the G1 does

HeyGears crossed $14.6 million on Kickstarter with more than 3,400 backers for the G1 Series, a desktop machine that prints in full color, builds raised textures, and even produces UV prints on mugs, t-shirts, and film. That funding level puts it among the highest-grossing Kickstarter campaigns ever for a 3D printer.

The core of the system is an Epson I3200-U1HD print head with 3,200 nozzles arranged in eight rows. It delivers 300 dots per inch per row and can produce 10 million colors across a 420 x 330 x 130 mm build volume. The printer handles UV-cured resin for 3D prints, UV inks for flatbed prints, aqueous inks for direct-to-garment work, and water-soluble supports that dissolve away in plain water.

Why this stands out

Full-color 3D printing has lived in industrial settings with price tags starting around $50,000 and machines large enough to fill a small room. HeyGears is trying to put that capability on a desktop for roughly $3,000 depending on the bundle. The company also says it will keep consumable costs low, which matters because the ink and resin systems behind these multi-mode machines can get expensive quickly.

Speed is another focus. HeyGears claims up to 12 times faster UV printing than competing desktop systems, a 10 times wider color gamut, and G7 Colorspace certification for color accuracy. The print head has a rated lifespan of 12 to 24 months, and the machine includes an automated cleaning cycle, a print head heating system to maintain ink viscosity, and a sealed moisturizing system to prevent drying during idle periods.

The small-studio case

For a small gift shop or product design studio, the G1 is meant to replace three separate machines: a UV flatbed printer, a 3D printer, and a direct-to-garment system. In practice, that means running custom UV prints on mugs in the morning, embossing a leather journal cover in 3D texture mode in the afternoon, and printing a full-color figurine in the evening.

The Kickstarter campaign still has more than two weeks left to run when it crossed $14 million, so the final number will likely go higher. Early-bird pricing started at $1,999, with standard retail expected above that. Shipping is slated for Q4 2026.

What to watch

Kickstarter hardware campaigns always carry execution risk, and multi-fluid machines are notoriously difficult to service. If HeyGears delivers on reliability and consumable pricing, the G1 could do to full-color 3D printing what the original Bambu Lab X1 did for consumer speed: collapse the entry barrier and bring a formerly exotic capability into the mainstream workshop.