Fair warning: this was an 8hr print… That was with a bad filament profile, but it’s only dropped to an estimated 6.5hrs with the bog standard “Generic PETG” profile I normally use.
PS, for anyone looking for PETG recommendations, you should probably steer clear of Overture. Might just be my printer, but I’ve had no problems getting consistent results with other PETG brands like Sunlu, Creality, or Elegoo. Overture PLA is fantastic, but their PETG is just so inconsistent - and yes, I’ve dried the reel once already.
Nope, you're quite correct, B. I've used Overture PLA for years and I bought a reel of their PETG on the strength of that experience. It's shite.
Good, I’m glad it’s not just my printer then. Stuff is messy as hell... I found loads of the stuff gunked up around the end of the nozzle after the last print. I'm going to need to pull the hotend and extruder apart to make sure there's no material clogging it... Bah, I suppose I need to do some maintenance & cleaning anyway... Linear rod clean & lube, lead screw clean & lube, belt tension, bed tramming/levelling, etc...
I have an Ender KE currently and it's fine, but I'd like to get something to print ASA. I don't print a lot, so don't want to spend a fortune. Anything reasonable out there?
So a cheap, enclosed printer, with a higher temperature hot bed to handle ASA? The Centauri Carbon is currently £240 plus shipping (usually around £20) direct from Elegoo
Cheap...but decent. I'd rather spend a little more if it'll get me something more reliable. Not printing anything too delicate. Thank you
That’s exactly what the Carbon is: cheap and decent. My Q1 Pro falls into pretty much the same category, although I wouldn’t personally recommend it: not because it isn’t capable, but because there’s very little chance of ever getting another firmware update and - more importantly - it isn’t currently as cheap as the Carbon. It also has a successor in the form of the Q2, but, again, it isn’t as cheap as the Carbon. And I wouldn’t recommend getting a Qidi printer unless it’s been on the market for at least 6 months or so, giving them chance to silently work out all the launch issues without bothering to do a thing for earlier adopters. Beyond that, the next best contenders in terms of price would probably be the Bambu A1, A1 Mini, or the P1S. The A1 and A1 Mini aren’t half as capable as the Carbon, because they’re only really suited to PLA, PETG, or TPU - you’re not doing ASA with them out of the box. You could possibly do ASA with the A1 or A1 Mini, but you’d need to build or buy an enclosure and by that point you might as well have spent the extra £40 on a Carbon - it’s already enclosed. I wouldn’t suggest the P1S because its successor, the P2S, has not long launched. Again, the P2S is a lot more expensive than the Carbon at £479. Mind you, I wouldn’t personally own any Bambu Labs printer. They’re capable enough in their own right, and in many ways have set the benchmark that others now strive for, but their firmware & patent nonsense is an absolute no-go for me. That doesn’t stop me suggesting them, because not everyone has the same qualms about proprietary hardware that you can only get from the manufacturer, or a printer that has to “phone home” to the manufacturer’s servers in order to get permission to actually print something. There are a couple of other CoreXY machines from Chinese companies around the same £250ish to £400ish price point, like the Anycubic Kobra S1, but they’ll all have their own tradeoffs. If you want what is probably the gold standard in terms of reliability, support, open standards, etc, then you’re looking for Prusa. But you’ll pay for that privilege: an MK4S £619 if you buy a self-assembled kit, and the smaller but enclosed MINI+ is £519. Again, the MK4S isn’t an enclosed printer, so out of the box isn’t really suitable for ASA. The enclosure is a minimum of £359 extra, and by that point you might as well have got the £919 CORE One (£1219 for a pre-assembled version). The only other thing I’d say is that you’re likely to get much more honest opinions from owners of these printers on this forum than you are from somewhere like Reddit. Case in point: my Q1 Pro has been a great printer, I’ve rarely had an issue that wasn’t either user error or bad filament, but I still wouldn’t recommend it.
I wouldn't call it unreliable - the only problem I've had was due to a botched and now (I believe) recalled firmware update.
I know we've a few Centauri Carbon users 'ere: Elegoo's admitted the promised multi-colour upgrade might never launch due to an unspecified "hardware limitation." It's offering three forms of compensation: $50 off a >$100 filament order, an extra year on the warranty, or $80 off a Centauri Carbon 2 Combo.
Meanwhile, Bambu Labs have a decent discount sale on for Black Friday. https://uk.store.bambulab.com/pages/black-friday-sale
Came here to post this. I think I'll probably take the warranty extension. The other two options mean throwing more money in their pockets and I'm not feeling that right now.
Translation: EDIT: At least Elegoo actually announced something, unlike Qidi who made lots of very vague but strongly leading promises that were never again referenced, not even after the launch of a second-generation model which explicitly does have a multi-filament unit…
Other possible translation: Dear Centauri Carbon Users, Apparently velcro and duct tape will not be viable for the upgrade kit, and a proper upgrade would mean replacing 80% of the chassis. Our execs hit the cocaine too hard and never consulted the engineer. Also, Their website was always buggy.
They’d never admit that publicly - it’s a Chinese company, the people responsible/in charge would be quietly “relocated”… That’s not to say that Elegoo’s top brass is not awash in hookers & illegal drugs, they’d just never actually say or even imply it
Been stressing about this print I've just started. Nine hours with a new filament (PETG-CF) and snug supports which I've never tried before - not sure what they'll be like to remove afterwards. Then I had a moment of clarity: The reel only cost me £15 in the Amazon sale and the total print calls for 350g of filament, so I just sent it. If I make an arse of it, I've lost a fiver. What am I printing? ITX Fractal North. https://makerworld.com/en/models/1979514-fractal-north-itx#profileId-2129229
Wood 3D printing filament?? Since when has that been a thing? I’ll be interested to know how it goes with the CF infused stuff I would still like to have an NFC Systems 4TF made up, as I have the plans as a patron
