I’m considering a new printer this winter. I’m looking to replace my trusted Prusa Mk3S. And I’ve whittled it down to 2.
First is the Qidi Q2. I’ve been eyeing Qidi printers for a couple of years now. I like the enclosure and the high temp printing ability. The heated chamber works well for engineering filaments by all accounts. And it comes with MET certified filtration system already installed. I would buy it without the Qidi box because my A1 Mini has taught me that I just don’t do a ton of color prints much beyond some signage. And I’m unsure of just how much I would be using high temp filaments beyond PETG and ABS/ASA due to the costs.
The contender is the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2. I like the price, even with their Canvas 4 color printing, it’s still $100US cheaper than the Qidi. But it doesn’t have a dedicated chamber heater or air filer system as standard installed either. Both can be worked around as dyi add-ons though with extra effort and money required.
While things like how much and what filaments I would use that require heated chambers and fancy air filters is something only I can decide, there is the matter of reliability and repair ability.
As someone who had to design and build machines and then often needing to be the one that has to fix things when it all goes bad, I value reliability and repairability very highly.
So which printer can be relied upon to just work and is easiest to maintain and repair when needed in your opinion. How is manufacturer support? Is the Carbon 2 really as quiet as advertised?
For reparability I don’t think anything can beat a voron. Pretty much anything that can break from use on those can also be printed.
At this point in life, I’m more interested a “turn-key” setup than a project. I’m getting too old to want a project like that. But Vorons can be an awesome printer when done.
At this point in life, I’m more interested a “turn-key” setup than a project
Yeah I can relate, it’s also why i don’t have a voron myself.
The effort to build one is what keeps users from building a Voron. Otherwise, it would eat everyone else’s lunch.
No printer air filter at these low prices is worth a damn so you can remove that from your list of concerns. If you’re printing materials that affect air quality you need to vent it outdoors. Included air filters are a placebo.
+1
Tiny filters are a scam in the soldering world too. A few mm thick sheet of carbon impregnated open-cell foam isn’t going to have even a 50% impact on the fumes. Proper rated fume filtration systems are between the size of a large dog and a washing machine; and cost crazy amounts of money.
Plumbing it outside is cheap, extremely effective, small and if something breaks you can tell immediately.
Also what they don’t tell you:
Thin, carbon, exposed-to-air filters literally get saturated within a few days (a week tops, not even in use) and are useless after.
I wish I had saved that research paper into it. It pretty much said those large, enclosed, forced air Weller good filters should be replaced yearly and the higher ambient airflow and moist air-exposed filters like the sheet filters found in 3D printers and soldering are pretty much just bad HEPA filters after they saturate after a few days. Might as well only have the fan and no filter.
When temps hit -20F, you ain’t venting anything outside. The heat loss becomes too expensive.
For what it’s worth, I’ve got a Qidi Q2 that’s a few months old at this point. I print ABS occasionally, and I don’t vent it outside. The filter does fine on its own. You can smell a bit of plastic fumes if you’re in the same room, but it’s pretty light. I work on the computer next to it with no issues.
I still probably wouldn’t put it in my bedroom or in a space where kids are going to be hanging out 24/7, especially if I was planning on printing a ton of ABS/ASA. But in general, it’s pretty effective.
The FUD around ABS and ASA is really intense for some reason.
Yeah, I wouldn’t want to print much of those materials either. But being able to do so when needed as safely as I can matters. Perhaps I can find other materials that would be suitable replacement in those moments. The Q2 would certainly broaden the material choices I could use. PLA, PETG, and TPU can do a lot. I’ve been using them for years. But there are times when I need something different.
Then you probably shouldn’t be printing.
So I shouldn’t print for 6 months out of the year?
Not if you need to print materials that put dangerous chemicals into the air you breathe. Especially if you’re exposing other people in the household like children.
Prusa core one?
Prusa Core One is a great machine. My first printer was a Mk3s. It’s still a real tank after all these years. But I’m looking for something a bit cheaper right now.
I think, especially if you’re not using any fancy filaments, the Elegoo CC/CC2 is probably a better value option. If you only want to do PLA, PETG, etc., it’ll be fine!
Also of note, there’s the OpenCentauri project that aims to support full Klipper firmware on the original CC, it seems pretty nest!
Yeah, that’s what I’m starting to think about filaments. ABS/ASA are about as fancy as I really want to get. I did do some reading on the Open Centauri project. They sound like they have a good start.
ABS/ASA should work with the Elegoo CC, it has an enclosure + bed temperatures should reach high enough for good prints from what I can tell online. As the other person said, start off with PLA prints since those are the easiest. Some people like PETG too (higher temp resistance, but moisture is a bigger problem. I’m from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 so humidity is a big problem for me)
Yeah, the CC2 should work with ABS/ASA, the question is due to the immediate lack of a chamber heater, warpage on a larger piece could be an issue. Though one could edit the g-code to allow for some chamber pre-heat by soaking the bed for a time before printing. Air filtration is more of an issue for me really. And that would need to be added also. Which would quickly bring the cost up.
The devil is in the details…
@Bluewing @scallisto
i would recommend to start with PLA or PHAI do still print a lot of PLA even after all these years. It’s a far better material than people who just parrot things know. When designed properly from the get go, it can provide excellent service. But you need to understand the material properties and how to create a proper design for it. And most 3D printer users can’t design their way out of a paper bag when it comes to functional parts.
I can’t recommend the Snapmaker U1 enough. Incredible prints, fast, doesn’t waste filament and with the lid has full filtering and can do high temp materials as well
I had it BIQU and an Anycubic, and both developed issues. So far my U1 is just printing like a beast with no issues at all.
I have an Anycubic Kobra 3 max as well and I concur, it’s got the worst extruder design ever. If I don’t use the highest of quality filament it clogs like a toilet at Taco Bell.
+1 from me. I bought a few months ago as first printer and total beginner. Love it.
But if the choice is just between the centauri and qidi, what are the must haves that would differentiate the buying @[email protected] ?
Check also info on the support on the region you are located in. Check their webpages for how errors in printers are solved etc, how open they are in terms of connections , cloud independence and slicers!
I’ve already used those thoughts to get my choices down to 2 printers. So, now it gets to be more about user experiences with each machine.
But your reminders of what to think about is great. And the fact that you like your machine even as a beginner is what I want to know.
@Bluewing honestly in my point of view go get a prusa core xy
#3dprintingI would agree, but the cost is more than I want to spend for a second machine. Sadly, I want to replace my trusty Mk3s with something around the same size and enclosed without spending a lot.
Besides, I believe that if I want to honestly bitch about or praise something, I should actually have real experience with it. See my A1 mini combo.
@Bluewing thats fine just saying what i would do in your situation
I’m running an XMax 3 and it’s pretty nice. It’s been robust enough that if I were in the market for a new printer, I’d save up and buy it again.
See, that’s what I like about Qidi. Users often will say they would buy another.
Unfortunately the xmax3 has been discontinued
Yeah, I figured it was. I know they have a roughly equivalent updated model though
